Life On Mars..?

[M Holmes]

J Strobridge writes:

> Chris Bates writes:
>
> > Well from my semi-awake listening to the radio this a.m. I think it
> > works like this...
> >
> > The meteorite hits Antarctica N years ago. The fossils of the primitive
> > lifeforms are greater than N years old so they must've been in the
> > meteorite when it landed. It probably didn't stop off on the way so the
> > lifeforms come from Mars.
> >
> > Easy - anyone can do this astro-geology lark:-)
> >
>
> Curious, though, how this whole subject suddenly arose so soon after
> there's been a conference to discuss the whole issue of when and how to
> get a manned or unmanned craft to Mars and back and (probably) where the
> funding would come from.   I understand that the current odds of a
> manned Mars expedition before the end of this millenium were (a few weeks
> ago) standing at 50:1.   Quick flutter anyone?

Those are pretty ungenerous odds. Nobody is even close to building a
system capable of a Mars flight at the moment. I doubt that even with
shitloads of money and all the political will in the world that anyone
could put together a launch in this millenium.

FoFP