By Virginia You
Staff Writer

The decision between attending a party or a forum wasn't tough for the nearly 200 people who attended Friday night's Students for the Exploration and Development of Space Public Forum on Space in Loeb Playhouse.

The day started out at 8 in the morning when the two distinguished speakers discussed their points of view.

Later that day, at 2:30 in the Mechanical Engineering building, Dr. Alan Binder, founder and president of the Lunar Research Institute & Project Scientist for the Lunar Prospector Mission, gave his hour long speech on the Lunar Prospector Mission and why man should use the moon as a stepping stone for the exploration of other planets.

The next hour, Dr. Pascal Lee — NASA Ames Research Scientist, head of the Haughton-Mars Project and a member of the Mars Society Steering Committee — gave background on what happened during his research and tied it in with his perspective on why man should go straight to Mars.

Throughout Binder and Lee's speeches, the audience of about 50 learned various facts. One was that the moon is the size of North and South America, while Mars is a combination of all the Earth's continents. Also, tanning beds wouldn't be needed on Mars according to Lee because "you will tan 800 times faster on Mars."

That night from 8 to10, Binder and Lee debated on whether visiting the moon or Mars was the best route, while professor James Longuski, of aeronautics and astronautics, moderated them. It started with Longuski presenting each speaker and the panelists, who were three Purdue professors, and then each speaker was allowed a 15-minute opening speech.

In Binder's opener, he listed the reasons why man should go to the moon first. Among the reasons were that man could live on a foreign body, it provides a place of training and it is a few days away from Earth.

Lee argued in his opener that visiting Mars is cheaper, if calculated correctly, and that man should take the chance of exploring Mars.

Next came one question from each panelist. Binder and Lee's responses helped clarify their beliefs. "My ultimate goal is the colonization of space," said Binder.

After each panelist asked their question, the floor was open to questions from the audience. Then came the speakers' closing statements.

Throughout the debate, Lee made clear his point that Mars is unexplored and it has the possibilities of life, even though it appears barren, so traveling to Mars makes more sense to Lee than going back to the moon.

"It's just the realization that we've been to the moon and know what it's like," said Lee. "It's a great, interesting place that needs to continue to be explored. But if we are faced with a choice of going to either or, then my choice is Mars because it's possible and it makes more sense."

Binder, on the other hand, has always known that the moon should be the stepping stone to other planets.

"It was always clear to me, ever since space was explored," said Binder. "It was something that I grew up with and accepted."

Another thing that has been clear to Binder for quite some time is that the public doesn't have the knowledge it should on why space exploration is happening.

"One of the problems that I've alluded to many times is that NASA has done a terrible job in making anyone understand why we do any of this," said Binder. "There's no interest or support. Here we are, 30 years later (than the first visit to the moon), talking about it instead of being up there."

Lee, on the contrary, said that if man goes to the moon first, the exploration of Mars will be delayed.

"We are on the eve of launching humans on another space venture," said Lee. "If we chose to go to the moon now, we're unlikely to see humans on Mars for a long, long time. It's going to be a big diversion; not a springboard."

After two hours of debating, the opposing views of both scientists had not budged. Yet, both have agreed that by being involved in such a debate, they hope to help others understand their conclusions.

"It's always good to hear the questions that people have," said Binder. "Their questions tell me what is important to them and what they care about. That's why you debate — to find out where the strengths and weaknesses are."