On Mars: A Moment of Power

What is power? Larousse defines it as “the ability to dominate and impose one’s authority.” If this is the case, the United States has provided a new and brilliant illustration thereof by landing their space vehicle at 7:32 in the morning with incredible precision: one minute late and 250 meters from the intended landing site. In addition to the technical success is the fulfillment of dreams — those of both young and old — conveyed by images seen worldwide.

There exists the temptation here and there to be blasé about the event, since Curiosity is not the first vehicle sent to Mars, and literature, sci-fi films and video games have long since familiarized us with the Red Planet. This would be a mistake, because the exploit is real. In 1997, the first robot was the size of a microwave. The current one is the size of a Twingo,* covered nearly 600 million kilometers and besides that is over-equipped! It should be noted that the average distance from Earth to the Moon is less than 400,000 kilometers. Also, in a scientific context the challenge is exciting. We are more or less certain that there is water on Mars. It is a case of finding traces of carbon molecules, two elements necessary for life.

This adventure is credited to the Americans. Barack Obama won his bet of refocusing the majority of NASA’s funds toward scientific research, to the detriment of manned flights. At several months before the end of the presidential term, a technical success is ripe for the picking. Furthermore, as a nation the United States can derive glory from this all the more legitimately as other elements take a turn for the worse. Its economy remains embroiled in the crisis which broke out in 2007. The military supremacy of Uncle Sam has been demolished in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even its domination in the sporting world is fraying. So far, China has won more Summer Olympic medals than the U.S.! Happily for the U.S., its technology, which changes the world or raises dreams, from Google to the iPad and Curiosity, are examples of their “soft power,” as is Hollywood in the realm of entertainment.

However, Washington would be wrong to rest on its laurels. This moment of power could well be nothing more than power for a moment, for China, India, Europe and Russia all have space projects as well. For the last few years Beijing has shown their mastery of the three key parameters in this domain; launchers, dockings in space and manned flights. Europe is working on the project ExoMars, which could permit Martian material to be brought back in 2018-2019.

But there is a point in which the Americans remain undefeated: the art of communication. Yesterday the whole world was able to view the explosion of joy by NASA analysts upon their success; on Thursday no one, or nearly no one, knew that Ariane 5 would achieve its 50th launch in a row.

*Translator’s Note: This refers to a small car produced by Renault, roughly equivalent to a Ford Focus.