Mars Rover finds life on Mars!!!

[DerGolgo]

Or, rather, life on Mars found one of our Mars rovers:

http://io9.com/nasa-sued-for-failing-to ... 1511430221" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Spot the difference. Left image was taken earlier than the right image.

When NASA concluded that a "doughnut-sized" object that appeared mysteriously before its Opportunity rover on Mars was actually an errant rock, it left some people dissatisfied: A lawsuit brought against the Agency alleges NASA not only failed to adequately investigate the object, but that it is biological in nature.

Right, right ... biological in nature, right ... it's a damn rock! I'm with Mr. Shatner:

http://www.geekosystem.com/william-shatner-space-rock/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

William Shatner Thinks Martians Might Be Throwing Rocks At Our Rover

Yeap. Alien chavs, in hoodies, vandalizing property and throwing rocks at someone snooping around their neighborhood. After all, why should they behave any different than a crowd of drug addled kids from some crappy neighborhood here on earth? We ain't so special!
Here's an artist's impression:

[Rench]

I really hope it is. I want nothing more than discovery of alien life, cause I truly believe nothing but good can come of it down here. Instant, undeniable, new perspective on EVETYTHING.

-Rench

[Toonce(s)]

http://aliens.wikia.com/wiki/Rock_Aliens_(Apollo_18)



No worries, it's only a rock.

[DerGolgo]

Well ... not being at the center of the universe, not being the focus, purpose, reason and ratio for all creation anymore, that'd mess quite a few people up.
You'd get total conflict between those who worship the aliens as new gods, those who focus all their fright and confusion on them and demand that they must be stopped, those who figure it ain't human so it's animals to be exploited or studied, if anything, and any combination of all of those and a few more in between. Even if the aliens are no smarter than a little fluffy forest creature, or dumber than that, still, the cultural conflict that would ensue would be fucking epic.

Can't wait to see it myself.

[Toonce(s)]

My favorite hypothesis right now is that bacterial life actually came into existence on a much earlier, hospitable Mars and was transplanted here via debris. If this is true it should be provable in the next few decades, and that would really piss in a lot of people's cornflakes.

[DerGolgo]

True, true.
Most of all, it'd piss in the cornflakes of anyone studying the origin of life. They got into that, expected a nice, quiet field of research, just comparing species and genomes, occasionally going on a little trip to some exotic locale to bag some specimens and feel up the lab assistant. Maybe write the odd book and be known as the notorious atheist when arriving at a party. Having to explain to people that, no, Prof. Dawkins didn't call them stupid in his last TV interview being the most stressful situation they might be confronted with, apart from rabid Macaques.

Suddenly, they gotta get flight-medicine checkups, zero-g training, mission-specialist training, astronaut selection, getting hounded by the world's media ... oh, them biologists, they'd be terribly upset, wouldn't they.

[Bigshankhank]

I, for one, welcome our new rock overlords.

Rock overlords, nice.

[sun rat]

I wonder how long the warranty on rover was for. Looks like something fell off.

[DerGolgo]

Yes, yes ... but what made it fall off? Fall off and land what looks like at least half a foot away from the machine? It's not exactly rumbling along the dirt road like a moonshine runner ...

Warranty on Spirit and Oportunity was, I believe, three months. Opportuniry is celebrating it's tenth anniversary this year. The people who designed it must hope it'll hold on till they retire, 'coz whatever they do next, outperforming the specs no less than forty fold, it's not something you're likely to manage more than once in a career, but that's what people will expect ...
Though none of the articles I found about this mentioned explicitly whether it was Opportunity or Curiosity that took this pic ...