Why We Should Go To Mars Rhetorical Analysis

1004 Words3 Pages

Space travel is both fascinating and terrifying. The mystery of outer space captivates nearly all children and many adults. Neil Armstrong’s first words from the moon are iconic and will forever be engrained in the history of mankind. With the end of the Space Shuttle program many people have wondered if America’s space travels are coming to a close. Is space travel going to become a thing of the past? Kim Stanley Robison believes that the future of space travel, specifically an interplanetary mission to Mars, is not only fascinating, but necessary. In his short essay, “Why We Should Go to Mars”, Mr. Robinson starts with acknowledging that reasons for a mission to Mars “range from good to bad to terrible” (Robinson). He defines the range of common arguments which he believes are outlandish and seems to be wholly against the idea. His tone quickly changes as he presents what, in his opinion, are not only good but the best reasons as to why a Mars mission is not only a good idea, but a needed one. …show more content…

He states, “The better we are able to understand our planet, the better we will be able to keep it (and ourselves) healthy” (Robinson). This statement targets our emotions at the most basic level. The desire and will to survive is something that is encoded within our brain before we are born; it is something that we share with nearly every organism on the planet. After hooking the reader in with his passion and an appeal to our will to survive he continues with a logical explanation for why a mission of this magnitude is important to the continuation of life as we know it. The ability to understand our planet and how our actions effect it is essential to ensuring our survival and as furthering our scientific understanding of the world around us. We must have something to compare our planet to and as Robison points out, “Mars is not only the best choice, it is probably the only one”

Open Document