New Mars rover lands on planet's surface

[LoudClearVoice]

Early this morning, the latest Mars Rover, "Curiosity," successfully landed on the surface of Mars. http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/06/tech/mars-rover-curiosity/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

Over the past several years brillant pictures have been sent back and over the next 2 years, I'm sure the same will be true for this Rover.


So, this leads me to some points of discussion/questions:

Do you think life exists on Mars now or has ever existed on Mars?

Do you think life exists anywhere else in the universe?

Are these Mars missions and space exploration missions in general beneficial to the human race as a whole, or are countries, including the U.S. wasting too much time and money on these programs?



Now, to answer my own questions:

I do not believe life, or life as we know it, currently exists on Mars (even below the surface. However, I do believe that life did exist on the planet at some point in its past.

Going beyond that, I am a strong believer in life elsewhere. The odds of Earth being the only planet with life in the entire indefinite universe are so fractionally small. The question is, will we ever find them, or will they ever find us? Have we already (UFOs, Area 51 conspiracies, etc.).
Part of the problem is that we don't have the capacity to travel very far in space and the time it takes to send any kind of communications is ridiculous as of now.
An alien race could have sent us a message 200 years ago but we may not get it for 1000 years.


Finally, I do not believe Martian exploration or space exploration as a whole is a waste of money or time. It's an unexplored frontier. If people can live in space or on the moon or other planets, many problems on our world might disappear (although there would be all new problems). If we find other sources of energy to reduce oil or fossil fuel dependency our entire existence could change. Many people are impatient and I think that's the problem. This type of exploration takes many, many years and the results are studied for years after that. It may not be for hundreds of more years before we see the benefits but we will.

 

[The Talon]

I know many people believe that it's just science fiction, but the Mars missions are very important. We can find that life may have possibly been on Mars, who knows what else we could find on the other planets on the Milky Way and beyond?


Humanity is growing & thriving while Earth.....isn't. We need to use as much resources & technology we have to find planets that can support & sustain life. It may be decades, maybe even centuries after we die though, but it's still damn worth it that we start now. Because what some people consider a waste of time & money, is actually us examining our options for the future.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Do you think life exists on Mars now or has ever existed on Mars?


I think its quite possible at one point it did, at this point in time though I don't think so. Honestly Mars looks like a baron wasteland that possibly once had life on it but the situation changed to where in no longer does. In order for life to exist certain conditions need to be met and from what I see I don't think Mars is currently a planet that meets those conditions.


Do you think life exists anywhere else in the universe?

Absolutely 100% I do, as a matter of fact not one ounce of me doubts it at all. The universe brings massive to a whole other level. With the 1000's of galaxies, millions of planets and suns that have been verified to be in the universe its very arrogant to think Earth is the only planet that has life on it.

I don't think life is on Mars but I am very excited when we can get a rover that can get to Jupiter's moon IO and somehow get through the ice to explore. It's been verified to have water on it and its core keeps the temperature pretty decent (in theory at least). I would say out of every place in the solar system that moon is the most likely to have life on it.

Are these Mars missions and space exploration missions in general beneficial to the human race as a whole, or are countries, including the U.S. wasting too much time and money on these programs?

It may not be apparent now or any time soon but I think its very beneficial down the line. Even if there is no life on Mars its a good start to exploring the rest of the solar system and eventually other galaxies. Chances are (probably not in my lifetime) that some day we will come in contact with a life form from another planet and when it happens it will change everything from science to religion to technology and will inspire us to search for even more life forms and species. The day humans come in contact with a life form from another planet will be the undisputed biggest day in human history by far.

Sure what I say is all speculation but I honestly think it's inevitable and will happen. The only thing that will stop us is if the human race gets wiped out first.