This month marks five years since the landing of two NASA rovers sent for the Mars Exploration Rover Mission, which is unbelievable considering they were expected to last just three months on the red planet. Rather than duplicate text, the official press release explains the history and the road ahead. There’s always the photo gallery for those less inclined to read.
In the latest issue of Popular Mechanics there’s an interesting piece of lateral thinkingI by Glenn Reynolds who really hopes that we don’t find any life on Mars. I hadn’t really thought of itII but it really does make settling and terraforming the red planet so much easier, and also gives the (albeit theoretical) possibility of returning to Earth without the risk of killing us all with foreign organisms.
In the meantime, let’s hope the Russian mission Phobos-Grunt doesn’t accidentally forward-contaminate Mars as Space.com blogger Leonard David worries about in his column.
- Why I Hope There’s No Life on Mars [↩]
- And like most had hoped to find bacteria, which would be groundbreaking for more than one reason. [↩]
