Message Received

As of last night, we have received confirmation that Curiosity, NASA's latest Mars rover, has landed and will begin its two-year mission to find the building blocks of life. For more on the Curiousity's scientific mission, see the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's site.

The following animation illustrating Curiosity's landing sequence is a must-see. Videos like this, with the ability to awe, inspire and induce a public conversation about science, should be a requirement for major science projects from here on.

Alternatively, with commentary



And lastly, follow the link to a haunting (and fictional) short film about a previous Mars mission, the Sojourner and Pathfinder. Packed into this magnificent film is a humanizing look at robots and the difficulties in explaining science to the public - both in translation and the media's self-imposed restrictions on content. This film, "No Message Received", is part of Orbit(film), a series of independent short films each inspired by one of the features of our Solar System.

http://vimeo.com/18778774