CBS: Scientists: Potential Mars water find a "big deal"

• "Scientists not involved with the project agree that the discovery could be big." 
•   MIT scientist Christopher Carr, who is building an instrument that could detect DNA and RNA on Mars, if they exist 
• "Yeah it's a big deal," said Robert Zubrin, president and founder of the Mars Society. "The idea that there's liquid water on Mars today at the surface means that there could be life on Mars today at the surface." (FAQ: What the Possibility of Water on Mars Means)
   

Well, it is all fine and good, but why, outside of science, would anybody go there?  There has to be an economic motivation, or its Apollo all over again.