Scientist’s Fear an End to U. S. Program to Explore Mars; The Rest of Us Fear It Will Not Be Ended

If it is Possible to Spend Billions With Absolutely No Benefits, This May Be It

Unknown to many of us is the fact that the cash strapped United States Government has been spending billions on plans to engage in an extensive exploration of the planet Mars.

Mars explorers should be ecstatic. At Cape Canaveral, the biggest, most sophisticated rover ever aimed at our planetary neighbor sits atop a towering Atlas V rocket. Dubbed Curiosity, the $2.5 billion dune buggy-sized robotic scientist is poised for a Nov. 25 launch. Arrival is scheduled for next August.

Yes, they should be ecstatic, the rest of us, crestfallen.  How exactly can anyone justify $2.5 billion for a dune buggy to roam around Mars.  But there is hope

At a White House meeting during the last week of October, administration officials “were clearly not very keen on signing up” for unmanned Mars missions in 2016 and 2018, said Daniel Britt, who attended the meeting as head of the planetary science division of the American Astronomical Society.

Why would the White House be turning negative on exploring Mars?  How about this for an answer.  There is absolutely no value to anyone on Earth from a manned or unmanned exploration of Mars.

Yep, that explains it.