Letters: Mission to Mars

Re “‘Wheels down on Mars,’” Aug. 6

So, many brilliant scientists at the California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and around the world are cheering for the landing of Curiosity on Mars, just as the monarchs of England, Spain and the Netherlands were jubilant a few centuries ago when sailors found new lands and resources.

Humans are destined to find a cure elsewhere but don’t seem to have a clue why we are tangled up in a “population mess” on Earth.

I guess in the next decades we will pour more billions of dollars into “curiosities” while more billions of people will be starving and hopeless about their future. Is “curiosity” worth it?

Duc Nguyen

Pomona

We did it. We conceived the Curiosity rover’s mission, we designed the Curiosity rover, we built the Curiosity rover, and we put it on Mars — perfectly. This is what Californians do.

There’s no place else in the world that could have done this.

Art Detman

Pacific Palisades

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