I listened to George Noory and Coast to Coast last night as he and his guests covered the landing of Curiosity on Mars 35 million miles away. Curiosity is the biggest and most complex rover yet. It is powered by nuclear energy and has 17 cameras. It is in the Gale Crater and will slowly make its way toward Mount Sharp at the crater's center. George and the Coast to Coast gang are already anticipating fossils from a time when Mars was warmer and wetter. We shall see. The project cost $2.5 billion.

Curiosity will travel 12 miles in two years, analyzing soil and looking for a habitable environment. It will look for water, carbon and sources of energy, three requirements for life.

Curiosity is controlled from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

It seems inevitable that man will eventually walk on Mars. I wonder about the first men who will make that trip. They will be special people whose whole existence has been geared to that purpose. Our psychology evolved on planet Earth for the purpose of survival here. We are not by nature prepared to spend 18 months in a cramped capsule away from home. There could be serious psychological problems. There will be bone loss and danger from cosmic rays, meteoroids, etc. The astronauts will watch as Earth shrinks to become a dim light in the darkness. Apollo astronauts did not have that problem. From the moon, Earth retained its identity even though Buzz Aldrin said he held his thumb up to completely cover it. The first man on Mars will be a hero. He will travel the world, lead parades and appear in newspapers and on television in every country. When it is over he will seek seclusion, shunning the public the rest of his days. After some years there will be oddballs like Nashville's own Bart Sibrel claiming that man never went to Mars.