Oh man, what a tool. "We might find little green men from mars, so you better increase our budget by another $billion or two!"
The scary thing is that some people believe that crap.

The whole Phoenix mission's cost was about $450 million or so. The underlying reason is (IMHO) for the mission is that life as we understand it requires water and finding proof of water on another planet is a huge piece of information. There has been to date a lot of evidence that water exists on Mars, but no proof. There is even evidence of flowing water at some time in the past. Finding life elsewhere in the Universe would be a significant accomplishment. Mars has that possibility.

I'm sorry that you find no value in finding the answers to some of the big questions of mankind. It's thinking like yours that has led to the construction of the LHC in France when we could have had the Superconducting Super Collider built in Texas. We (the US) will just take a back seat and let the rest of the world lead scientific discovery from now on. We've got better things to do with our taxpayer's money like useless wars to fight. :mad:

The quote of "finding anyone home" you quoted was not a reference to finding little green men; surely you did not honestly think this was the case?

Since the Universe is filled with water and organic compounds, it only seems natural and reasonable to many folks that "we" should see if life in any form exists in other places in the Universe.

The scary part to me is the number of folks who live in what appears to be very small and closed worlds.

FWIW.

But the bible doesn't mention anything about Mars??!!!

My beliefs, ruined!

:)

Nah. Just a quick "reinterpretation" of some scripture and you're good to go again. Four corners == a sphere don cha ya know. ;)

It's stupid BS like this that has allowed our country to gradually slide out of it's position as a world leader. NASA, waste of money! Oooooh, but lets invest tax dollars into social programs that perpetuate the welfare state and remove all form of personal responsibility and work ethic from our society! GREAT IDEA!!! Then we'll get started on banning everything bad, and wrapping all sharp edges with bubble wrap.

Sammy, I'll make you a deal. You allow me to opt out of social programs that I don't agree with, I'll let you opt out of NASA. I guarantee, I'll save one hell of a lot more money than you will. Plus, I'll actually see a return on my money. Of course, paying for more welfare babies is a good investment as well.:rolleyes:

Guess again gummy bear, that was just the quickest thing I could think of in relation to giving someone water that we can all relate to. I support welfare about as much as I do digging holes in the red planet. (or any other planet for that matter) My point was I think the money used to shoot stuff up there could be better spent right here at home. JMO

Have you all forgotten about the amazing things we learned from landing on the moon? Like......Like....um......It cost alot. Oh and there are rocks there.:D