1961 Magazine Fall 2016

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
I honestly don’t know which side of the coin to go
on. For me personally, I would like to see us up there.
It seems like the United States, we, don’t learn from
history, which means we can repeat things. You know
Sputnik, Pearl Harbors, to give you some examples. I
don’t know, that may be something that lights a fire
under people.
Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, who was
testifying before Congress, I’ll give you an example
I’m talking about; He was testifying and he asked
members of Congress, and he asked this rhetorical
question: How are you going to feel when the Chinese
land on the moon, crate up the American flag, bring
it back and put it on display in a museum in Beijing?
Now it’s not clear the Chinese would do that, but it’s
driving home the point, how are you going to feel
when another nation is up there doing these things
and you’re not.
Grant it, we did it 50+ years ago, but we’re not doing
it now, and that’s a message that may resonate with
politicians and that could change things.
MISSION CONTROL:
What’s it going to be like for the country that gets to
Mars first?
DR. JIM RICE:
It’s to be determined what will happen with Mars and
getting people up there. The country that gets there,
they bring their way of life, their form of government,
and their values. That’s just the way it goes. Exploration,
has always worked that way. People in the US like these
things: Juno, Jupiter, Gold Rim and the 4th of July, they
like these thing but they don’t really. You can believe
whatever you want in the poles. It depends how the
question’s asked. They have these poles and you can
believe what you want to, it depends on how the
question is asked. People in general support NASA but
when you ask if they want to increase the budget, they
don’t want to. Once again it’s about leadership. Once
you have the leadership. Once you have the leadership
in Washington DC. The president and congress to sign
it off, things will happen. Once you get that critical
Mass and momentum going, things will happen.
76
Fall 2016 1961 Magazine
MISSION CONTROL:
There are now countries launching missiles into the
satellite zone around Earth, which means that in a
war time scenario, satellite communication can now be
disrupted by military force. It seems that as time goes on
space will become the new battlefield. How important
are the technologies used in the Mars Rover missions in
aiding to defend countries and nations?
DR. JIM RICE:
The same technology that’s used to precision land a
spacecraft on mars can be used for military purposes
to put a nuclear warhead down your smokestack. So
these things go together. Now NASA is a civilian space
agency, with the Chinese government, for example,
there is no separation of civilian and military use, it’s
all under one big bag.
You see, it’s a technological world we live in and it’s
becoming more technological every second and if you
can’t compete in that technological arena and don’t
have an educated populous, then you’re not even in
the game. You’re out of the game. So you have to
compete in this, because our lives our becoming more
and more dependent on technology and it’s not going
to change. It’s only going to get more so.
MISSION CONTROL:
What’s your involvement with the Mars Rover missions?
DR. JIM RICE:
My title is Science Team Member but also Geology
Team Leader, this is on the Mars Exploration Rover
Project called MER and those were the twin Rovers
called Spirit and Opportunity. Opportunity is still going
as we speak but Spirit quit working about 6 years ago.
There’s another Rover mission on mars called curiosity
but I’m not on that Science Team. I have friends on
that team. Opportunity has been on Mars for over 12
½ years and still going. It’s an amazing story, those
Rovers were only supposed to last 90 days and both of
them exceeded expectations by orders of magnitude.