We keep sending missions to Mars with the key objective to search for past or present life. But what if a huge impact early in the Red Planet's history hindered any future possibility for life to thrive? Recent studies into the Martian "crustal dichotomy" indicate the planet was struck by a very large object, possibly [...]

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Imagine if that didn't happen...
We could have a space race, not to the moon, but out of the solar system!

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Obviously, dramatic collisions in planetary systems - young or old - are not extremely exotic events. See e.g.:

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0810/02collision/

Also, our moon is said to be the result of such an event, some four billion years ago.

From this point of view, asteroid impacts are only peanut-events ! At least, as long as they don´t happen during our lifetime

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If everyone had even a basic grasp of scientific principles, this planet would be a better place (Phil Plait)

Die Lücke, die wir hinterlassen, ersetzt uns vollkommen (Carl Heinz Schroth)

1 + e^i*pi = 0