why is mars so important to NASA .?

Former US Astronaut of the successful 1969 Apollo 11 mission to the Moon along with Neil Armstrong - Buzz Aldrin says there is a Monolith on the moon of Mars!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDIXvpjnRws

A monlith is a 'single large block of stone used in architecture or scultpure'.

It is a sculptured monument made from some sort of block of stone often placed in a spot. It is not natural either meaning the sculptured monument was placed there by someone or something! It is an architectural piece.

I like how he's trying to drop hints about the unusual monument placed on the moon of mars and how it was put there by some intelligent form...being extra-terrestrials. Because as Buzz says, if 'God put that there'...it is meaning that some form of life placed the monument there somehow...

Maybe that's why Buzz and co. want to focus on man exploring Mars next instead of going back to the Moon..to find out the truth...

They don't call Mars our "sister planet" for nothing.

Visiting Mars would be like visiting Earth, billions of years ago. It would vastly help our understanding of our own planet, as well as Mars and other planets in and around our solar system.

If you look carefully at a picture of Mars from the hubble telescope, you can see ravines, trenches and even giant canyons thought to have been carved out by liquid water. Scientists believe once Mars began moving closer the sun (at one time, it was about the same distant from the sun as we are now) the water began to dry up, evaporate and leak thru its atmostphere into space. Altho, this is still just a theory.

The recent Rover trips have discovered Salt (which was previously thought to be ice) on the surface of the planet. This is strong evidence suggesting there may have been oceans (not unlike our own) on the planet. Going there, learning all we can could give us answers to many, many questions. What happened to mars? Was there oceans? Was there life? Could Earth suffer the same fate? It could even answer the age old question "How was the earth created?" Unlikely.. but possible.

On top of that, some scientists are starting to believe that life on earth may have been created when/if a large asteroid struck mars. The estimated time-line of when Mars "died" and when Earth was "created" if pretty close.. If we find earth-like fossilized bacertia on Mars it could shed light on where we came from.

Other than that, its the next closest and "safest" planet to visit. Its the next logical step torwards space exporation.. baby steps.

NASA has also mentioned wanting to visit one of Saturn's or Jupitors moons, as they believe there could be living organisms there. I forgot the actual names of the moons, but thru hubble they could see what appeared to be Ice caps and even a possible "slushy" ocean.

It's a new goal for them. If they can successfully send a manned mission to Mars, then maybe there will be as much support for the space program as there was during the "Space Race" of the 1960s. Mars is the nearest planet that seems to be feasible for such a mission.

-There could of been life on Mars in the past.

-There could be life there now, but most likely microscopic life.

-So we know more about our solar system and Mars itself.

because it's the closest thing, next to the moon, and it's the most livable planet, after earth.

bcuz once we ruin this planet to the point that it cannot be inhabited we can just go and ruin a different planet. ^_^