I believe the reason we are so hung up on finding out if there is or was life on Mars is because it is the closest opportunity to do so. There is possibility therefore our basic human need to know kicks in and we’re off to the races. Mars is “easy” and “quick” to get to with our current technology therefore we are all about it. If we had Ion drives that could propel probes to other star systems within a life time I think we wouldn’t care about Mars. We would be oit looking for life in other places, but because Mars in convenient, thats where we are looking. I personally think its a distraction from attaining viable interplanetary or interstellar travel. And why don’t we have a space station on the Moon? Doesn’t that seem weird to anyone else? We go there, check it off the list and then forget about it? Forget Mars, lets go back to the Moon! Thanks for the post @jmhb85!