Mars Can Wait. OceansCan’t
By Amitai Etzioni
1 While space travel still gets a lot of attention, not enoughattention has been accorded to a major new expedition to the deepest point inthe ocean, some 7 miles deep — the recent journey by James Cameron , on behalfof National Geographic.
2 The cover story of the prestigious journal Foreign Affairs lays out the “Case for Space.” “60 Minutes”recently ran a story about the dire effects on Florida’s space industry ofscaling back our extraterrestrial endeavors. Newt Gingrich gained attentionearlier this year by calling for building a permanent base on the moon. AndPresident Obama has talked of preparing to eventually send Americans into orbitaround Mars.
3 Actually, there are very good reasons to stop spending billions ofdollars on manned space missions, to explore space in ways that are safer andmuch less costly, and to grant much higher priority to other scientific andengineering mega-projects, the oceans in particular.
4 The main costs of space exploration arise from the fact that weare set on sending humans, rather than robots. The reasons such efforts driveup the costs include: A human needs a return ticket, while a robot can go oneway. Space vehicles for humans must be made safe, while we can risk a bunch ofrobots without losing sleep. Robots are much easier to feed, experience littletrouble when subject to prolonged weightlessness, and are much easier to shieldfrom radiation. And they can do most tasks humans can.
5 British Astronomer Royal Martin Rees writes, “I think that thepractical case (for manned flights) gets weaker and weaker with every advancein robotics and miniaturization. It’s hard to see any particular reason orpurpose in going back to the moon or indeed sending people into space at all.”Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg calls manned missions “an incredible waste ofmoney” and argues that “for the cost of putting a few people on a very limitedset of locations on Mars we could have dozens of unmanned, robotic missionsroving all over Mars.”
6 The main argument for using humans is a public relations one. AsNeil deGrasse Tyson puts it in ForeignAffairs, “China’s latest space proclamations could conceivably produceanother ‘Sputnik moment’ for the United States, spurring the country intoaction after a relatively fallow period in its space efforts.” Also, astronautsare said to inspire our youth to become scientists and explorers. However, itis far from established that we cannot achieve the same effects by making otherR&D projects our main priority.
7 Take the oceans, about which we know much less than the dark sideof the moon. Ninety percent of the ocean floor has not even been charted, andwhile we have been to the moon, the technology to explore the ocean’s floors isstill being developed. For example, a permanent partially-submerged seaexploration station, called the SeaOrbiter, is currently in development.
8 The oceans play a major role in controlling our climate. But wehave not learned yet how to use them to cool us off rather than contribute toour overheating. Ocean organisms are said to hold the promise of cures for anarray of diseases. An examination of the unique eyes of skate (ray fish) led toadvances in combating blindness, the horseshoe crab was crucial in developing atest for bacterial contamination, and sea urchins helped in the development oftest-tube fertilization.
9 The toadfish’s ability to regenerate its central nervous system isof much interest to neuroscientists. A recent Japanese study concluded that thedrug eribulin, which was derived from sea sponges, is effective in combatingbreast, colon, and urinary cancer.
10 Given the looming crisis of water scarcity, we badly need moreefficient and less costly methods to desalinate ocean water. By 2025, 1.8billion people are expected to suffer from severe water scarcity, with thatnumber jumping to 3.9 billion by 2050 — well over a third of the entire globalpopulation.
11 If the oceans do not make your heart go pitter-patter, how aboutengineering a bacterium that eats carbon dioxide — and thus helps protect theworld from overheating — AND excretes fuel which will allow us to drive ourcars and machines, without oil? I cannot find any evidence that people young orold, Americans or citizens of other nations, would be less impressed or lessinspired with such a breakthrough than with one more set of photos of a faraway galaxy or a whole Milky Way full of stars.
12 Space enthusiasts claim that space exploration has generatedmajor spinoffs for our life right here on Earth. Tyson quotes President Obamasuggesting that the Apollo mission “produced technologies that have improvedkidney dialysis and water purification systems; sensors to test for hazardousgases; energy-saving building materials; and fire-resistant fabrics used byfirefighters and soldiers,” and adds a few more innovations to the list:“digital imaging, implantable pacemakers, collision-avoidance systems onaircraft, precision LASIK eye surgery, and global positioning satellites.”
13 Of course, the space environment is radically different from theone on Earth. Materials and technologies that are suited for a vacuum, zerogravity, and extreme cold and heat are not the ones we typically can use onEarth.
14 Elias Carayannis, professor of Science, Technology, Innovationand Entrepreneurship at The George Washington University, notes “governmentagencies — particularly those such as the National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration that are continually pressured to justify their activities —tout the spin-off value of their investments in sometimes quite extravagantclaims.” Products such as Velcro, Tang, and Teflon that are often cited asspinoffs of space technology did not actually result from the space program.
15 Space promoters tell us, once every few months, that there aresigns that there might be or has been water on one of the planets that mightmake “life” possible. I wonder if some of those who hear these reportsinterpret them to mean that we expect to find a civilization out there. Whatscientists are really talking about is organic material, the kind found in anycompost — not a reason to spend billions of dollars of public funds.
16 In short, do not cry for Mars. It is not going away. We can sendR2D2 to explore it and still keep a whole pile of dough for important andinspiring exploration missions right here on Earth, starting at the beachnearest you.
火星可以等待，海洋等不起
阿米泰·埃齐奥尼
1 太空旅行仍然举世瞩目，而最近詹姆斯·卡梅隆代表美国《国家地理杂志》进行的一次旅行，一次到达海洋最深处——约七英里深——的重大新远征，却没有多少人关注。
2 著名的《外交事务》杂志的封面文章做了一次“太空之辩”。《60分钟时事杂志》节目最近有一则报道，谈到收缩我们的太空探索活动对佛罗里达州航天工业的严重影响。纽特·金里奇今年早些时候呼吁在月球建立永久基地，他以此吸引了不少眼球。奥巴马总统也谈到要准备最终将美国人送入绕火星航行的轨道。
3 事实上，我们有很充分的理由停止为载人航天任务花费数十亿美元，以更安全更节约的方式探索太空，并让其他科研项目和大型工程项目优先上马，特别是海洋项目。
4 太空探索的主要成本源于一个事实，即我们一心想把人（而不是机器人）送往太空。这样做就抬高了成本，因为人去太空需要有回程票，而机器人可以有去无回。载人的太空飞行器必须安全，而拿几个机器人去冒险，不会使我们夜不能眠。机器人还容易喂养，长时间处于失重状态也无大碍，防辐射也容易。人能做的事，它们大多都能做。
5 英国皇家天文学家马丁·里斯写道，“我认为，随着机器人研究和微型化的每一个进步，载人航天飞行实用性之辩会越来越单薄无力。很难看到任何特别的理由或目的，再把人送往月球或太空”。诺贝尔奖得主斯蒂文·温伯格把载人航天任务称为“令人难以置信的烧钱”，并说“用把几个人送到火星有限几处地方所花的钱，我们可以执行几十次无人驾驶的探索任务，让机器人跑遍火星各处。”
6 用人完成太空探索的主要理由是公共关系。正如尼尔·德格拉斯·泰森在《外交事务》杂志撰文所说，“中国最近的航天活动公告可能会对美国产生另一个‘斯普特尼克时刻’，刺激美国在太空努力相对放松了一段时间后采取行动”。另外，据说宇航员会激励我们年轻人成为科学家和探险家。然而，没有证据表明，如果我们主要优先其他研发项目，就不能达到同样的效果。
7 就以海洋为例。我们对海洋的所知，远远少于我们对月球背光面的了解。90%的海底没有绘制成图。我们已经到过月球，但探索海底的技术还正在开发之中，比如，目前正在开发海洋探测者号，它是一个部分沉没在水下的永久性海洋探测站。
8 海洋在控制我们的气候中起着主要作用。但我们尚未学会如何利用海洋为我们降温而不是使已经过热的气候火上加油。海洋生物据说有望提供治愈一系列疾病的办法。研究鳐鱼（也称雷鱼）的独特的眼睛，使我们在战胜失明方面取得了进步。在研发细菌污染测试方法方面，马蹄蟹至关重要，而海胆对试管受精的研发也很有帮助。
9 豹蟾鱼的中枢神经系统能再生，这使神经科学家很感兴趣。最近日本的一项研究得出结论，从海绵中提炼出来的药物艾日布林，在防治乳腺癌、结肠癌、泌尿系统癌症方面很有疗效。
10 由于水资源短缺危机迫近，我们急需更有效、更低成本的方法来淡化海水。到2025年，预计将有18亿人遭受严重的缺水，而到2050年该数字将跳到39亿，大大超过全球人口的三分之一。
11 如果海洋并不使你怦然心动，那么制造一种细菌，它能吃掉二氧化碳，不让世界过热，并且它还排出燃料，使我们开车开机器都不用油，你觉得怎样呢？我有理由相信，这样的科学突破将令人们（无论老少，无论是美国人还是别国公民）感动和振奋，其震撼力将远远超过又一组遥远星系或整个群星点缀的银河系的照片。
12 热心太空的人声称，太空探索为我们在地球上的生存产生了重要的副产品。泰森引用奥巴马总统的话说阿波罗计划“产生了改进肾透析和水净化系统的技术、检测有害气体的传感器、节能的建筑材料、消防队员和士兵使用的耐火织物，”他还另加了几项其他创新，如“数字成像、植入式心脏起搏器、飞机上的防撞系统、眼科的精密激光视力矫正手术，以及全球定位卫星。”
13 当然，空间环境与地球环境大相径庭。适用于真空、零重力、极端温度的材料和技术不是我们通常可以在地球使用的。
14 乔治·华盛顿大学科技创新和创业教授伊莱亚斯·卡拉扬尼斯指出，“政府机构——尤其是像美国国家航空航天局之类的需要不断证明自己活动的必要性的机构——有时把航天业副产品的价值吹得天花乱坠。”实际上经常被引为航天技术的副产品维可牢、菓珍、特氟龙等，并非产生于太空计划。
15 每隔数月，太空计划的推动者就要告诉我们，有迹象表明，有一颗行星上可能有或者曾经有过水，使“生命”有可能存在。我真不知道，听到这些报告的人是否会把它们解读为我们期待在太空发现一个文明社会。其实科学家们说的是有机物质，在任何堆肥中发现的那种物质——这可不是花费数十亿美元公共资金的理由。
16 总之，不要为火星哭泣，它不会消失。我们可以把R2D2（宇航技工机器人）送上去探索火星，同时仍能用省下的一大堆钱，从离你最近的海滩开始，在地球上进行重要而令人鼓舞的探索。
