Readers React: Humans are too high-maintenance for Mars. We should keep sending robots only

To the editor: I’ve waited for a scientist to throw cold water on the idea of sending humans to Mars, so I was thrilled when I started reading astronomy professor David Weintraub’s April 30 op-ed article, “We need to know if there is life on Mars before we send humans there.”

Alas, Weintraub just filed a negative environmental impact report focused on human contamination of life forms that may be there. It’s a valid issue, but there are so many simple reasons to leave humans behind until much later.

Frail humans require too much “stuff” to survive in space: oxygen, food, water, heating, cooling, pressurization, medication, sanitation, suits, restraints and so much more. These items add up to weight, bulk, layers of gear, electronics, storage and living space.

Stuff means billions of dollars more. Murphy’s Law runs rampant when people are involved. Robots don’t need that stuff.

Imagine how much more we’d know about Mars now if we didn’t spend so much money on manned spaceflight. The ambitions of billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos for manned flights to Mars are ridiculous — like rich amateurs being escorted to their deaths on Mt. Everest.

Roger Krenkler, Westlake Village

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To the editor: The American leadership is so invested in new technologies and especially weaponry, it is no surprise that we will soon spend enormous sums to send emissaries to Mars and beyond. If history can be believed, we’re seeking new enemies.

We should broadcast out a warning to whatever current occupants of distant planets there may be: “Beware: Earthlings will visit soon, and we are armed and dangerous.”

Robert Story, Laguna Beach

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To the editor: The scenario in which man’s exploration of Mars could harm native microbes reminds me of Europeans’ exploration of North America and the subsequent destruction of Native Americans’ ways of life.

Ronna Siegel, Van Nuys

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