THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
August 7, 1996
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
UPON DEPARTURE
The South Lawn
1:15 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon.
I'm glad to be joined by my science and
technology adviser, Dr. Jack Gibbons, to make
a few comments about today's announcement by NASA.
This is the product of years of
exploration and months of intensive study by
some of the world's most distinguished
scientists. Like all discoveries, this one
will and should continue to be reviewed,
examined and scrutinized. It must be
confirmed by other scientists. But clearly,
the fact that something of this magnitude is
being explored is another vindication of
America's space program and our continuing
support for it, even in these tough financial
times. I am determined that the American
space program will put it's full intellectual
power and technological prowess behind the
search for further evidence of life on Mars.
First, I have asked Administrator
Goldin to ensure that this finding is subject
to a methodical process of further peer
review and validation. Second, I have asked
the Vice President to convene at the White
House before the end of the year a bipartisan
space summit on the future of America's space
program. A significant purpose of this
summit will be to discuss how America should
pursue answers to the scientific questions
raised by this finding. Third, we are
committed to the aggressive plan we have put
in place for robotic exploration of Mars.
America's next unmanned mission to Mars is
scheduled to lift off from the Kennedy Space
Center in November. It will be followed by a
second mission in December. I should tell
you that the first mission is scheduled to
land on Mars on July the 4th, 1997 --
Independence Day.
It is well worth contemplating how
we reached this moment of discovery. More
than 4 billion years ago this piece of rock
was formed as a part of the original crust of
Mars. After billions of years it broke from
the surface and began a 16 million year
journey through space that would end here on
Earth. It arrived in a meteor shower 13,000
years ago. And in 1984 an American scientist
on an annual U.S. government mission to
search for meteors on Antarctica picked it up
and took it to be studied. Appropriately, it
was the first rock to be picked up that year
-- rock number 84001.
Today, rock 84001 speaks to us
across all those billions of years and
millions of miles. It speaks of the
possibility of life. If this discovery is
confirmed, it will surely be one of the most
stunning insights into our universe that
science has ever uncovered. Its implications
are as far-reaching and awe-inspiring as can
be imagined. Even as it promises answers to
some of our oldest questions, it poses still
others even more fundamental.
We will continue to listen closely
to what it has to say as we continue the
search for answers and for knowledge that is
as old as humanity itself but essential to
our people's future.
Thank you.
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