I'm watching a replay of yesterday's MSL/Curiosity news conference. Exciting to learn that they've now confirmed the Mars was once habitable and they've found everything needed to form what we think of as life (though no evidence of life has been found). But one of the scientists said something I found fascinating. He was asked how long might Curiosity survive. His answer was that with the rover's power source having a half life of 84 years the rover could last long enough to shake hands with the first astronauts on Mars. Granted, he was grinning when he said it and there was laughter in the room so I don't know how serious he was. But with MER-A & MER-B having lasted 10s of times longer than their planned 90 days missions, if Curiosity manages to live an equal number of times past it's planned 2 Earth-year mission I can almost imagine seeing images coming back from the rover of humans approaching. Neat stuff. patrick This next is OT but there are enough pilots and would be pilots on the list that I couldn't resist posting this: Lainey's first airplane ride (note the open door and windows. That kid is fearliess!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8JU-1ZrRAg&feature=youtu.be Ok, now who wants to go for their first airplane ride? It's free. Just ask!