Dave Walsh and I have had multiple discussions about space-based sci-fi, distant livable planets and Mars. I’m not saying for certain that we would improve life on Mars but Dave’s taste in music and my general misanthropy would certainly make it more interesting. Still, it would take approximately three days before I got bored and wanted to eat junk food. If you listened to the first Superchat, you can picture Gary’s endless cruise at 3am for fast food, put it on Mars and it would resemble my search, minus gravity.
I feel that Mars would be filled with crappy food, and we’d never be able to get anything decent unless we got this burrito vending machine. The Curiosity rover, by virtue of being a machine, doesn’t need to eat food so it isn’t really worried about the lack of fast food establishments on Mars. That doesn’t mean that the men and women at NASA weren’t excited by the appearance of what looks like a jam donut on the surface of Mars. I think they are more excited by the fact that it seemingly appeared out of nowhere. As lead scientist Steve Squyres said:
“We’ve taken pictures of both the doughnut and jelly parts, and the got the first data on the composition of the jelly yesterday. It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” he said. “It’s very high in sulphur, it’s very high in magnesium, it’s got twice as much manganese as we’ve ever seen in anything on Mars… I don’t know what any of this means. We’re completely confused, and everyone in the team is arguing and fighting (over what it means).”
Here’s the image of the mysterious rock — or the scientific name ‘jelly donut.’
