We need NASA

Richard Belzer, of the television program Law and Order, authored a book entitled “UFOs, JFK and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don’t Have to be Crazy to Believe.” I remember reading and enjoying the book. The author contended that there are five-sided pyramids on Mars and that NASA (the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has purposely hidden that fact from an easily upset global populace. When I saw that Dr. Doug McCuistion was going to speak at the recent ARC Forum (February 11–14, in Orlando, Fla.; www.arcweb.com), I was excited. McCuistion was the director of the very recent, and very successful, Mars Curiosity mission. I was hopeful that he would have close-up photographs of the pyramids, and a detailed explanation of how they were built. On that front, the director’s presentation was a disappointment — on every other front, the audience’s highest expectations were achieved. Mars missions, including data collections, are extremely difficult. The Curiosity rover was equipped with many scientific instruments, including three gas chromatographs. Those chromatographs were capable of determining chemical compositions, but not crystalline structures. Carbon, for example, can exist…