The Pocket Pyramid
Presented by polkingbeal67 & smolin9
Earthwatch presenters – polkingbeal67 & smolin9
“Join us to watch human life unfold on the Pale Blue Dot.”
MMBC Earthwatch
Highlights, interviews and analysis from Earth’s media
NASA’s Mars rover, Curiosity, has spotted an unusual pyramid-shaped rock en route to an area known as Glenelg. Looking uncannily like an Egyptian pyramid, it is not something you would expect to see on the surface of Mars. Engineers have guided the Curiosity rover up to it for a closer look. The rover will use radioactive curium to bombard its target with energetic alpha particles and X-rays. It will then zap the rock remotely with its ChemCam laser instrument and measure the spectra of the resulting vapour. Project scientist John Grotzinger said: “We want to get compositional information on things that we can’t see with our eyes.”
| polkingbeal67: | Why do you suppose earthlings are so fascinated with the barren, desiccated wasteland on Mars? | |
| smolin9: | They probably hope they’ll encounter an extra-terrestrial. | |
| polkingbeal67: | Oh, is that what they’d call us? | |
| smolin9: | They’d probably call you an extra-cholesterol. | |
| polkingbeal67: | Eh? What? How about these earthlings though! They never cease to amaze me. They want to find out everything there is to know about Mars, but they can’t be bothered even to give a name to their own sun! | |
| smolin9: | Or their own solar system. Yeh, I don’t think they’re too impressed with their sun. | |
| polkingbeal67: | Why not? It warms them and provides them with light, doesn’t it? | |
| smolin9: | Yeh, but it only comes out during the day, when they don’t really need it! | |
| polkingbeal67: | Eh? Anyway, what about this pyramid rock on Mars? | |
| smolin9: | I know. I’ve heard it was built by the Chilloks to rival the Great Pyramids on Earth. | |
| polkingbeal67: | But they’re colossal. Earthlings consider them the most astounding structures ever built on their planet. This one on Mars is about the size of a football. | |
| smolin9: | Yes, but don’t forget Chilloks are ant-sized creatures. It’s absolutely massive to them. Come to think of it, if there are still Chilloks on Mars, that Curiosity rover thing has probably wiped out entire populations of them already. | |
| polkingbeal67: | Oh my word! Yes, they could have run over them with those big wheels! And now they’re going to compound the atrocity by blasting the Chilloks’ precious monument with a laser. Disgraceful! | |
| smolin9: | Yes. Calm down, p! Hey, you know what would be a good gag? We should transport ourselves to Mars and nick the tyres! Wouldn’t you love to see the faces of those NASA people as they download images of their precious rover – all neatly propped up on bricks? |
© MMBC (Morys Minor Broadcasting Corporation)
See also:
The Wormhole Reports
Smolin9’s Snapshots
