It seems to me that one would expect things to be quite uniform over that distance, but potentially extremely varied over greater distances.I always wonder if the recipe for life is only tied to our planet.
Scientists are chasing water as one of their main ingredients. But what if it wasn't? What if life can evolve without it in other places? We have no idea. I think the idea that water is necessary for life is a strong theory. But it doesn't mean that it's a determining factor.
I suppose we need something to go on and it's our best available guess at this time. Very exciting things are happening in space travel. I predict that we may not go to mars for a long time because we will learn so much from the rovers it's just kind of unnecessary. I do think we will start planning to get man out of our solar system.