[sgt101]

I think the opposite - unless the discovery of life was preceeded or coincidental with the discovery of some other hyper interesting thing (for example, if Martian life has some sort of utility for medicine, maybe) then I think that would be that for Mars exploration missions. Of course there would be many announcements and excited political agreements around "continuing to explore the new frontier" but I think that no more money would appear.

I suspect that NASA knows this full well, as do Mars scientists, and I suspect that they are being very careful to make sure that definitive proof does not appear until they understand all sorts of other stuff about the planet.

[nkrisc]

But why? Why would there be no money for that but there’s money now when there’s no conclusive evidence of life, past or present, on Mars? It makes no sense.

[sgt101]

Because looking for life on mars sells.

"Why are we not spending that money on more social housing?" : Because this is the greatest mystery of our time... (nods all round)

"Why are we doing science?": I don't know and I don't care, cut my taxes! (Cheering and mocking comments about nerds.)