That is a VERY cool idea, Bill, but we'll have to persuade his family to agree to it first. Given his space credentials, I think they just might...

Bev and Jerry - Well, that sounds reasonably convincing to me. I remember the brouhaha in the press that you are referring to, and you are right that it would help NASA with funding all right, if they announced major new discoveries on the Red Planet. Thanks for the contribution. I had feared that this discussion would veer off into nothing but humorous asides on William Shatner. :-)

The interesting thing about "life" is...spiritual philosophy as I know it maintains that everything is alive (though not in a biological sense, as we usually think of life). That is to say...atomic structures and energy waveforms are alive. But that's a whole other area of discussion. The question is, is there or has there been biological life on Mars? Better yet, intelligent biological life?

- LH