Originally Posted By: Rallem
I think Mars is dead and will be an expensive yet important mission in learing what we will need to colonize a proper planet like Venus

Couldn't agree with that, Rallem. In what way do you see Venus as a 'proper' planet and Mars (I suppose) as an improper planet? As Mike points out, Venus is just too herrendously hostile. The first major success of this mission would be the confirmation of subsurface ice. The next would be finding organic molecules in the ice - although that wouldn't necessarily be evidence that there was ever life on Mars.

"Time is what prevents everything from happening at once" - John Wheeler