It's true, the London Olympics were a huge success and brought the World together wonderfully this summer. For me, however, the greater triumph was the landing of Curiosity on Mars, a feat equal in significance to the Moonlanding and one which may one day pave the way to a manned landing and who knows, even a Mars Base and dare I say it, a New Earth! NASA's new adventure has got me hooked and the latest images from the martian buggy depicting Mount Sharp, as big as our own Moon's tallest peak and towering in the distance, are simply stunning.
I find it almost mind-bending that a man-made vehicle is driving around Mars and I'm so grateful that I'm around to experience it. I'd love to sample the excitement down in Times Square where NASA streams it's feed on a huge screen. I only hope Neil Armstrong was able to see some of the footage of Curiosity before his own epic lunar chapter closed.
After the disappointment of a faded Shuttle program and chatter of NASA's redundancy, it feels like the '69 Moonlanding allover again as Curiosity takes us all on a drive up Mount Sharp's slopes and the inclines of our yearning minds.
Above: Mount Sharp or Aeolis Mons on Mars as seen by Curiosity.
Below: graphic of Mount Sharp's location at the centre of Gale Crater, 96 miles across, in which Curiosity is roving.
images: Wikipedia/ NASA
5 comments:
I share your excitement, Wotan! With recent events, this really feels like a turning point in the history of manned space exploration. The lift-off of Phase II.
Earlier today we got news that for the first time, human voice has been re-transmitted from the surface of another planet! With everything that Curiosity can do, wouldn't it qualify as the first mobile Mars Base in itself?
Arto
Oh, this was a Moonbase transmission... Share your excitement too, Cmdr Woods!
Found it all much more interesting than the Olympics!
Actually got into the Olympics quite a bit this time around but that was just a couple of weeks of adrenaline rush. If everything goes well with Curiousity, there's the possibility of years of adrenaline rush! How cool is that?
have to say I enjoyed the mars landing more than the olympics - well appart from the Spanish womens Beach Volleyball...
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