Martian Rovers do stuff. Again. (I smell a distraction), page 1

Well let's use a logical train of thought: If we will eventually run out of resources on the earth for building habitats for humans and all the various trappings of civilization, we will need to learn what treasures the planets and moons of our solar system hold and how to go about accessing them. Looking for and finding new and rare alloys is certainly not some aggregious sin and in fact is the premise of almost every expedition into unknown territory humanity has ever made. The real non-sequitur would be to assume that all that transpires around you does so magically, without the need for defense, offense, and the machine of civilization. This envitably ties into expansion for human life, as bringing our building materials with us to colonize new planets, would be difficult at best and down right inefficient in the bigger picture.

The 1997 mission was as follows:

The mission had the primary objective of demonstrating the feasibility of low-cost landings on and exploration of the Martian surface. This objective was met by tests of communications between the rover and lander, and the lander and Earth, tests of the imaging devices and sensors, and tests of the maneuverability and systems of the rover on the surface. The scientific objectives include atmospheric entry science, long-range and close-up surface imaging, rock and soil composition and material properties experiments, and meteorology, with the general objective being to characterize the Martian environment for further exploration. (Mars Pathfinder was formerly known as the Mars Environmental Survey (MESUR) Pathfinder.)

nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov...

The 2004 mission is:

The mission seeks to determine the history of climate and water at a site on Mars where conditions may once have been favorable to life. The landing sites at Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum were selected on the basis of intensive study of orbital data collected by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft and other missions. These sites offer evidence that liquid water was once present. The rovers' scientific instruments will be used to read the geologic record at each site, to investigate what role water played there, and to determine how suitable the conditions would have been for life.

www.athena.cornell.edu...

It sounds to me as if the 1997 mission provided information that was in need of further investigation and thusly better equipment was sent with specific tests for the data they collected on the 1997 mission.

The only reason you seem to be at odds with this appears to stem more from your distaste for NASA and its apparent connection to the US military. I was attempting to redirect your attention to what this will inevitably be about, because even if we start it as a military project, it will inevitably require civilians as well as military to advance it, which will lead to commerce, education and so on. You know, extrapolate a bit farther out than your dislike of the military machine and you'll find normal people waving back at you, common folks who need a place to live and work in the future, when the populace has outgrown the confines of the planet or our science as made it possible to explore the reaches of space with a modicum of comfort and safety. Space Exploration is initially a military/scientific communion, because your average citizen wouldn't be thrilled to risk their lives to explore the dangers of space.

[Edited on 5-6-2004 by Undomiel]