Sky Watch: Why NASA Mars mission matters

As we celebrate the Aug. 5/6 achievement of NASA and its international team in landing Mars Curiosity on the Red Planet, I'd like to ponder some of the reasons for doing such work -- far beyond all the pictures we will enjoy.

One of Curiosity's major tasks will be to search Gale Crater for evidence of water and the building blocks of life. It will provide geological testing of rocks and soil samples, as well as photographs for other studies.

So why should we care? Because we humans are curious. We are explorers. We need to know what lies beyond the hills, beyond the seas, beyond our own world. We always have, and we always will. It's this very curiosity that separates us from the other creatures of Earth and produces remarkable developments upon which our civilization, our lives and our worldviews are built.

Studying Mars helps us understand ourselves and our planet; in other words, when we explore a different world, we begin to see our own with an entirely new perspective. For example, confirmation that liquid water existed in Mars' distant (or perhaps, recent) past begs such questions as: What happened to it all? How and why did that planet change from wet to dry? Was Mars ever once habitable, and could it be habitable again? But this is just the beginning.

And how many will become inspired to enter the sciences and develop new technology and medicines or make revolutionary discoveries? We may never know.