“On Mars, in the belly of a rover named Perseverance, a titanium tube holds a stone more precious than any diamond or ruby on Earth.”

The Trump Administration slashed NASA science funding, threatening the Perseverance rover, space telescopes, and the people who operate them. Thousands of job cuts and buyouts followed. The piece argues for “intergenerational vision”—that solar system exploration represents what most recommends our civilization to the future. The Voyager spacecraft, still drifting outward, could become the final surviving artifact of human existence if we abandon the reach into space.