Speculating on what Curiosity may find

[Gary7]

So, the countdown begins. T-minus 7 days and Curiosity (NASA's last Martian rover) will be on the surface, hopefully intact and fully functioning.

The intention is to have Curiosity in one of the lowest possible places on Mars, expecting that the location would be where water would tend to settle and thus have the greatest chances of leaving life traces behind after the last of the free flowing water evaporated.

It would be great if they could tunnel a mile underneath the planet's crust to see what might be buried below, but of course Curiosity isn't outfitted for drilling that aggressively.

But what if a fragment of metal alloy is found, some kind of remnant that looks like it couldn't have occurred naturally, only by some smelting and processing done by an intelligent form of life? Imagine... we learn that Mars once supported intelligent life long before Earth. How would that information affect human society? Would it accelerate a manned mission to Mars? Would sci-fi experience a significant reboot with new fiction crafted around an ancient Mars civilization that may very well have seeded Earth at some vastly distant time? Will old time religions be shaken to their foundations?

 

[sojourner]

I can think of at least 5 scifi stories that already centered around life being seeding from mars. It's not really a new thing. It just went into recession after the first probes landed.

 

[Captain_Nick]

Can't wait to see the new pictures of dust and rocks.

 

[B.J.]

It'll find all the lost socks.

 

[SmoothieX]

^You forgot the craters.

But what if a fragment of metal alloy is found, some kind of remnant that looks like it couldn't have occurred naturally, only by some smelting and processing done by an intelligent form of life? Imagine... we learn that Mars once supported intelligent life long before Earth. How would that information affect human society? Would it accelerate a manned mission to Mars? Would sci-fi experience a significant reboot with new fiction crafted around an ancient Mars civilization that may very well have seeded Earth at some vastly distant time? Will old time religions be shaken to their foundations?

Vivid imagination, but our space program is basically mothballed. NASA is more likely to send a man to Cleveland in the next 10 years than Mars. I enjoy the space program, but it's hard to justify billions looking elsewhere when things are a mess at home.

 

[RevdKathy]

Mars... isn't that where Elvis is now?

 

[Mr Silver]

But what if a fragment of metal alloy is found, some kind of remnant that looks like it couldn't have occurred naturally, only by some smelting and processing done by an intelligent form of life? Imagine... we learn that Mars once supported intelligent life long before Earth. How would that information affect human society? Would it accelerate a manned mission to Mars? Would sci-fi experience a significant reboot with new fiction crafted around an ancient Mars civilization that may very well have seeded Earth at some vastly distant time? Will old time religions be shaken to their foundations?

It would change everything, we would know for a fact that we were no longer the only form of intelligent life to have ever existed. It would certainly lead to expedited missions and perhaps the possibility of building a station until solutions can be found to the problems of surface colonisation.

Of course they may find nothing at all, but that doesn't mean intelligent life has never visited Mars. For all we know, a few million years ago, before Humanity, an alien culture could have passed through our solar system, took some samples from the planets and left without finding anything really interesting including a hostile 70% water planet filled with animal life, abundant natural resources and varying climates... Talk about missed opportunities.

 

[Knight Templar]

It would dominate the news for three full days until the next mass shooting and/or the next celebrity gets caught doing buck naked line dancing.

 

[137th Gebirg]

That is, provided the story actually saw the light of day. I don't think NASA has live video feeds any more - not after a certain shuttle video feed showed a lot more than was anticipated back in the 90's.

 

[SmoothieX]

I'm sure the dust will be more than spectacular.

 

[sojourner]

but it's hard to justify billions looking elsewhere when things are a mess at home.

When will things not be a mess at home?

 

[Gary7]

Vivid imagination, but our space program is basically mothballed. NASA is more likely to send a man to Cleveland in the next 10 years than Mars. I enjoy the space program, but it's hard to justify billions looking elsewhere when things are a mess at home.

I wouldn't call it mothballed so much as "suspended". But you're right, we have other priorities that need to be addressed first. We really do need to achieve peace on Earth before we can feasibly explore beyond Earth and the moon. It's disheartening to think that we may not see a manned mission to Mars when we know full well that the technology to do it is within reach. But... c'est la vie.

It would change everything, we would know for a fact that we were no longer the only form of intelligent life to have ever existed. It would certainly lead to expedited missions and perhaps the possibility of building a station until solutions can be found to the problems of surface colonisation.

Of course they may find nothing at all, but that doesn't mean intelligent life has never visited Mars. For all we know, a few million years ago, before Humanity, an alien culture could have passed through our solar system, took some samples from the planets and left without finding anything really interesting including a hostile 70% water planet filled with animal life, abundant natural resources and varying climates... Talk about missed opportunities.

I'm curious as to how much it would impact religion. My hope is that it would significantly mute it's importance in human life. That the singularity suggested in ancient religious texts truly falls short. But yes, timing is everything, and while it's so hard to look beyond the time scale of our own existence, it's much more likely that other life has existed far earlier than us and could very well have traipsed through our solar system before sentient life finally appeared on Earth.

 

[MANT!]

IF the landing is successful, I fully expect the rover to find inconclusive evidence of
possible life in the past on Mars.. like just about every other lander so far...

The only way for finding the conclusive evidence is manned exploration, but that won't happen before the 2030's at the earliest.


NASA's space program (augmented by private contractors) is moving ahead, it's just that we have no current manned vehicles flying right now..but it was 6 years between the last Apollo flight and the first flight of the Space Shuttle..it's only been a few months
since the last shuttle flight and y'all are sticking the fork in USA manned spaceflight..


The USA will return to manned flight, probably sooner than the 6 years between Apollo and shuttle..

 

[sojourner]

we have other priorities that need to be addressed first. We really do need to achieve peace on Earth before we can feasibly explore beyond Earth and the moon.

So we wait for something that might take hundreds of years if ever on the off chance that something doesn't kill us before hand? No, exploring and expanding beyond Earth is our best chance for not going extinct. The longer we wait the higher the chances of a grim ending to mankind.

 

[Trekker4747]

I doubt anything too fascinating will be found but I do look forward to this landing and the images it'll bring us along with whatever information it does discover. Sincerely. Everything NASA has done with Mars is just fascinating and I look forward to all of this.

Just as long as their Rube Goldberg plan for landing the rover works.

 

[Q2UnME]

..... [snip] ......
Just as long as their Rube Goldberg plan for landing the rover works.

That's my concern too. After spending a little time reading up and looking at the NASA animations, I have to say that what their going to use is way too complex and rife with potential failure points. I forsee a large smoldering crater ...

Q2

 

[Trekker4747]

..... [snip] ......
Just as long as their Rube Goldberg plan for landing the rover works.

That's my concern too. After spending a little time reading up and looking at the NASA animations, I have to say that what their going to use is way too complex and rife with potential failure points. I forsee a large smoldering crater ...

Q2

Yeah, it seems complex but I also assume they invested a lot of time and study into it working it just seems like there's a LOT of points for failure. If one part wasn't screwed in tightly enough, if one part failed during the journey, if something happens a couple seconds to early or too late... Then it's going to be a failed mission. I hope it works but the process was one step short of flipping a man into a pan.

 

[137th Gebirg]

I just hope the NASA rocket scientists figured out the difference between imperial vs. metric this time around.

 

[M'Sharak]

It'll find all the lost socks.

All left socks, oddly enough.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Well, it made it. All kidding aside and my general disdain for how NASA has conducted itself in recent decades, I am truly happy that it touched down safe and sound, and equally surprised based on the apparent complexity of the landing apparatus and procedure. Maybe we can now find something really cool and different.