Enlarge / Welcome to Mars. Sort of. (credit: Eric Berger)

I wasn’t sure what to expect when walking into the new Mars exhibit at Space Center Houston. For technical and financial reasons, as well as a flagging national commitment, NASA just doesn’t seem like it will send humans to Mars any time soon. The space agency’s “Journey to Mars” is long on hype, but short on concrete plans and funding. With that said, the thought of actually landing on Mars remains hard to resist.

The museum had invited Ars for a behind-the-scenes tour of Mission Mars in January, just before it opened as a permanent exhibit. Although some final work remained in progress, the exhibit was far enough along to conclude—happily—that NASA’s Journey to Mars will not be forced down the throats of visitors. Rather, the museum recognizes that NASA’s priorities can change as new presidential administrations come and go.

“At some point humans are going to have to leave Earth,” explained Paul Spana, the museum’s exhibits manager. “It’s in the nature of humans to go beyond, into the next valley. We’ve been to the Moon. Hopefully we’ll be going back soon. But as we eventually expand into the solar system, the next logical place to go will be Mars. We want to help people understand what that might be like.”