Water on Mars

NASA and their remote controlled car have discovered water on Mars. The aptly named Curiosity has conducted an experiment and boiled off water from Martian rocks. A bravo moment for human ingenuity .

As the Wall E like rover trundles around the Martian surface it's discoveries make science fiction fact. Americans should feel proud of their NASA in what is a prelude to human boots on Martian soil. I was an aficionado of science fiction at school. Now each day brings new understanding about our place in the firmament.If I was to contemplate a university prospectus again I would pass over legal matters and contemplate astrophysics . The array of telescopes in the Atacama desert in Chile would make a great office.

I recommend a documentary called Nostalgia for the Light by Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán. An exile from Pinochet and his repellant regime Guzmán focuses on the similarities "between astronomers researching humanity’s past, in an astronomical sense, and the struggle of many Chilean women who still search, after decades, for the remnants of their relatives executed during the dictatorship" - Wikipedia".

What could have been grim subject matter instead moves and reveals . The fortitude of the women as they piece together their history and that of their loved ones is awe inspiring. As they comb the soil of the Atacama desert their bravery outstrips any astronaut.