NASA's Mars 2020 Rover: Discovery of Life on Mars Sparks Fear and Controversy

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the implications of NASA's Mars 2020 Rover potentially discovering life on Mars, highlighting fears of societal chaos and panic. Participants argue that historical discoveries of life in extreme environments on Earth, such as Candidatus Frackibacter, did not lead to widespread unrest, suggesting that similar findings on Mars would likely not provoke mass hysteria. The conversation also touches on the technical aspects of rover deployment, clarifying that balloons used in landers serve as padding rather than for atmospheric purposes, as the Moon lacks an atmosphere for parachutes to function.

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This discussion is beneficial for aerospace engineers, astrobiologists, psychologists studying societal reactions to scientific discoveries, and anyone interested in the technical aspects of space exploration missions.

new6ton
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https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/30/us/nasa-life-on-mars-jim-green-scn-trnd/index.html
If such were to become true. I guess there would be mass panic attacks, mass suicides, chaos, protests, igniting wars and strife, what else? I can imagine people just trembling. And how to prevent such adverse reactions? I guess mass release of tranquilizers can save the day?

Mars 2020 Rover is a nice phrase. 2020 for 20/20 vision.

Also I guess topics like exobiology (?) is more appropriate for Cosmology than Astronomy?
 
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new6ton said:
If such were to become true. I guess there would be mass panic attacks, mass suicides, chaos, protests, igniting wars and strife ...
Nonsense. People are far more concerned with day to day immediacies. You have a vivid imagination, which is not serving you well in this case.
 
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Exobiology is definitely not cosmology.

new6ton said:
If such were to become true. I guess there would be mass panic attacks, mass suicides, chaos, protests, igniting wars and strife, what else? I can imagine people just trembling. ...

Scientists found unexpected microbes around deep see vents. That did not induce panic or mass suicides. There were not even plain suicides or protests that I am aware of. It happened again with Candidatus Frackibacter. Life was found in another totally unexpected place. It has not been proven to be a cause of wars or chaos. There have been some wars and much chaos but I have not see anyone even suggest a link to frackibacter. The discovery does not appear to have even changed the rate that we do fracking. People do protest fracking but I have never seen anyone with a "save the frackibacter" sign. I have not heard anyone express concern.

Discovering life on Mars could inspire someone to go for a PhD in exobiology. It is not likely to be very common. If we know that life is present we will try to get a sample. Once we have samples it becomes biology, biochemistry, genetics, ecology, etc.
 
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new6ton said:
If such were to become true. I guess there would be mass panic attacks, mass suicides, chaos, protests, igniting wars and strife...
It's more likely that people would be looking for a way to exploit it. I like to think of these questions in terms of the moon Enceladus. If we found life in it's oceans, there would be someone trying to get there with a fishing pole.
 
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[Moderator: Thread moved to Aerospace and Astronautics Engineering. We are trying to concentrate such futurist and space travel topics in that forum. It is not the science of astronomy, nor the science of cosmology.]
 
So they will use the same balloon and parachute to deploy the old Rover?

If the Indians use balloons and parachute too on the moon Rover which failed last month, it should have landed?
 
new6ton said:
So they will use the same balloon and parachute to deploy the old Rover?

If the Indians use balloons and parachute too on the moon Rover which failed last month, it should have landed?
The moon has no atmosphere, so how could a balloon or parachute possibly work? I'm reasonably sure the that the Indian team behind the Vikram lander were aware that balloons wouldn't work.
 
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Mark44 said:
The moon has no atmosphere, so how could a balloon or parachute possibly work? I'm reasonably sure the that the Indian team behind the Vikram lander were aware that balloons wouldn't work.
The balloons being discussed are not hot air balloons, they are "padding" all around the lander
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phinds said:
The balloons being discussed are not hot air balloons, they are "padding" all around the lander
@new6ton wrote "So they will use the same balloon and parachute to deploy the old Rover? "
I get that balloons might be used as padding, but certainly parachutes couldn't possibly work in the absence of an atmosphere.
 

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