Comments on: Precious Gems Discovered on Mars

By: ruf

ruf — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:04:48 +0000

Hear, Hear, Dutch!

There is a reason we have brains, it's so we can go forth and find uses for what we need. Hippies that are worried about "raping a planet" have never produced anything worthwhile anyway. It doesn't seem to stop them from driving their Prius's and surfing on their Macs.

By: Dutch Delight

Dutch Delight — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:41:49 +0000

It's a bit silly to start talking about "raping" a planet for it's resources when there's nothing alive there that would have any use for those resources anyway.

By this logic we shouldn't touch asteroids for their minerals either… Use your head people.

By: Ayti

Ayti — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:55:37 +0000

Let the rape of another planet commence!

By: peter K

peter K — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:42:27 +0000

If there was Oil surely there would have been life???
drilling in the Martian wildlife sanctuary anyone…?

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:47:49 +0000

Drill, baby, drill !!!

By: Hunnter

Hunnter — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:23:15 +0000

Now all we need to do is find that oil… gotta be around this place somewhere…

Seriously though, I wonder what other materials will be on there.
I would laugh (and cry) if they did somehow find oil on there somewhere.
Why ruin one planet when you can do 2 at the same time!
Well actually, for Mars, oil use would be a good thing.

By: Astrofiend

Astrofiend — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:36:37 +0000

RobertB Says:
October 28th, 2008 at 3:47 pm

Trippy Says:
October 28th, 2008 at 4:31 pm

Ahh – the many subtle economic considerations of Martian sample return!

By: Trippy

Trippy — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:31:30 +0000

Ah, but remember, you're talking about a few thousand fist sized lumps of /martian/ opal, not terrestrial opal. I imagine they'd be worth substantially more then a million bucks, because those would be the only pieces of martian opal we have on this planet (thus making it a unique commodity).

By: RobertB

RobertB — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:47:33 +0000

Well, the largest chunk of opal on Earth, according to Wikipedia, is the fist-sized "Halley's Comet Opal", discovered in 1986. It's worth $1.2 million. So all we have to do is haul back a few thousand fist-sized opals, and the mission is paid for!

Unless, of course, they don't sell for a million bucks a piece any more, once you have a few thousand in your garage.

By: Rey

Rey — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:05:03 +0000

Great, now NASA will have big budget backers from private investors!

By: Bonr

Bonr — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:33:43 +0000

Can't wait for the first De Beers sample-return mission to Mars!

Seriously though, this is promissing for future commercial interests in Mars exploration. Imagine what the rich and famous would pay for a Martian opal necklace!