MIXED emotions greeted the signals, or lack of them, emanating this week from Mars. While British space scientists mourned the almost certain passing of Beagle 2 and the European Space Agency toasted the partial success of its Mars Express mission, rejoicing at NASA was unconfined. The landing of its rover, Spirit, has been a dream come true 鈥� and something the beleaguered agency desperately needed.
NASA is still reeling from the criticisms of the Columbia accident investigation board, its remaining three shuttles are still grounded, and even its crown-jewel space station seems to have sprung a leak. Adding extra urgency is the rumour that the Bush administration is about to announce major initiatives in space, including plans for a human presence on the moon and an eventual manned mission to Mars. As Columbia board member John Logsdon says: 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to announce a big new initiative in the wake of failures.鈥�
The new plans focus on human space flight 鈥� the very area suffering the greatest problems and cost overruns. This week鈥檚 achievement, however, comes from robotic exploration, which has been the source of some of NASA鈥檚 most dramatic and cost-effective missions. So NASA will still have to defend the plans against critics who say the space programme is misdirecting its energies.
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Yet when it comes to doing detailed science, even the people who build robotic explorers such as Spirit agree that nothing beats eyes, hands and brains. One test with a prototype Mars rover makes the point: while it searched in vain for traces of life at a desolate desert site, scientists standing nearby could see a green plant growing just beyond the camera鈥檚 view.
Putting humans in space has another effect. Many people in the space programme say they drew inspiration from watching the Apollo moon landings. The dazzling images now streaming back from Mars may similarly motivate a new generation with a desire to explore the planet. That hope is repeatedly voiced by the people running the Spirit rover.
One thing is clear: if NASA is going to send astronauts into space it must solve the deep-seated management problems revealed by the Columbia accident, such as keeping channels of communication open so that no potential glitch goes unchecked. And here, the latest Mars mission has shown hopeful signs. On the night of 2 January, within two days of Spirit鈥檚 landing, a junior engineer figured out a scenario that might have caused it to crash. By next morning that concern had passed up the chain of command and the on-board software was modified to eliminate the risk.
Maybe NASA has learned its lesson, or maybe it just got lucky this time. Either way, it is hard to argue with success, and it will be harder still if the agency pulls it off again in two weeks with its next rover, Opportunity.