Posted by jburk to Life on Mars at October 13, 2004 04:22 PM

As President Bush outlines plans for putting humans on the face of the cursed red planet, we have to ask ourselves, what is the big deal about Mars? A trip to Mars would be hugely expensive when completed in 20 to 25 years. Who cares? Mars research has been a difficult process. Whole careers have been derailed. Ptolemy, who devised an early earth-centered view of the solar system, failed to explain why Mars seemed to back up in its orbit occasionally.