The Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity, landed on Mars today, at 1.39pm Singapore time. I was following live via the online streaming and twitter, and eyes went all misty when the team at NASA control centre went wild upon confirmation of touchdown.
Back when I was young, I always dream of making a difference to the human race. I dreamed of finding a cure for some disease, or inventing something that benefits mankind, or becoming the next Einstein, or Edison. As I grow older, and with more self-awareness, I realised it will forever remain a dream. But I have never stop admiring at the people who keeps pushing the boundaries, who manages the impossible, who makes a difference.
The few hundreds of scientists at NASA, working together, managed to send a nuclear powered SUV size rover all the way from Earth to Mars, and then execute the landing procedure which everyone thought was crazy. I mean, think of all the millions of variables, the millions of possibilities that can cause it to fail, and yet these scientists still manage to do it.
I believe in science. Together with arts and culture, they advance the human race, so that every generation of humans is steps further than the one before. We should increase the funding in science, and it is encouraging to find many people pushing for increase funding for NASA immediately after the Curiosity success.
I wasn’t there when they put a man on the moon, I hope I will be still around when they put a man on Mars.
“Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.” – Edwin Hubble