More than curiosity or altruism or even profit, what drives discovery is the spirit of competition. Whether it's unlocking a genetic code, developing a drug to cure disease or finding the key to longevity, the prospect of personal glory or national prestige propels us to risk reputation, capital and even our lives to get there first.
In the 20th century, stung by the triumph of the Soviet Union in putting Sputnik into orbit, former US President John Kennedy said that the US had "tossed its cap over the wall of space" to be first to land a man on the moon. We won that competition with communism in space, an augury of our later victories in ideology and political power.
Now we are stunned by our new successes in space. With the year 2004 still in its diaper, a spacecraft aptly named Stardust, launched five years ago, scooped up a shovelful of dust from the nucleus of the comet Wild 2 a quarter of a billion miles away. If it brings back even a thimbleful of these first materials from deep space two years from now, we may learn whether comet dust contains the organic molecules necessary for life -- which would be evidence that comets are universal messengers of life-producing chemicals.
Then, a few days later, came the US' robotic visitation of the probe named Spirit to Mars. We have been there before with a small probe but suffered two failures five years ago. Now our $820 million investment paid off as we placed a roving robot the size of a golf cart splat in the middle of a Connecticut-size crater that NASA calls Sleepy Hollow. We'll be lapping up the sight of color pictures galore online at the marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov Web site, but the purpose of the taxpayers' near-billion is to examine clues to past life in the minerals on Mars.
The rover's combination of microscope and camera, along with the German-built spectrometers, may answer the old speculation about "canals": Do the rocks show the previous presence of water, which could have supported life?
In both the Stardust's comet scoop and the Spirit's Martian microphotography, the key word is "life." Where does it come from? Where did it go? Where is it elsewhere in space? And who will be first to find it?
Ah, now we're back to the driving force of competition. But when it comes to space, a curious change has taken place in the nature of that drive. The desire to be first is there, but the fear of being beaten is less. When the European Space Agency's Mars Express containing Britain's lander, the Beagle 2, failed to communicate a "Merry Christmas" recently, the reaction here was not "Nyah, nyah, here comes ours." On the contrary, our feeling was "We failed a few times ourselves, and maybe your robot will be heard from yet."
In the same way, the fear factor is largely gone from China's plans for a lunar orbital station, France's commercial satellite launching service and Russia's attempts to stay in the game. Competition in space is keen but not mean.
In July, when our spacecraft Cassini (named after an Italian-born astronomer) completes its seven-year journey to Titan, a cloud-shrouded, planet-size moon circling Saturn, the lander called Huygens will be a European product. The wonderment at this search for life is a corrective to all the death and destruction, candidate clashes and cable catfights on today's media menu.
In Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan wrote in 1684 of the man with the muck rake who "could look no way but downwards" and could not see the celestial crown being offered him from above. Look up; the cooperative competition in space is inspiring.
Correction: An angel appeared to me in a dream last night to complain that I misquoted God in my last column. In the King James Version of the Hebrew Bible, God was reported to have said to Job: "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?" I mistakenly transposed the words "counsel" and "knowledge."
A clearer modern translation is in The New English Bible: "Who is this whose ignorant words cloud my design in darkness?"
My policy on botched quotations is to apologize to the source, but in this case, considering the potential consequences on Judgment Day, I repent in dust and ashes.
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