Did humans know about the Traveler before landing on Mars?

Did humans know about the Traveler before landing on Mars? I say this because of several very reasonable reasons which are listed below: 1. The weakest part of the theory is that Humans would only go to Mar's them selves if there was a reason. e.g. Seeing a giant blaming ball! 2. The Traveler is massive and white and would be very easy to spot on Mars which is of course red. 3. The Humans landing do not set up a base, they just walk and walk in one direction and it seems they have purpose in the direction they are going. Why else would you randomly walk in one direction and climb up some random dangerous mountain. 4. The strongest point of all is that the astronauts are carrying WEAPONS ON MARS! Mars has pretty much been proven to have no life on it and there are much more important things to carry around than guns like say air! The only reason why this is justified is that Humans saw something on Mars sent Astronauts to go check it out and because it was a giant blaming ball they armed Astronauts with weapons just in case (Probably had a few nukes pointed at it to). Note: (I am Australian so I am to not used to guns, plus Destiny is a fps) So what do you think post your theory or completely disprove me in the comments below.