Can I ask a couple of really stupid question about the mars rover

[StealthPolarBear]

A colleague said her mum had told her as a child about the moon landings and she was watching the mars rover land with tears in her eyes feeling similar.
And then a couple of weeks ago the rover moved, it was breaking news.

Havent we had a couple over the last few years? Why is this one so much more groundbreaking? What am I missing?

@BirthChoice

I have memories of there being a lot of excitement about a Mars Rover (or similar) in around 2003 (primary school) - going by the dates on here have I made that up?!

You might be thinking of Opportunity?

Oooh, I think you're all going to like this! Get your name etched in teeny tiny letters on one of the next Mars Rovers (not for a while yet), and print your own certificate. And it's free ☺️

mars.nasa.gov/participate/send-your-name/mars2020/

[quote MayYouLiveInInterestingTimes]Finding life on another planet will be the single biggest discovery humanity has ever made, imho. Apparently it is digging up rock samples and preparing them to be collected by a later mission. Those missions are still being designed. mars.nasa.gov/resources/25481/perseverances-sample-tubes-ready-for-mars/[/quote]
Well we all leave stuff lying around. Easily done.

FutureLearn used to run a course about 'How to survive on Mars' starting with the assumption that you get there, but what then. It's fascinating...

www.futurelearn.com/courses/survive-mars

[quote MayYouLiveInInterestingTimes]Finding life on another planet will be the single biggest discovery humanity has ever made, imho. Apparently it is digging up rock samples and preparing them to be collected by a later mission. Those missions are still being designed. mars.nasa.gov/resources/25481/perseverances-sample-tubes-ready-for-mars/[/quote]
? They have found fossilised bacteria in meteorite rocks from Mars before. So we have known about life not from Earth for quite some time now...think it was in the 1990s they found this.

@MarieFromStTropez

My DD is fascinated with the Mars Rover. Does anybody know if there are any child-friendly resources where we can find out more about it?

I admit it's not aimed at children. but the NASA sub site devoted to Perseverance is pretty clear and informative.

mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/overview/

I really cannot praise NASA enough for making so much available for free. Hopefully it will inspire future generations.

Here's some info on the various rovers that have landed on Mars since 2008 and what they're up to now.

www.imperial.ac.uk/be-inspired/social-and-multimedia/infographics/imperial-in-space/mars-missions

Finding life on another planet will be the single biggest discovery humanity has ever made, imho.

If it happens it will show that life is an emergent property of chemistry.

The next big question is whether intelligence* is an emergent property of life

*You define it

Ooh that's interesting plan

? They have found fossilised bacteria in meteorite rocks from Mars before. So we have known about life not from Earth for quite some time now...think it was in the 1990s they found this.

I vaguely remember that. The claim was immediately questioned. Firstly there were questions about whether the structures really were fossils, and then about whether if they were fossils, they were Martian rather than from earth contamination. Life from another planet really would be an amazing find and didn’t someone say something once about amazing claims needing amazing evidence (or something)? Locally collected samples with no chance of contamination will be more certain.

Life from another planet really would be an amazing find and didn’t someone say something once about amazing claims needing amazing evidence (or something)?

The late great Carl Sagan

extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagan_standard

(at which point all religions rather fail spectacularly ....)