"Seriously, though.... This is a huge accomplishment."

I agree with the statement However.

There are things we must continue to explore and do in order to stay on top and keep all of us protected so to speak. With that said how many years have we be been on the Moon, none. How much has it cost us Trillions. What have we really learned that has helped all of us? Very little if any and at least nothing that I know of for me or anyone I know.

I think it's needs to be done that we are first with things as it keeps as with power. So we are on Mars now trying to learn whatever we can. How much did all this cost and yes money is an issue if it could be used to help people in the US. Not so much for trying and being able to do this but for how much we are going to spend each year for who know how long to find out nothing there is going to ever help us also. One only has to look at the pictures to see there is nothing there. So how are we actually going to get specimens back here because from what I have read there is no return fight. No doubt there are people that will have to say this and that about what they see in the pictures. Be honest, it's all hear say and opinions. So being an older person I will most likely never see the end to this mission but can guess it will cost Trillions of dollars also for no gain.

We did it, great. Now we see nothing there lets leave it and spend the Trillions on things for the people of the US.

Closing and my thought only. We did it and should continue to try new different missions. The Goverment just has to know when to move on to the next mission and stop waisting all that money when they know they will not get anywhere with the current mission.

I for one congratulate NASA on a successful touchdown with Curiosity. They took an untested landing technique and made it work. That's twice now they've done that. The first was with the two twin rovers by bouncing them onto the surface of Mars. They were only supposed to last three months but went on to do a helluva lot more. Cassini is another case in point where the probe far exceeded its supposed life span. Voyagers one and two...same thing with Voyager Two set to leave the solar system entirely. I think NASA is long overdue for a very big thank you. IMO

Ahhh, I see this time it has a lazer weapon, must be expecting trouble of some kind.   

    just a quickie in DA Muro. 

tbc: I do not see Marvin. So, I don't think your picture is real.

I must side with Dave Bax somewhat. 2.6 Billion  to study rocks on a planet that has little to offer mankind? The US infrastructure is a crumbling pile of junk.  America's children are dying in foreign lands. The world economy is unstable. We owe trillions to other countries. 2.6 billion??

 Global climate changes are creating chaos with food production, People are dying from starvation, plagues and disease in the 21st century. Am I the only one who thinks this is just wrong? Are they going to eat rocks from Mars? Are there "miracle cures" being found right now, as I type ,from this exploration? 

Oh, and lets not forget that a lot of us have not found the pot of gold at the end of Obama's rainbow.  I need a job to provide for myself and my family. How is this helping manufacturing or small businesses to prosper and create more jobs? Even if there were employment opportunities on Mars,I couldn't afford the commute.

Scientifically, a great accomplishment. Socially, I think it is a kick in the crotch to those still suffering right here on planet Earth.

IMHO, it's just a "feel good", " look what we can do and you can't"  distraction and a poorly timed , over funded waste.

Forget the Red Planet, if things don't change soon, Earth will be the Dead Planet. Perhaps  someday some much wiser civilization will send a rover here to see where we went wrong. They may find plenty of dead earth and rocks, and absolutely no sign of any form of intelligent life, past or present.

Impressed, yes. Depressed, even more so.

Wizard ....the perils of undelining 'plagues' is that it reads as 'plaques'.

People shouldn't die of 'plaques'....unless they're run over by a truck load of them..... ....

Damn that bot looks like No.5 from 1985 
too much of topic sorry

As can atherosclerotic plaque .... [stroke and heart attack].

Breaking News - NASA denies existence of life on Mars after latest Curiosity photo made public:-

They don't tell you about the guy holding up pix of a deserted Mars while his buddies lurk in the background laughing their asses off.