DVD-2 34 MPI TO DATE, MPI'S series of space-exploration documentaries ...

MPI

TO DATE, MPI'S series of space-exploration documentaries has looked at the early years of the Russian space program, the role played by NASA's Gemini project and the politics behind the race to the moon. Now for the first time they're looking at something that hasn't happened yet-manned exploration of Mars.

Through computer animation and interviews with officials and researchers from NASA, JPL and the Space Frontier Foundation, the 50-minute documentary lays out just how very complicated it will be to get a man to Mars and back. A new kind of rocket is required, a new kind of fuel, and astronauts who can make a three-year trip in space. Before going to Mars, we'll need to finish the ISS, and might need to establish a station on the moon. Beyond that, several robot missions might need to be sent ahead in order to set up some of the equipment required by the first crew landing there.

In other words, it ain't gonna happen for a while.

There's little talk about previous missions or earlier assessments. First Steps on Mars is essentially a snapshot of where planning and research stand right now. (It would be interesting to come back in 15 years and look at it again. By then it might seem quaint.) As a documentary, it's not as slick as, say, an episode of Nova. A bunch of talking heads and a few repeated animated clips. Still, a lot of complex information is presented clearly and simply.

One weird thing, though. MPI's other space docs all had a harsh anti-communist tone. Granted, the Cold War and the space race were closely linked, but the narration for these films was written long after communism had collapsed. It always struck me as odd and unnecessary. The anti-communist flavor is missing here, with NASA officials instead insisting that any manned Mars mission would be an international effort.

So while that attitude has changed, there was still a subtext throughout the documentary that seemed strange-namely money. The guy from the Space Frontiers Foundation talks about setting up capitalist ventures on Mars. Other researchers talk about setting up factories on the moon so we can mine its resources. Even NASA's chief insists that there won't be any trips to Mars until it can be done on the cheap, and in such a way that it would have immediate economic benefits back here on Earth.

I'm sorry-I remember the moon shot. Any benefits that came out of it, technological or otherwise, were just gravy. What mattered was that we took the risk, spent the money and did it just to do it-not to set up factories.

I must admit it was a little disheartening to hear people from NASA talking that way nowadays.

JIM KNIPFEL