# Let's predict what the Curiosity rover will discover on Mars **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 7, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766 "2012-08-07T18:29:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/41 "2012-08-08T21:41:12Z")
Hopefully it can pan its cameras fast enough to overcome [this effect](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AoAJOF5GVQ). ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/42 "2012-08-08T22:01:22Z")
Pirates. Or Ninjas. But not both. ---
**Author:** ![bot3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@bot3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bot3)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/43 "2012-08-08T22:29:06Z")
But if they find printer ink then that trps all. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/44 "2012-08-08T23:03:01Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Socks lost in the dryer. This was my thought too! The mystery finally solved… martians have cold feet and have been stealing socks from earth and leaving crop circle IOUs for centuries. > [@Gedd](#): > > I vote it finds a second, steampunk, rover. They fall in love, commiserate about the ‘stupid humans’ and forsake their duty to hide behind boulders and have wild monkey sex. The GOP finds out about the torrid affair, dedicates whats left of the NASA program to sending a manned flight to Mars carrying a pastor to force the two rovers into a shot-gun wedding. But the rocket hits Planet X on the way, blowing it into fragments that knock the earth off its axis. And, hence the poles shift after all! See, we should never have gone to Mars! Now, we’re all doomed! ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/45 "2012-08-09T02:34:33Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > But there are plenty of folks who would buy million dollar tickets. 🙂 maybe, but the cost of the trip will be in the 100s of millions. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/46 "2012-08-09T04:06:44Z")
> [@Rico](#): > > An Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator. _glares_ Thief. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/47 "2012-08-09T04:29:51Z")
[This.](http://www.ballardian.com/images/statue_planet.jpg) You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell! ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/48 "2012-08-09T05:26:48Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > It’s been.said before (and I believe it) - if there were solid pure gold bars on the moon, stacked ready for collection, it would not be cost effective to go and collect them. I imagine this is even more the case for Mars. Ok, but if there were materials in place with which to build a base, one would not have to haul them away. Can Mars be enviro-engineered? Can it at least be colonized with bases? ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/49 "2012-08-09T06:07:56Z")
I’ve heard a few engineers reiterate the mission isn’t to look for life, but rather past conditions that may have been conducive to life. I’ve read lots of journalists pretty much ignoring that. I wouldn’t blame a non-Doper for thinking Curiosity was searching for life. The thing that gets me these days is whether life on Mars is really that important of a question anymore. Why do we care if Mars had nice conditions 3 billion years ago or something? It’s going to take live people digging around for awhile to settle the life question, and to me showing we can get people there safely is what this trip is about. It doesn’t hurt that neither Russia nor China is even close to accomplishing something like NASA/JPL just did. Woo! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/50 "2012-08-09T07:03:20Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Ok, but if there were materials in place with which to build a base, one would not have to haul them away. Can Mars be enviro-engineered? Can it at least be colonized with bases? Interesting questions, and I’m sure there would be no shortage of volunteers, but what would be the actual goal of colonising Mars? Antarctica is more hospitable. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/51 "2012-08-09T07:23:30Z")
Rover: Oh look a wind storm !!! Transmission to earth: static. bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/52 "2012-08-09T07:37:25Z")
> [@Peanut\_Gallery](#): > > Prove it! 😉 > > Seriously though … Colbert recently interviewed one of the chief people on the project, and he basically said the same thing. He predicted they will not find any evidence of any life ever having existed there. Struck me as odd, cuz most of them try to sell the wonder of what they do. > > I lean toward ‘no life’. I figure the conditions for life must occur on other planets, but the likelihood of it happening on two immediate neighbors seems pretty low. I’d be pleased to be wrong though. You must not have been watching very closely. Colbert asked what he thought Curiosity would discover. The guest said it would not discover anything. After he enjoyed watching Colbert’s jaw flap for awhile, he said words to the effect that the probe is just a tool and that its operators would be the ones making the discoveries. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/53 "2012-08-09T07:38:40Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > It doesn’t hurt that neither Russia nor China is even close to accomplishing something like NASA/JPL just did. Woo! “Our Germans are better than their Germans.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/54 "2012-08-09T13:31:31Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Interesting questions, and I’m sure there would be no shortage of volunteers, but what would be the actual goal of colonising Mars? Antarctica is more hospitable. So that Mars can have elections like we do here in the US! ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/55 "2012-08-09T13:32:47Z")
> [@Rich\_Mann](#): > > You must not have been watching very closely. > > Colbert asked what he thought Curiosity would discover. The guest said it would not discover anything. After he enjoyed watching Colbert’s jaw flap for awhile, he said words to the effect that the probe is just a tool and that its operators would be the ones making the discoveries. So the guest was a Doper then? ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/56 "2012-08-09T13:40:05Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Interesting questions, and I’m sure there would be no shortage of volunteers, but what would be the actual goal of colonising Mars? Antarctica is more hospitable. Plus there’s a lot less lag. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/57 "2012-08-09T15:04:22Z")
the photos look like the deserts in the western USA. Neil Armstrong is supposedly having heart surgery and is out of the public eye, while he is really on the movie set creating those scenes. hi Uncle Martin. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/58 "2012-08-09T15:51:56Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Interesting questions, and I’m sure there would be no shortage of volunteers, but what would be the actual goal of colonising Mars? Antarctica is more hospitable. Kansas is cheaper than Manhattan. Obviously people find some places much more exciting than others. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/59 "2012-08-09T16:04:57Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > “Our Germans are better than their Germans.” 😃 Judging from the control room crew, I’d say our pudgy long-haired hippies and Mohawk-sporting punk rockers are better than their Germans. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766/60 "2012-08-10T02:01:51Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Interesting questions, and I’m sure there would be no shortage of volunteers, but what would be the actual goal of colonising Mars? Antarctica is more hospitable. One answer: because it is there. 2- As a base for space exploration further out into the solar system. 3- Earth is getting pretty darn crowded. 4- Assuming there is an entire planet’s worth of resources out there, and assuming the colony gets big enough, with a space elevator on Mars many many tons of materials could be hoisted cheaply into orbit and boosted toward Earth for splashdown delivery. Or is space mining not cost-effective under any circumstances? 5- Tourism. 6- Taxes and regulations on Earth drive people nuts? 7- Farming? Manufacturing? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-predict-what-the-curiosity-rover-will-discover-on-mars/630766.md?page=4)