A planet made of diamond?

[Num7]

This is a pretty old article:

Astronomers have spotted an exotic planet that seems to be made of diamond racing around a tiny star in our galactic backyard.

The new planet is far denser than any other known so far and consists largely of carbon. Because it is so dense, scientists calculate the carbon must be crystalline, so a large part of this strange world will effectively be diamond.

Astronomers discover planet made of diamond| Reuters

Now, imagine that such a planet was near the Earth. Let's say, Mars is one giant diamond. Imagine how important space exploration would be, compared to what it is right now. It would be a race for diamonds. I'm pretty we would have reached Mars around the year 2000 or maybe even before, no? Think about it.

Too bad Mars is just a dry red rock. No diamonds there!

 

[Khaos]

Too bad Mars is just a dry red rock. No diamonds there!

Probably somewhere underground. If any kind of life exists on that planet, its probably underground. NASA has the technology and capability to have underground exploration rovers, but they seem to focused on drilling holes into rocks looking for signs of life. Which is silly. The lack of atmosphere and ozone layer on Mars causes the planet to be bombarded with lethal amounts of radiation. Nothing can survive. At least life we are familiar with here. There could be life on the surface that we have yet to discover that lives in that surface environment. They just aren't looking in the right spots.

 

[paradox404]

I think they would be able to reach Mars if it contained some sort of rare or normally unobtainable material. Although imagine the price such a planet would fetch, and the auction on the diamonds. Something that could cover the expedition and then some would entice them a lot to go to a diamond mars.

The auction would go something like:
"First bid today, a [Insert advertising technique here] 498 Quitilion carrot diamond, made from the planet [Insert Name]. Starting bid is [Insert ridiculous amount of money]"

Too bad Mars is just a dry red rock. No diamonds there!

Probably somewhere underground. If any kind of life exists on that planet, its probably underground. NASA has the technology and capability to have underground exploration rovers, but they seem to focused on drilling holes into rocks looking for signs of life. Which is silly. The lack of atmosphere and ozone layer on Mars causes the planet to be bombarded with lethal amounts of radiation. Nothing can survive. At least life we are familiar with here. There could be life on the surface that we have yet to discover that lives in that surface environment. They just aren't looking in the right spots.

True, although the rovers are quite limited to locations because of their solar panels, which can only get enough power at tropical latitudes due to distance and inefficencies. Perhaps the next probes to Mars should used a type of magnet driven generator? Either way, apparently it is more intelligent to drill into random rocks to try and find microbes, according to NASA.

 

[Khaos]

Too bad Mars is just a dry red rock. No diamonds there!

Probably somewhere underground. If any kind of life exists on that planet, its probably underground. NASA has the technology and capability to have underground exploration rovers, but they seem to focused on drilling holes into rocks looking for signs of life. Which is silly. The lack of atmosphere and ozone layer on Mars causes the planet to be bombarded with lethal amounts of radiation. Nothing can survive. At least life we are familiar with here. There could be life on the surface that we have yet to discover that lives in that surface environment. They just aren't looking in the right spots.

True, although the rovers are quite limited to locations because of their solar panels, which can only get enough power at tropical latitudes due to distance and inefficencies. Perhaps the next probes to Mars should used a type of magnet driven generator? Either way, apparently it is more intelligent to drill into random rocks to try and find microbes, according to NASA.[/QUOTE]

Solar panels? So 20th century. This is the 21st. If we can power our satellites with nuclear energy, why not the rovers? Its clean, efficient and if an accident happens, well the planet is already dead, so what does it matter? One argument I see is regarding the signals rovers transmit back to earth. That signals don't transmit well when so far underground, which is true. But you could have two rovers. One that is stationary outside the cave/hole and the other that is exploring. Maybe have the two rovers hooked up to some sort of tether, that can send signals to the stationary rover, that can then transmit information back to earth.

We have the technology, but as you said, its apparently worth more sending a probe to just drill holes in some rocks.