Hailing Mars rover landing, Obama tells NASA if Curiosity finds Martians, ‘Please let me know’

[IDemo]

Source: Washington Post

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — Hailing NASA’s “mind-boggling” Mars landing of the Curiosity rover, President Barack Obama urged the scientists operating the craft on Monday to phone home immediately if they find any extra-terrestrials.

“If in fact you do make contact with Martians, please let me know right away,” Obama told controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadenia, Calif. “I’ve got a lot of other things on my plate, but I suspect that that will go to the top of the list. Even if they’re just microbes, it will be pretty exciting.”

Obama spoke by phone from Air Force One as he flew to a campaign stop in Iowa eight days after the car-sized rover landed on the Martian surface. The touchdown followed a complex series of maneuvers involving intricately timed rocket firings, a huge parachute and cables lowering the craft to the Mars surface.

The two-year, $2.5 billion Curiosity mission includes looking for environmental conditions that might have given rise to life. However, as high-tech as it is, the nuclear-powered rover doesn’t have the tools needed to detect living or fossil microorganisms. Instead, the rover will hunt for life’s chemical building blocks.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/obama-cheers-mind-boggling-curiosity-mission/2012/08/13/942ac2cc-e55c-11e1-9739-eef99c5fb285_story.html

[heaven05]

1. yeah

like water. this planet is screwed, go find another to conquer, dominate with avarice and greed and destroy, humans.

[Posteritatis]

2. Hooray for first-post kneejerk misanthrope wankery. (nt)

[heaven05]

4. all I know

is you will go down with this ship gasping for breath. go vote or something. people like you are boring. no clue

[Odin2005]

3. Fuck that misanthropic BS!

[mac56]

6. Not without my Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator.

[heaven05]

7. lol

thanks for keeping it light

[edbermac]

9. Well, the Earth is blocking his view of Venus

[AnnieBW]

5. Especially if they're attacking

[heaven05]

8. like

yep

[Doc_Technical]

10. Everyone should be prepared for invasion

by having a Slim Whitman CD ready to play
"Indian Love Call"

[formercia]

11. He wants them to be protected

so the GOP doesn't have them deported from Mars.

[jmowreader]

12. Can you imagine Mitt W. Romney kidding JPL about finding Martians?

What President Obama doesn't seem to know is, we've already found Martians. Right here on Earth.