metacool Thought of the Day

"Ultimately, it is not so much the goal that we should be concerned about as much as the process through which we attempt to achieve it. A return trip to Mars will require that we invent many new technologies and systems, all of which will have to perform seamlessly to ensure a safe and successful mission. Given the amount of uncertainty involved in such an endeavor, it is naïve to think we can sit here today and identify the date of our first touchdown and the means by which we will get there. Instead, we need to adopt a modular, experiment-driven approach, gradually building and verifying the set of technologies that will be needed for such a mission, while adapting our plans as we learn more about what approaches have merit, and which are likely to be dead ends."
-- Alan MacCormack