Journal Entry # 7

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/science/space/11marssoil.html?ref=science

As the New York Times reported, the Phoenix Lander, which is the latest NASA project to Mars, has been able to collect a sample of Martian soil. The Lander has been trying for days to scoop up a sample of the ground, which curiously seems to have a sticky composition.
The goal of retrieving samples is so that the Phoenix Lander can test for water and mineral compositions within the samples. The $420 million dollar project set off 10 months ago and arrived on May 25th, 2008 on the Northeast polar caps of the planet.
It is remarkable to be alive at such a point in time as this. Growing up watching Star Trek and the Martian Chronicles, I was a Trekky Jr.(although not realizing it at the time), and became fascinated with the ideas of other life forms besides the human being existing in the vast and infinite universe.
With the monumental event of the Phoenix Lander reaching Mars and being able to acquire a sample, these explorations are the ongoing search for signs of life, whether past or present in our strange and still foreign stellar surroundings. I often wonder, however, why do we feel the need to go so far? What about the moon?
IN 2006, NASA announced plans to progress forward with a substantial plan for lunar architecture and implementation. In an article posted on NASA’s website, it representatives stated, “NASA's Lunar Architecture Team, chartered in May 2006, concluded that the most advantageous approach is to develop a solar-powered lunar base and to locate it near one of the poles of the moon.”( http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/dec/HQ_06361_ESMD_Lunar_Architecture.html)
I have always been excited about space exploration but sometimes I feel that we go so far when there is a moon right above our heads, waiting to be utilized. This does not deter however, my excitement of the accomplishments made on Mars but I wonder how many galactic friends hide in a crater on the moon, ready for us to actualize across a their sunlit horizon.