Rosie Dawson-Hewes: Mars connection out of this world

Matt Damon stars in a film set on Mars, which was released this week, as NASA announced it had found chemical evidence of liquid water on the red planet.

This week Nasa announced its Curiosity rover had found chemical evidence of liquid water on Mars. Coincidentally, this week Matt Damon's newest big action flick, The Martian, hits cinemas here. The timing is so uncanny you'd think Nasa had planned it.

While Nasa astronauts were involved with the viral online marketing of the film, ahead of its release, the discovery of water on the red planet can't possibly have been planned. That aside, it has refuelled the general public's fire of interest in life on other planets.

The Martian, which follows a man trapped on Mars waiting for rescue, after being left there presumed dead by his colleagues, is the latest in a long list of films, books and art which explore our fascination with outer space.

Ever since we first started launching things into the stratosphere, humans have been intent on discovering what, exactly, is out there. It's a fascination, a curiosity if you will, that has driven technological advancements with equal impact on life here on earth.

I reckon the curiosity that drives us to explore other planets is innate. We are born with it. All you need to do is spend any time with a small child and you'll know what I mean. Everything is interesting to them - from a blade of grass to the digger across the road to their third toenail. It all has to be thoroughly explored. And they ask so many questions. At least 20 questions on every subject.

It's easy, as adults, to disregard their questions, or get frustrated at how long it takes to do anything while every item is examined in minute detail.

But really, we should be taking a leaf from their book. We should be nurturing that curiosity right through adulthood as well. It's all too easy to get caught up in everyday life and forget to look up and explore. It's easy to forget that everything on this planet is interesting. It's easy to not ask questions, when we really should be.

Questions such as, how are we treating Earth? Can we be doing better? Are we creating the best possible environment for future generations?

Not surprisingly, Nasa is treading very carefully on Mars. While Curiosity has discovered liquid water, there's no way we can test it unless humans go up and do it ourselves, thanks to an international treaty signed nearly 50 years ago.

Every country on Earth is bound by the stipulations of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which forbids "anyone from sending a mission, robot or human, close to a water source in the fear of contaminating it with life from Earth".

Science Alert reported this week that Curiosity "is about 50km from the site that scientists suspect holds liquid Martian water, but ... it's not allowed to go anywhere near it".

"This is because to get whereit is on the surface of Mars, Curiosity had to travel 225 million kilometres from Earth through space, and along the way it could have picked up dirt and dust and all kinds of mysterious microbes that make it farfrom sterile," it said.

Rich Zurek, the chief scientist for Nasa's Mars programme, explained that Nasa has to take extra precautions to prevent contamination.

"Our current rovers have not been sterilised to the degree needed to go to an area where liquid water may be present," he said.

And while Nasa could sterilise the bejeezus out of its rover, the process used would also wipe its internal memory clean, kind of defeating the purpose along the way.

So while we wait an estimated 15 years for astronauts to travel to Mars and ascertain whether life is possible there, we should keep asking ourselves those curious, but hard, questions.

Are we treating our current planet with the same respect Nasa is treating Mars?

After all, life is not a Pixar film and we can't all just fly off to another planet if we destroy this one.

What do you think?
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