A long time in the future

Early this morning, Mission Control at MASA (Mars Aeronautics and Space Administration) announced that they had successfully landed an unmanned probe in the northern hemisphere of the third planet from the sun. The mission is designed to look for evidence that life once existed on this, now barren, planet.

The first high resolution images from the probe have far exceeded expectations. They reveal in superb detail a desert-like planet that seems to have suffered catastrophic climate change at some time in the past. This is probably the most intriguing image so far, showing, as it does the remains of a large ornate tower (best seen using the on-board zoomifier) emerging from the sand and debris. The archaeologists at MASA suggest that the tower had a ritual function, probably associated with a temple now deep in the sand and used by the high priests to send instructions to their God.