Faint Glimmer of Hope
The last scientist to speak at the final press conference did hold out one dying hope of finding some unspecified kind of life on the "Red Planet" (perhaps it should be relabeled "the Dead Planet").
Dr. George C. Pimentel, chemistry professor at the University of California, told the news conference in JPL's Von Karman Auditorium that one instrument in his infrared experiment detected evidence of methane and ammonia near the edge of Mars' white south polar cap.
"If these elements really exist," he said, carefully selecting his words, "we can't escape the fact that they might be of biological origin."
Pimentel said there was a remote possibility that an area near the edge of the cap might be able to support an unknown elementary form of life — if there were a substantial reservoir of water. If life exists, he said "it would be protected from deadly solar radiation by the clouds of carbon dioxide." Pimentel contended carbon dioxide is suspended in the atmosphere over the polar region, not on the surface.
But a temperature reading of -123° C found at the Martian south pole is hardly a "pre-condition" for life, no matter what other factors may be present.
Dr. Pimentel's "optimism," however, was enough to send a number of newsmen scurrying to their typewriters. Others cheered and applauded. This was obviously what nearly everyone wanted to hear.
Some of the reporters didn't even hear the words of caution expressed by Dr. Horwitz, a biologist, who summarized Pimentel's findings and the opposite conclusions reached by other scientists on the panel.
They were too busy hammering out their stories. One could already see the headline in the morning paper — "Scientist Says There May Be Life on Mars."
Dr. Horowitz admitted he never has considered it probable that life exists on Mars or any other planet of the solar system except earth itself. But, he said, the discovery of life outside earth would be of such tremendous, overwhelming importance to science that it must be looked for no matter what the odds are against finding it.
Search Continues in 1971
In 1971 two Mariner-class vehicles are scheduled to orbit Mars for three months photographing large percentages of the Martian surface. Then, in a projected 1973 mission, Project Viking, two spacecraft are to orbit Mars and detach landing craft to descend to and operate on the surface.
Both of these programs are obvious preparations for a manned mission to Mars, should it be approved. Extensive unmanned exploration of the moon preceded the Apollo program.
Many scientists believe even the 1971 and 1973 missions will still be inconclusive as to the primary question of whether there indeed is life of any form on Mars. Only men prowling around on the Martian surface for perhaps several months can answer this question satisfactorily, they reason.
According to Dr. Thomas O. Paine, chief administrator of NASA, there is "no question that man will go to Mars." Only two things are needed now: the will of the American people — and the money from Congress. Cost estimates vary from $24 billion — cost of Apollo to date — to $50 billion or even $100 billion.
NASA is presently preparing recommendations for space programs over the next decade. A report will be presented to President Nixon September 1. Plans for manned Mars missions are expected in the report.
Man on Mars in Ten Years?
It is generally believed a manned mission to Mars could be launched in 1981. Some space agency officials speculate the date could be as early as 1979.
The remainder of the Apollo program — nine more increasingly complex trips to the moon — is almost being overlooked in the rush to prepare ground for the Martian adventure. One can almost hear the public say: "We've been to the moon. The scientists report there is no life there. Let's push on to Mars."
Some astronauts have privately expressed doubts about the desirability of the long round trip to Mars — total time would be one year and nine months — unless they are convinced the rewards will be great.
To those making such a journey, it will perhaps be the loneliest trip in human history. On the Martian surface the "good earth" will appear no bigger than a star. But it is obvious some manned program will be proposed and probably approved. The future existence of expensive facilities for manned flight operations at Houston, Cape Kennedy and other centers is at stake. And along with it the profits of some powerful industrial concerns.
So the space program is a curious intermingling of politics, national prestige — the desire to do "something big" —and the relentless search on the part of science to find hoped-for clues outside of our own planet to the origin of life and the universe.
Above all, it is the impulsive desire to simply push on and push out into space as far as humanly possible.
International Approach Needed
Other fantastic plans are being recommended for future space ventures. One is a series of unmanned "grand tours" of the five outer planets — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
Another is a wide-range plan of manned earth-orbiting stations and manned lunar stations (explained in the accompanying interview with a leading space expert).
But all this is both a financial and technological strain for just one nation — the U.S. — to undertake.
The idea being increasingly discussed these days is the need for an international approach to space exploration.
"We came in peace for all mankind" was the placard left behind on the moon by U. S. astronauts. But U.S. taxpayers, not "all mankind," footed the bill.
On the matter of technology, leading U.S. space officials have openly voiced an invitation to space scientists in Europe and Japan to pool their knowledge with American experts. And if the Soviets are willing to make available their fund of knowledge — all the better, they say.
Some even express the hope that a worldwide unified space program may even divert man's mind away from international rivalry and warfare.
Gradually, the world is becoming one — at least in science and technology.
It was that way once before in human history — at the very Tower of Babel Dr. Paine referred to. The story is found in the eleventh chapter of Genesis.
The tower expressed the desire of men over 4,000 years ago to unify their goals and purposes — to achieve "oneness."
According to the record, the world shortly after the Great Flood still had only one language. With this advantage, plus fired-up determination, the people at that time could have achieved a true space age within a very short time. Even in our 20th Century it has been only 66 years from the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk until the first man set foot on the moon.
But the "tower project" was pulled up short.
The record reads: "And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one" — dedicated to a single driving purpose — "and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do" (Genesis 11:6).
This account says God interrupted their work by confusing their language and dispersing the peoples. If He hadn't, man's "imagination" would have brought about the space age in that era — probably within a century or two.
Why Men on Moon Won't Bring Peace on Earth
But the Tower of Babel would not have enhanced the individual lives of the people.
Again a close similarity to the space effort today. Often one hears the phrase, "If we can put a man on the moon, we can put an end to war." Or similar desired results such as "eliminate poverty," "find solutions to pollution," or "wipe out racism."
But the parallel doesn't follow.
As leading astronomer and Mars expert Dr. Robert S. Richardson told PLAIN TRUTH reporters at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory:
"My feeling about it is that we could spend all of this (space program] money on improving social conditions and the social conditions would still be just as bad as they are now. . . . I don't know how we are ever going to solve these problems — they are entirely different. Going to the moon is one problem and we can zero right in. Social problems are tremendously diffuse and complex."
The spin-off from space may give us space-age plastics — but not peace, nor permanent solutions to earth's manifold problems.
For all of its genuine excitement —and no one who watched the moonwalk could say it was not exciting — man's surge into space is diverting his attention away from mounting crises here on his own home planet.
"We are justified in exploring Mars to find whether we could transplant terrestrial life to the planet and have it survive," said a space agency official at a Mariner news conference.
But the survival of human life is at stake here on Earth — now!
Outcome of Space Race Foreseen in Advance
Just what is behind man's gnawing desire to expand his horizons into space?
Why do some even speak, futuristically, of "colonizing" other worlds?
Is man forever limited to this planet? For the answer, you need to read our free booklet, Who Will Rule Space? A companion booklet, Why Were You Born? answers plainly the biggest of all questions — "Who am I ?" and "Why am I here?" These two booklets reveal the fantastic destiny of the human race.
And while you're at it, also request our new full-color booklet, Our Awesome Universe. It gives the keys to understanding the origin of all matter and life. You can know. It's not necessary to explore the surface of Mars or the atmosphere of Jupiter to find out!
Also see this article's companion — Man on Mars by 1980? An exclusive 1969 interview with Mr. Eric Burges, one of the world's foremost experts on space exploration.