Look what famous “prize” is being displayed at the New Detroit Science Center. The trophy designer is from Troy, Michigan, so it starts its tour in this fair state. And this is what I did on spring break….

Saw a great documentary with Glen over the weekend about Spirit and Opportunity. Both were supposed to last 90 days, but they’re still going. Helping that is this latest news – Spirit just received a mystery bath similar to one given (?) to Opportunity some time ago. No one understands it really, but it’s cool.

I’m also trying to figure out how to support Sentator Barbara Mikulski in her bid to keep the Hubble running. You go, Babs!

Space Review invites you to “Meet Michael Griffin”:http://www.thespacereview.com/article/339/1, the new nominee for NASA administrator. While I’ve been extremely skeptical of the Bush administration’s space exploration initiative, this nomination actually gives me hope that NASA could be shifted to the right track.

It wouldn’t be without losses, of course; the shuttle, ISS, and Hubble are all likely to take a back seat to human exploration of the solar system. However, I think that if we can really put people back on the Moon and/or send them to Mars, the gains would be worth it.

According to an article in New Scientist, “Mars may have a frozen underground sea”:http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7039 right near the equator. If it’s there, it’s just under the surface, is about 45m (145ft) deep, and covers thousands of square kilometers, about the size of the North Sea.

In related news, I just finished reading “Red Thunder”:http://www.strangehorizons.com/2003/20030929/red_thunder.shtml, John Varley’s recent novel about plucky youngsters launching a mission to Mars. It’s a fantastic read, the kind of book that would be written by the mutant prodigy love-child of Varley, Robert Heinlein, Carl Hiaasen, Spider Robinson, Douglas Coupland, Neal Stephenson, and Carl Sagan.

How to pronounce Huygens – come on, you know you’ve worried about it…. :-)