Are America’s days leading the world in space exploration behind it?
The plutonium-powered US craft that pulled off an amazing, hitch-free landing on Mars yesterday says otherwise.
Curiosity landed seamlessly in a Martian crater — and, in a flash, reasserted America’s pre-eminent role in space exploration.
A lab-on-wheels of unprecedented sophistication, Curiosity will rove for the next two years, exploring the Red Planet and searching for signs of life.
In an era when global superpowers vie for ever-expanding spheres of influence, the rover’s impeccable touchdown surely helps retain the United States’ leading position in a vital strategic realm.
And in technical know-how overall.
The extraordinary achievement involved lowering the vehicle via 25-foot cables after a rapid deceleration from 13,200 mph during “seven minutes of terror.” Nothing in the history of space exploration compares. (The Soviets landed a craft on Mars in 1971, but it went silent almost immediately.)
Said John Holdren, President Obama’s science adviser: “If anybody has been harboring doubts about the status of US leadership in space . . .there’s a one-ton, automobile-size piece of American ingenuity . . .on the surface of Mars right now.”
Again, America has gone where no man, and just a few rovers, have gone before.