Hello, Earth to Mars

When Daniel S. Goldin took the helm at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1992, he shifted the agency away from its original emphasis on heroic but scientifically dubious missions like manned moon shots and pointed instead toward pragmatic projects promising scientific and economic returns. Goldin succeeded admirably, trimming NASA’s budget by 30% while helping industry cash in on space research.

The metal alloy testing now taking place aboard the space shuttle Columbia, for instance, is expected to lead to profitable new consumer products. And research drawn from earlier “microgravity” experiments on the shuttle is helping pharmaceutical companies design drugs for ailments from cold sores to cancer.

There have been worries that by commercializing space we will take the romance and wonder out of it. But ever since last Friday, when scientists at Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory landed their Pathfinder probe on Mars, there has been good cause to put such fears to rest. For JPL’s scientists have described their mission with such exuberance that the slow crawl of Pathfinder’s rover down a 20-degree ramp onto the planet’s floury pink soil seems as exciting as a landing on an earlier July: in 1969, when Neil Armstrong descended from the Apollo 11 landing craft for the first “giant leap” for mankind--onto the moon.

The probes have already justified their expense by producing discoveries like those revealed in photos sent home Monday; among other things, astronomers say, they provide unmistakable evidence of great floods a billion or so years ago on the Red Planet. But even more valuable are the scientists at JPL, whose infectious enthusiasm has helped turn all our heads upward.