The design and ingenuity that has gone into the Mars Rover and getting it there is marvellous. However, regardless of what they think they've found, as Slayer says, is not evidence that there was life on Mars. Carbon may be a building block for life, just as sand is a component of a home, but it takes more than building blocks to create life!

However, even if they did find solid evidence, so what? Does it help us solve climate change, cure cancer, end poverty or develop new sustainable energy sources? No. If the ingenuity, energy and financial resources that were ploughed into this mission were ploughed into things that had a useful end goal, the world would benefit a lot more.

Other than some technology spin-offs, surely satellites are the only real benefit to the world from getting into space?