Lots of science fiction story ideas here!

I ran across this article the other day about a spacecraft that just landed on Mars. As I was reading it, I started thinking about how many starters there are here for a good science fiction story or novel. Since I already have more story ideas than I can use, I thought I'd pass these on to someone else who can use them.

Things to take note of:

* NASA doesn't know the fate of one of the failed soft-landing missions. The article says they lost contact with it before it landed. A whole lot of what-ifs to play with there!

* It only took the spacecraft 10 months to reach Mars. I don't know about you, but that's a considerably shorter span of time than I would have thought. Definitely a feasible amount of travel time for astronauts or even colonists.

* In 2002, water — one of the supposed building blocks of life — was discovered below the surface of Mars in the form of ice. Life on Mars? All kinds of great story ideas there! Someone with a good imagination could find a way to do that in a way that hasn't been done before.

* Phoenix, the spacecraft that just landed, carries with it a DVD with a "library of science fiction and art, as well as the names of more than 250,000 people." The DVD is designed to withstand deterioration, presumably in the hopes that someone — or something — will find it someday. If some type of life form finds this DVD, I wonder what assumptions they'll draw about us as a people?

All kinds of fun you could have with this story!