Oh I know Mars is far from fully explored
But in terms of finding actual life, especially on a scale beyond a few isolated pockets
that may be buried way underground, we need to stop focusing so much on Mars.
I am starting to think that NASA does it not just because they are still stuck in
that pre-Viking paradigm, but because actually finding some real alien life might
complicate things for them. It's a lot easier and cheaper to keep speculating
endlessly about microbes than actually finding an ETI. I doubt the government
would give NASA more money even if they did find life on Mars. The Mars meteorite
certainly didn't turn into manned Mars missions.
Oh why am I being so pessimistic? Is the reality of dealing with political human
types finally getting to me?