# Is there any reason to send a manned mission to Mars? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 30, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-to-send-a-manned-mission-to-mars/721194 "2015-05-30T12:50:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-to-send-a-manned-mission-to-mars/721194/101 "2015-06-02T22:56:18Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Of course it has the same odds, but what are the odds both Earth and Mars get wiped out at the same time? It’s the space-adapted adage of “don’t put your eggs in one basket.” > > And if we as a species want to gain some more control over a long-term future, like maybe centuries or millennia, it’s completely logical to plant a few colonies as early as possible. “We as a species?”:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-to-send-a-manned-mission-to-mars/721194/102 "2015-06-02T23:29:15Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > “We as a species?”:rolleyes: I’m using the royal we. Because I’m not sure whether I’m the same species as the rest of you. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-to-send-a-manned-mission-to-mars/721194/103 "2015-06-03T12:50:24Z")
When is the first martian soil return mission? I think having samples of Mars here on earth would settle the life question pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-to-send-a-manned-mission-to-mars/721194/104 "2015-06-03T15:42:24Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I’m not sure about you, but I’ve never had junk food literally rammed down my throat. It’s the latest in “enhanced questioning” techniques, also known as “Burger Boarding” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-to-send-a-manned-mission-to-mars/721194/105 "2015-06-03T16:09:29Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > When is the first > martian soil return mission? I think having samples of Mars here on earth would settle the life question pretty quickly. Probably not. On a planet teeming with life like Earth, you’d probably have to work pretty hard to collect 50 lbs of soil with nothing identifiably life-related in it. On a planet that may never have had much, and what there was was probably eons ago, odds are any given pile of dirt from one spot will show nothing. The samples collected and analyzed \*in situ \*to date don’t show large concetrations of organic chemicals or macroscopic eveidence of life. With the data to date, the presence of life can’t be ruled out by statistics, but it also can’t be ruled in. So we’re still looking for a needle in a haystack. Which may or may not be in the haystack. Only when you’ve ploughed through a very large fraction of the haystack can you have much confidence that absence of evidence (so far) is truly evidence of actual 100% absence. If we brought back a few tons of rocks & soil from widely scattered locations all over Mars, we’d be getting closer to statistically reliable data. 50 lbs (or 5!) dug from a handful of spots all within a mile of one another? IMO no. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-to-send-a-manned-mission-to-mars/721194.md?page=5)