Peter H. Smith

Peter H. Smith

7/16/2009 @ 5:00PM

Beyond, To Mars

Revolution was in the air as I completed my undergraduate studies at Berkeley in 1969.

Assassinations of our national leaders, riots in the inner cities and Vietnam War protests rocked the country; violent demonstrations brought the National Guard and martial law to campus. Graduating students felt empowered and began to lead the charge for greater rights for minorities and women. Ironically, my plans were put on hold due to arrogance; I failed to test out of the one-credit American history requirement and had to stay the summer to take the dreaded course. This delay made all the difference.

That’s because my daily history lectures that summer were offset by a research job in which I attempted to untangle the structure of the titanium dioxide molecule using a spectrometer (a measurer of light) the size of a banquet hall. Because I lacked one unit of historical knowledge, my career path began to take shape. By the end of the summer I had transferred to my first real job–building a rocket spectrometer that, for a few minutes after launch, popped outside the dense atmosphere 100 miles above New Mexico to reveal an ultraviolet sun.

Meanwhile, midway through the summer, a major milestone in human history was reached: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took a walk on the moon. John F. Kennedy had stated this goal in two pivotal lectures, first to a joint session of Congress May 25, 1961, and again at Rice University in Houston on Sept. 12, 1962.

The newly formed NASA put all its resources toward getting an astronaut on the moon by the end of the decade. The immensity of the effort and the competition with the Soviet space program engendered a less visible revolution, one in which technicians, engineers and scientists grappled with a daunting challenge. The lure of joining these new space explorers seemed to come directly out of the pages of the same science fiction books that had supplied tales of adventure to my boyhood self.

The six successful landings and 12 moonwalkers were taking journeys with potential benefits that were hardly known at the time. Yes, the samples with which they returned have led to a deep understanding of the moon’s formation and history. But beyond that, the pride and glory that these Americans brought to the free world at a time of international tension cannot be overstated.

The images etched in each of our minds–of men encased in rigid spacesuits with reflective face masks, hopping across a barren, alien landscape, looking back to see the blue sphere of our Earth–have shaped us in ways that are only becoming clear as we grapple with planetary issues such as species extinction, pollution and climate change.

Kennedy was right when he told the audience at Rice, “Man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and cannot be deterred. The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind the race for space.”

So how do we explain President Richard Nixon’s ending of the Apollo program in December 1972, canceling the last three scheduled missions? Within a few years, the Saturn V fleet was put to pasture as museum exhibits.

With our astronaut crews restricted to low orbit around Earth, I became involved in the Pioneer missions to Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. Exploration was no longer the realm of the astronauts. The thrill of space discovery using instruments built in my own laboratory has been my passion for 40 years, the same 40 years since the moon landing.

Universities now play a significant role in robotic missions. For the last seven years, my responsibility has been developing and operating the Phoenix mission; its lander spent 151 Martian days photographing, digging and testing samples in the planet’s arctic.

As a result of concerted effort by international teams of scientists, Mars is revealing its secrets. We are approaching the day when it will make sense to send astronauts to Mars. The only question is whether it’s possible.

Where is our Kennedy to provide leadership and vision? Our heroes are too often not great explorers but rather TV personalities, actors and athletes acting out roles and playing games. Will future American history classes label our time as an era of great action films and talented sport heroes? The men and women making space history today go unrecognized by the masses.

In our study of Mars, my colleagues and I have continued the spirit of the Apollo program with the Mariner 9 orbiter in 1971 and the Viking landers of 1976. Recently, starting with the Pathfinder in 1996, a fresh armada of orbiters and landers is revealing the hidden truths.

We have learned enough about Mars–and beyond–to fill a library. Nearly 400 new solar systems have been discovered in our region of the Milky Way. Yet robotic missions must not be the ultimate end of our explorations in space.

The thrill of the first may be gone, but two generations have grown up experiencing no moonwalk other than that performed by the late Michael Jackson. True, a new corps of astronauts is preparing to go back to the moon by 2020. When we watch the event on high-definition television, will they seem like actors in a reality drama? Or will they generate the same awe Neil Armstrong did, as the public realized the accomplishment of leaving Earth and dangers as real as a burst oxygen tank?

The 40 years since Apollo 11 have spanned my entire career as a participant in robotic space missions. But the moon program is still the greatest technological accomplishment of all. In an era of turmoil and uncertainty, it is time to come together as an international community to stage another grand voyage into space.

While the Apollo veterans are still alive, let us go again to the moon–and quickly onward to Mars. Let us be shaped by the heroes we admire, because this new century needs another small team of men and women willing to venture forth, representing us all in search of new horizons.

Peter H. Smith is principal investigator for the NASA Phoenix Mars Mission and a senior research scientist at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.


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