Walking on Mars: With the interactive image anyone can clearly see the terrain of Mars as if they were standing on top of Curiosity

One careful owner, low mileage, 0-085 mph in 20 minutes, 10 year battery life. Buyer must collect!

Just recently we received a message from Space- it read ‘I'm safely on the surface of Mars. GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!!’ It was, of course a tweet from the latest Mars Rover Curiosity to confirm that its ‘mission to Mars’ had been successful. An amazing achievement after the "six minutes of terror" – as the 1 ton Rover barrelled through the Martian atmosphere slowing from 12,000 mph to zero with the aid of a heatshield, a parachute and the retrorockets on the skycrane.

A great achievement, – paving the way for future manned missions and possible colonisation of the so-called “Red Planet”.

One of Curiosity’s main functions is to find out if Mars was ever ‘habitable’, analyzing samples drilled from rocks or scooped from the ground; seeking clues for whether conditions have ever been favourable or even fossilised microbial life. President Obama, in his congratulatory phone call to the Team at NASA made no bones about the fact that this Mission is all about looking for life on Mars.

Obama tells Mars rover team: ‘Let me know if you see Martians’ (NBC News headline 14th aug 2012)

Why did the United States fund an expensive, long term project to find out whether life did or could exist outside the earth and why continue to fund it in America’s present parlous economic situation?

Some would say that politically it was worth every cent. Its effect on public relations will be significant; while a $2.6 billion is a drop in the Ocean compared with the $5 billion a month spent by the USA on the war in Afghanistan.

This coup de theatre will undoubtedly be well worth the money spent for the world prestige the USA will gain; which is most important to a Nation which appears to be losing its grip as a Superpower. Such events are essential to show the world you have still got it, hence the tussle between USA and China in the Olympics – for both it heightens their prestige. This can be seen by Prime Minister David Cameron’s words on Britain coming third in the medals race; he declared, ‘Britain delivered, we showed the world what we were made of ’.

Search for the building blocks of life.

The most important part of Curiosity ’s Mission, is to determine whether Mars could ever have supported life and to this end one of its Objectives is to attempt to detect the chemical building blocks of life.

Why was this objective chosen? What purpose does such information serve? How would an undisputable ‘Yes life could possibly have existed’, or a ‘No it could not’ be worth spending $2.6 billion dollars to find out! Could it be just another example of man’s desire to take God out of the equation. Truly “the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.” (Psalm 14:1). The building blocks of life are carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen. Scripture reveals all we need to know about them in Genesis 2:7: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul [being]”. God’s formula is quite simple:  Dust of the ground + His breath of life = living, breathing being.  Let us not look to the “wise” of this world to try to prove otherwise but rather, let us be wise and put our trust in our Creator, when He said.. Isaiah 45:22 “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” 

Sadly, many feel the need to prove once and for all that ‘life’ came not from God but was the result of a happy combination of events and the right mix of elements. Yet it takes as much ‘faith’ to believe that all occurred in nowhere as a result of an indiscriminate ‘Big Bang’, as it does to believe the Bible’s account of the Creation in Genesis 1:16 ‘And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.’

Another Message from Space

The Scientific World, has not always been so ready to endorse the accidental early development of the Universe. We have the wonderful example of the Astronauts who in December 1968 were the first men to orbit the Moon in Apollo 8. While in orbit they paid homage to the Great Creator of the Universe by reading from His Words in Genesis Ch 1. Here is what they said... vv1-10*

Bill Anders 

"We are now approaching lunar sunrise and, for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Jim Lovell

"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

Frank Borman 

"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas: and God saw that it was good. And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas – and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth."

All three Astronauts had science degrees and at that time were happy to give glory to God for His wonderful Creation. Today, scientists are much more restrained in their views, the majority appearing to favour evolution over Creation, so; what has changed? Perhaps its indicative of a gradual drift away from God. In the years after the Second World War, schools, at least in the UK, had a ‘Service’ of hymn and prayer to start the day. The only subject to be taught which was mandatory was, ‘Scripture’, where one lesson every week was required. Science was taught to young teenagers usually with no special bias towards Evolution or Creation. However, as the years progressed a new spirit of unbelief began to grow. In the ‘60’s’, attitudes towards ‘the Establishment’ changed radically and a culture of freedom from all so called restricting views developed. Belief in Evolution fitted in well with these ideas because belief that mankind developed from random, fortuitous combinations of chemicals, frees one from any responsibility to a Higher Being. It was reasoned that if you ‘do your own thing’ without apparently harming anyone then how can that be ‘wrong’. Today’s Society has demonstrated how disastrously wrong this attitude can be. The Scriptures, also, show how man, left without a Spiritual Compass can go terribly astray. In the Prophecy of Jeremiah, we are told God’s opinion of us. Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

 Mankind’s efforts to improve his lifestyle along the lines of doing your own thing has demonstrated the truth of this. At present 33% of the world’s population is considered to be starving **, while the rest of the world squabble among themselves and squander its resources in building expensive toys to shoot out into space for no justifiable reason, except, perhaps, pride.

God’s plan for the Earth

Without God’s intervention, sooner or later the earth would become a Red Planet- red with the blood of its inhabitants, as superpowers or mini-powers come head to head. Man may have given up on the earth and started to search Space for another ‘home’, but God has not. In Isaiah 45:18, we read: “For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.” In spite of an unbelieving world, God’s purpose is steadfast. In Numbers 14:21 he proclaims: “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.” And this purpose will come to fruition; for His Word will not return unto Him void, but it shall accomplish that which He pleases. (Isaiah 55:11). 

This purpose will commence with the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will give all mankind the opportunity to serve God and live peaceful and healthy lives on Earth ; just as he taught his disciples to pray,’ Mt 6:10  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.’ May that time come soon.

Let us not seek “to the stars” to escape our problems, or explain our existence; instead, “Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is His name” (Amos 5:8).

When we consider the vastness and beauty of Space, surely it is evident that it is the LORD with a great Creative Act who made all things.  Isa 40:12  Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

Let this be the answer to our Curiosity!

 

References:

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_8_Genesis_reading

** (http://www.statisticbrain.com/world-hunger-statistics)

 Acknowledgements:

blog.360cities.net