when the process counts more than the goal --- Having worked for 15 years in space technologies, I have obviously to disagree. Space missions are an extremely powerful tool of innovation, and the real goal is not a human being that lands on Mars, but rather the whole process. And that brings advancements and benefits to all. Long duration space flights make the engineering community to tackle and solve extremely complex problems, developing highly innovative technologies. I also think that it plays an important role in inspiring young researchers to purse a professional career in this field. Long duration flights are for example pushing the advancement of the knowledge on our metabolism and on aging. The consequence of that is the development of adequate pharmaceutical products and therapies, that could be extremely useful to support the quality of elderly population. And at the end of the day, the reason of going to Mars is the same reason that led all the human beings to discover the surroundings, expanding the boundaries of knowledge. And this can simply never be stopped

Source author: Vojko Bratina vbratina@katamail.com