Adrian C wrote:
On 06/08/2012 19:22, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
"Curiosity is about twice as long and five times as heavy as NASA's two
previous Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, and its plutonium-powered
nuclear battery will provide the mobile laboratory with about 2.7 kWh
per day, far in excess of the 1 kWh per day maximum of the earlier
solar-powered rovers. The nuclear battery is also much longer-lasting
than the solar power systems used by the previous missions, and is
expected to last through the rover's planned operations and beyond,
providing the potential for the mission to be extended."


There's the beginings of life apparently on Mars. Well, they are looking
for it, and apart from hopeful dreams of finding tiny green aliens that
speak english the most probable find would be some very fragile micro
organism, or nothing.

Now wind the clock forward a million years or so. We here on earth will
have probably persished, but those organisms on mars may well develop
into self sustainable alien lifeforms. Tiny, maybe green, who knows?

However, somewhere in that distant future, some of them are going to
come across a decaying but still highly radioactive source and after the
visit suffer the indignity of being born with two heads and three arms.

Is this right? Do the aliens have rights not to have their cell
structures modified in that way? What if they discover time travel and
come back here to give us a telling off?



What makes you think that the aliens are affected adversely by
radioactivity, they might thrive on the stuff.