Mars "Reconnaissance" Orbiter = Tactical Recon for Space War

No, it's not just a Mars Imaging Orbiter. We're trying to locate possible signs of previous occupation, evidence of alien activity, perhaps even seeking clues as to what weapons an alien force might be vulnerable to.

Get ready for a fight, folks! We're gearing up!

Heh.

A little more info would help...

how bout a link to Nasa mars orbiter page:
nasa mars reconnaissance webpage

Now we can all get on the same page and speculate...

Personally, I think it is just a better look at mars, but we will see...

I now EXPECT an answer regarding the kilometer sized "trees" that are visable in several grainier pics (ones that grow seasonally on Mars). Maybe a nice closeup of some of those "tunnels" also.

And while they are at it, maybe get some really good closeups thru the womens dorm window at the base...

While i would love to believe that we are gearing up for some kind of alien conflict....I feel that this is highly unlikely. While I do believe in Intellegent Life outside of this planet....i do beleive that we have cornered the market on Intellegent(as we percieve intellegence) in this SYSTEM(Not neccesarily in this galaxy.)

That being said, as usual, I agree with Lazarus the Long.

I Think that this new Orbiter is for taking really detailed pictures. THe biggest obstiocal to landing a person on Mars is convining Big Buisness to buy into it....The Mars orbiter will enable us to determine wether or not there are "things" worth investing in on Mars....Whether or not thier are mineral deposits worth exploiting.

This is what "I" believe to be the reasoning behind sending a multibillion dollar Super Camera to Mars.

El senor pom pom rides again

Gearing up for a fight with a advanced alien species. It would be like ants gearing up for the exterminator, A waste of time and effort.

If any aliens had the power and technology to cross the stars and come here with hostile intentions we are so boned its not even funny. Chances are we would all be dead before we even knew a war had started.

Think cavemen trying to fight a B-2 bomber

Originally posted by Enkidu
No, it's not just a Mars Imaging Orbiter. We're trying to locate possible signs of previous occupation, evidence of alien activity, perhaps even seeking clues as to what weapons an alien force might be vulnerable to.

Do you have any evidence to back that up?

Heh.

That really helped to convince me to believe what you were saying. Something says that you're not being serious.

If you think about it, recon and scouting a new frontier really are part of the same deal. I'm quite sure that IF there turned out to be signs of hostial Martian Occupation (past or present), we'd be gearing up damn quickly regaurdless of the original intent of the mission.

Originally posted by ShadowXIX
Gearing up for a fight with a advanced alien species. It would be like ants gearing up for the exterminator, A waste of time and effort.

If any aliens had the power and technology to cross the stars and come here with hostile intentions we are so boned its not even funny. Chances are we would all be dead before we even knew a war had started.

Think cavemen trying to fight a B-2 bomber

Not nessasarily... This is a stretch, but bare with me for a moment.

One of my favorite short stories I read was "A Small Talent for War" in an old Anolog magazine (I'd quote author and issue, but I've lost it and haven't been able to dig it up again ). The story was about aliens showing up and confessing that we were an experiment they'd been running. We had developed only a moderate level of science, art, and culture. Humanity's most outstanding feature was a small talent for war. This wasn't acceptable, so they were here to pull the plug and destroy us all. Humanity pleaded for a second chance to prove that we could do better. The aliens agreed to give us 30 years. After that time, they'd re-judge us. If we failed again, that's it. No more chances.

The next 30 years saw a golden age. Total disarmament, world peace, and a new focus on art, culture, and all fors mos science.

The aliens returned. They were mortified. "There's been a misunderstanding", they told us, "We said you have a small talent for war. It was you best feature. Now you're totally useless.".
Boom.


Anyway, point is humans are rather skilled at killing each other. Very few of us can write a piece of music, understand scientific priciples, or paint a picture. Any man can kill another man, however. Every endevour we take on eventually leads to new and interesting ways to kill each other off.

Now, assume an alien spieces has survived long enough to reach the stars. Obviously they would have a very long cultural history and since they didn't manage to blow themselves to hell, they likely found a way to live in peace. Maybe they just never were big on killing eachother. Maybe violance was something that just never occured to them.

What do you suppose a would happen if a race like that showed up here? We'd jack their stuff and figure out ways to kill them AND each other with it!

Thus is the nature of the beast, I fear.

I believe we'll see all kinds of wonderful new data about Mars. I "dusted off" my Alternative 3 video and some other vids on eco-disaster and things seem to support at least some of what was in the "spoof" April 1 1977 British video. I think an English website has it for download - thought provoking... 'specially the theory stuff...
Much like the recent ESA photos of the "Green-belt" in Valles Marinaris... might be geologic (copper oxides) but the "stink of life" is all over that red rock.. chlorophyl would about sew-it-up.
If one looks closely at other photos from previous missions there are a great many "anomalies" that are not well explained... some photos b&w, if zoomed in on, look like the aftermath of a Dresden-like bombing... maybe we're too late for a war? But just in time to claim the spoils unopposed? Nah, American science doesn't lie - Can't... too many checks & balances. LOL.

[edit on 9-4-2006 by V Kaminski]

I believe it will only be mapping about 1% of the surface. Would that be enough for use in a military application??

High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment will photograph
many areas totaling about 1 percent of Mars’ surface in
unprecedented detail, revealing features as small as 1 meter
(3 feet) across. Ball Aerospace, Boulder, Colo., built the camera
for the University of Arizona, Tucson.

MRO Fact Sheet