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

  • Context: NASA 
  • Thread starter Thread starter new6ton
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Mars Rover
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the implications of potential discoveries of life on Mars by NASA's Mars 2020 Rover. Participants explore various reactions to such a discovery, including societal impacts and scientific perspectives, while also touching on related topics in exobiology and engineering methods for rover deployment.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants speculate that the discovery of life on Mars could lead to mass panic, chaos, and societal strife, while others argue that people are more focused on immediate concerns and would not react in such extreme ways.
  • There is a disagreement on the classification of exobiology, with some asserting it belongs to cosmology, while others firmly state it is not related to cosmology.
  • One participant references past discoveries of life in extreme environments on Earth, suggesting that such findings did not lead to societal chaos, indicating that a similar reaction to Martian life may be unlikely.
  • Another viewpoint suggests that the discovery of life could lead to scientific pursuits, such as pursuing advanced degrees in exobiology, rather than panic.
  • Participants discuss the engineering aspects of rover deployment, questioning the use of balloons and parachutes in the context of lunar landings, with some asserting that parachutes would not function on the moon due to the lack of atmosphere.
  • Clarifications are made regarding the type of balloons being discussed, indicating they are not hot air balloons but rather padding around the lander.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of opinions on the societal implications of discovering life on Mars, with no consensus reached. There is also disagreement regarding the classification of exobiology and the engineering methods for rover deployment.

Contextual Notes

Some claims about societal reactions to discoveries of life are based on hypothetical scenarios and lack empirical support. The discussion on rover deployment methods includes assumptions about engineering practices that may not be universally accepted.

new6ton
Messages
223
Reaction score
5
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?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
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.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: BillTre
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.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: BillTre
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.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Likes   Reactions: Asymptotic, BillTre, phinds and 1 other person
[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.
 
Last edited:
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
1569993018702.png
 
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.
 

Similar threads

Is the world ready to know about extraterrestrial life?
  • · Replies 24 ·
Replies
24
Views
3K