Flags and Footprints

Humans have, for millenniums, sought out the unknown. It is in our nature. I believe that the next great unknown is space. We are only at the beginning of our venture and our learning about space, but we have made some amazing accomplishments already. Our flags and our footprints are proof of those accomplishments.

We need to work in incremental steps in our exploration. We can do amazing things from here on Earth to learn about what is out there. We have thousands of satellites in space, collecting data, monitoring Earth, looking out into deep space, and much more. But until we physically go there we will never truly know the possibilities. We have set foot on our moon. This was an important step in our history with space, but it is time to take the next step.

I like many others believe that Mars is a good choice for that next "step". When we can put our flag, Earth's flag, on Mars and we make footprints on the surface we will have gained so much knowledge about space. Having lofty, seemingly impossible, goals is what pushes us to create what we never thought possible. It forces us to develop new technologies, make current technologies cheaper and more efficient, and to discover a lot a invaluable information in the process. So once we get to Mars, we can't stop there.

We can't forget about Mars of course, but we must always be looking forward and beyond what we know. The universe is too vast to stagnate our exploration and discovery. We should always be working towards a new place to place our flags and leave our footprints, because it shows that we have the technology and know-how to get there and we've learned a lot on the way.