Beyond the Moon: Mars

Beyond the Moon beckons Mars. Johannes Kepler wrote a letter to Galileo Galilei in 1609 wherein Kepler proposed that the two of them divide the workload on exploring the solar system. Galileo would concentrate on the "objects" to be reached by sailing vessels through the oceans of space, while Keppler would concentrate on the laws of motions and celestial dynamics. The dream of "sailing the seas of space" has been with mankind for thousands of years. The idea of "sailing the rays of the Sun" into the heavens has been with us even as early as the Ancient Egyptians.*

More succinctly, this destination beyond the immediate goal of the Moon is also described in Wernher von Braun's Memorandum of May 1945 to the US Army, when laying out the state of art and the potential of Space for the decades ahead.

Yet very serious, open issues remain to be answered before setting out safely to this destination and even when answered - what shall be the potential of Mars for mankind?

Exciting programs are envisioned in the decades ahead, including the still open possibility of finding traces of (earlier) life on Mars.

The Nebra Sky Disk
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*In Ancient Egypt, the sky was a goddess called Nut. She was often shown as a cow standing over the earth, her eyes being the sun and the moon. She is kept from falling to earth by Shu, who was the god of air and wind, or by a circle of high mountains. As this heavenly cow, she gave birth to the sun daily. The sun would ride in the 'Solar Barque' across Nut's star covered belly, which was a great cosmic ocean. Then, as evening fell, Nut would swallow the sun, creating darkness. She is also pictured as a giant sow, suckling many piglets. These piglets represented the stars, which she swallowed each morning before dawn.