Donald Trump has been elected president of the United States. The Mars Society is non-partisan and does not endorse any candidate. Many of our members and other space advocates supported Mr. Trump’s election, while many others opposed him. For reasons I have amply explained elsewhere, I have always been a member of the latter group.
That said, whatever we think of the various policies that Mr. Trump has put on offer, there is one that I and the vast majority of Mars Society members certainly support: his promise to initiate a program to send humans to the Red Planet. We will therefore support that initiative, not because we agree with Mr. Trump, but because on this issue, he agrees with us.
The point is significant. The age-old dream of endowing human minds and hands access to the cosmos does not belong to Donald Trump, nor should it be considered the exclusive possession of any particular political party. It belongs to humanity. It is essential that we make that clear, because the fortunes of political war are always changing. Should the Mars project come to be regarded as the mere hobby horse of a controversial politician, business leader, or partisan faction, it would surely face cancellation the next time the winds of power shift. We cannot let that happen. Precisely because we are not followers of Mr. Trump, we need to step up and help explain why all Americans, regardless of party, should support this initiative.
All of the reasons why humans should go to Mars stated in our Founding Declaration remain as valid today as they were when we first set it forth in 1998. We need to go for the knowledge, for the challenge, for our youth, for the opportunity, for our humanity, and for the future. As we said at that time:
“We must go for the future. Mars is not just a scientific curiosity; it is a world with a surface area equal to all the continents of Earth combined, possessing all the elements that are needed to support not only life, but technological society. It is a New World, filled with history waiting to be made by a new and youthful branch of human civilization that is waiting to be born. We must go to Mars to make that potential a reality. We must go, not for us, but for a people who are yet to be. We must do it for the Martians. We call upon all other individuals and organizations of like-minded people to join with us in furthering this great enterprise.”
For whatever reasons they may have, massive forces have now stepped forward to lend their help to make our vision a reality. We will not reject their efforts. On the contrary, we will do our level best to make sure that any humans to Mars program launched by the Trump or any other US administration is a brilliant success. We will act to make sure that it is a victory for the human spirit that not only Americans, but all those who share our ideals, can take part and pride in, demonstrating the power of reason, creativity, and courage to overcome all obstacles and once again astonish the world and all future ages with what free people can do.
