Curiosity Mars rover beams images of ancient streambed

[dtr42]

there are few activiites that searching for ET has helped the human race ,the space race helped communication etc etc but it didnt discover a cure for cancer or the way to feed hungry children,the future of this planet is in our hands and yet we as a race destroy it every way we can, while looking at the moral higher ground, and yet if we looked at preserving this beautiful globe that we all rely on then , we, may be in a better position to preserve and expand the race of man than we are today . i can only hope for me and my childrens children that we decide whats more important the search for ET or the preservation of this planet which in a million years may have ET wondering if there ever was life on earth .

[staffiebite]

Youve got to start somewhere and mars is a good somewhere , i love it and we need more . Every time we send a probe or rover we have problems to overcome and make the next one better again , no point in leaving the galaxy until we have the tec to do it properly

[Ganymede12]

Why can't we do both? Search for ET and try to "fix Earth"?

I agree, what's happening to the planet is appalling but it's out of our hands. The government should be sorting it out, we can't.

The sure fire way of solving the energy crisis is to get to Uranus and mine it for Helium-3 then we would have all the energy we need for the rest of our existence!

[Ganymede12]

there are few activiites that searching for ET has helped the human race ,the space race helped communication etc etc but it didnt discover a cure for cancer or the way to feed hungry children,the future of this planet is in our hands and yet we as a race destroy it every way we can, while looking at the moral higher ground, and yet if we looked at preserving this beautiful globe that we all rely on then , we, may be in a better position to preserve and expand the race of man than we are today . i can only hope for me and my childrens children that we decide whats more important the search for ET or the preservation of this planet which in a million years may have ET wondering if there ever was life on earth .

I agree. Think about the Sky Crane, A work of genius!

[dtr42]

so its seems the human race does it's usual in exploiting every resource that exists then looks elsewhere to destroy that as well strange why it gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling

[Ganymede12]

Think of it this way:

1. We get to to Uranus
   
2. We mine it for Helium-3
   
3. Energy becomes super cheap
   
4. We all have more money.
   
5. The earth will be easier to fix.
   

What's wrong with mining Helium-3 anyway? Would you rather let humans die?

[dtr42]

no! but we as a race destroy and destroy and destroy some more, if we did mine uranus would it be for the better of human kind or better for the 0.5 % of the population that would control it ? and energy would not be cheaper , we have solar power ,wind power ,and wave power to mention 3 energy sources not including geotherm [a £10.000 investment in geotherm heating for housing using boreholes to 5.000 metres and heat exchangers would supply all the heating needs of every house in europe] that would sustain the earth without destroying it, even the energy use of water splitting would provide cheap energy for everyone. so the moral high ground of exploitation of other worlds to supply ours seems a bit strange to me . we as a race are governed by 2 things ,survival and reproduction ,exploitation of everything seems to come a close third which in my opinion is wrong . space exploration is good but there has got to be more important things to us as a race than this use of money. again i don't mean to cause offense to anyone but finding water or life on mars means nothing to the people on this planet who can not find water to give to themselves or their children.

[cosmojaydee]

"That's on small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind ," and that was getting a man on the moon. We have just sent a second unmanned rover to a Planet ( the way it was transported to the surface deserves acclaim in its own right) is a beaming pictures of an Alien surface , making discoveries and providing proof that Mars had bodies of water,. What Iam saying is that small steps with results is better that a massive leap that fails . Each time we make a small step our knowledge of our own solar system will help future generations to exploring deeper and further

[Joguj]

so its seems the human race does it's usual in exploiting every resource that exists then looks elsewhere to destroy that as well strange why it gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling

Like I said, the two discussions should be kept seperate. You can't honestly believe that if we had not bothered to fund and persue our exploration of our solar system, that we would have better solutions to the problems we have on our planet? The cause of ALL our issues is that the acceleration of the human population is increasing without being held in check by natural means. No government is willing or able to do anything about that so to moan about funding for NASA scientific research, I think is irrelevant.

We may as well continue our insrinctive desire to learn more about what else is there otherwise we're doomed to a pretty unspectacular self destruction of the planet in absolute ignorance - and I for one would much prefer to end my days knowing that we had tried.

[dtr42]

seems we agree to disagree guys /gals ,we leave a legacy of destruction and explotation to the next generation ,landing man on the moon or a bungee jumped land rover on mars wont change that . the pictures prove only one thing that mars looks like the sahara desert and afaik there may have been/is life there but our next step beyond should be within to the problems we have here .

[Joguj]

I don't disagree with you at all, your concerns are my concerns believe me. I have children and I often wonder what sort of life they and their offspring have to look forward to. I also believe that the Curiosity landing is our most incredible achievement to date and is very worthwhile of our efforts.

[Bluenosebatty]

If NASA did find any form of life on mars do you think they would come clean and tell everyone or kept secret?

[Ganymede12]

They already found it! Didn't you hear?

[dtr42]

just realeased picture of life found on mars or a guy in the sahara desert tending goats

[Bluenosebatty]

They already found it! Didn't you hear?

What has Steve Buscemi come clean then?! Lol!!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

i always find that we ,as humans, look for hope all through our lives to prove that our existance is important and yet everytime i look at the night sky i realise how unimportant we are in the grand theme of the universe . if there was life on mars even the smallest single cell that could or does live in a world with or without water/atmosphere why is that important? if life does exist elsewhere in our solar system/galaxy then why is it important? seems that after 1,4 billion years if we are the most advanced life form in our soalr system then we are indeed lucky to be so advanced .

Importance is not the same as size. The universe is huge, yes, but even a cluster of galaxies is not as complex as a simple living organism. There are dimensions in life not measurable in meters or kilograms. Human dimensions of justice, mercy, empathy are every bit as important, if not more important than mass, velocity, angular momentum, and charge.

life is more important to each individual than the i wonder question as in i wonder if there is life outside this planet ,in my lifetime and maybe my children's .children's etc lifetime it may be important but real life has more important problems than is or was there life on mars .There are humans on this planet who cannot or will not survive another day because of hunger. malnutrition, sickness or old age and yet we as a race look to the stars to see if there's life or was life on another planet yet we forever decide that life on this planet is less important . again the sky above me inspires me but wether there is life of any form existing out there doesn't put food/shelter into any life that exist's on this planet and priorities seem to be wrong [billions of dollars/pounds spent on researching the search for life each year and yet money that could have been spent preserving life here [where we know it exists] seem's absurd and in my opinion a violation of what human and human kind is .

Of course I agree that we should take better care of each other and of our planet. Just to put things into perspective: the cost of the entire, combined space programs of all nations on earth can pay for a minute fraction of the money spent on weaponry (space research most likely costs less than one B2 bomber, or thereabouts), or on medical research for that matter. Exploration and curiosity is part of our nature, and one of the better parts. I feel it would make more sense to cut back on bashing each other over the heads or blowing each other up to increase spending on relieving human suffering, than cutting back on space science.

[stolenfeather]

Thank you for sharing. This is fascinating stuff!

Isabelle