About the life on Mars question.

About the life on Mars question. August 11, 2012 6:08 am RGClark

Was watching “This Week at NASA” after the landing. I was interested in how the voice over describing the Curiosity landing phrased the life on Mars question. It said Curiosity will try to determine if the conditions are right for microbial life *to exist* on Mars:

Curiosity Has Landed! on This Week @NASA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3smd4INzng

It was notable to me this was phrased in the present tense, not for microbial life *to have existed* on Mars, but *to exist* on Mars. Since Viking with the general consensus that the current life on Mars question was answered in the negative, usually NASA missions were described as only determining if life could have existed in the past on Mars, not the present.
On the “NASA360″ episode shown this week, the NASA scientist interviewed Dr. Bruce Jakosky of the Curiosity and upcoming MAVEN Mars missions described them also as determining if conditions are right for life *to exist* on Mars, present tense:

NASA 360 Season 3, Show 19.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiYVRg7d-PQ

Bob Clark

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- I was a frequent contributor from the "old days", back when Mars Sample Return was being debated as being safe ... by RGClark 2012-08-11 08:58:59
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  - I see. So you're from the Paleozonic Era. by ER 2012-08-11 09:04:29

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