Do the Balance of Pros and Cons Justify Sending a Manned Mission to Mars?

Human beings are explorers by nature. Centuries ago, we explored the new western
lands; now we want go beyond, we want to explore space. Space exploration has attracted
us since ancient times. In fact, there is a specific planet that catches more our attention than
any other: Mars. Due to its similarity to Earth, the “Read Planet” has motivated us to
explore it. Therefore, robotic missions to Mars are being sent since the 1970’s -working
really well. However, now some scientists think it’s time to advance on human missions.
They claim that it’s the only way we can reach important achievements. But what about the
risks of a manned flight to Mars, are they worth the risk? Even though some believe that
sending a manned spacecraft to Mars will be beneficial to us, there are many more risks and
reasons to believe the contrary.

Opponent to this idea assert that a manned mission to Mars would inspire humankind.
However, inspirations are not a sufficient justification for a Mars mission. They might
have a point thinking like that, but many other people, besides astronauts, can inspire much
better the society. For instance, great political and religious leaders such as Margaret
Thatcher, Jhon Paul II, or Mother Teresa, who really cared about the planet and society,
made revolutions and change the world for good without having been on the Moon or
Mars. We can inspire society from Earth.

Opponents also claim that a human mission to visit and land on the planet Mars is
necessary to bring improvement in technology and discoveries in the origins of life. Chris
Welch, a lecturer in space technology at Kingston University, said, “Robots can do a lot,
but having multiple trained human beings there would tell us so much more.” To a certain
extent they are right, but what about the cost of a manned mission to Mars? It seems like
they are forgetting this. According to NASA, a people-to-Mars program would cost about
$600 billion. That’s just too expensive. Robotic craft could do the job as well at a fraction
of the cost. Currently, it’s not convenient to send a manned spacecraft to Mars with our
existing technology. It will cost too much. We need to improve our launch systems and
advanced propulsion before we start sending people to space. What if something bad
happens during the expedition, rescue mission to Mars is not possible with our current
technology. Maybe we can take a decade or so to improve space technology until this Mars
mission gets faster, safer, and cheaper.

Finally, those who support this manned mission argue that exploring and colonizing
Mars will give us a crucial understanding of how close we are coming to killing the Earth.
They say that if Mars is dead now, but once was alive, understanding how Mars died could
be the key to our survival. Still, there’s always a possibility to find nothing but irrelevant
things. Besides, even if we find something, by the time it happened, Earth may be in
serious trouble. It is a fact that global warming and greenhouse effect are getting worse.
Wouldn’t it be better to start acting now to save our planet than to wait for something that
we could never find? While there are people who try to persuade to waste billions of dollars
in a mission that could not bring some benefits to our society, there are also people
suffering from starvation, abuse, poverty, etc. who need help.

To sum up, a manned mission to Mars is now not convenient. Our current technological
barriers don’t make it possible without spending too much money, and we have already
Earth problems that need to be solved first.