To the editor: The print version of the op-ed calling on Congress to fund a mission to bring rocks from Mars back to Earth says this would “help us beat China and send humans to space.”
I read this article with interest because I wanted to know how rocks from Mars could help us “beat China.” The article defended congressional funding, but the only reference to “beating China” was about reaffirming American leadership in the robotics sciences.
Such a casual and empty use of the phrase “defeat China” adds nothing to public discourse, conveys the sense that we are at war with China, and contributes to anti-Asian hate.
I urge The Times to use those phrases more carefully.
Heidi Hu, Los Angeles
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To the editor: With all the problems facing this planet and our $34.5 trillion national debt, why spend billions of dollars sending people and robots to the Moon and Mars?
That money could be better spent helping the poor here and around the world. It could be spent fighting and preparing for climate change. It could be spent on making a college education less expensive or free, as it was for me in the 1960s. It could improve our health care “system.” It could be spent fixing our crumbling roads.
I can go on and on. Redirecting that money and that brainpower to where it will impact the people living on Earth.
Adelman Herb, Del Mar
