Saturday, March 17, 2007

But still no pyramids

Caves on Mars! That's what it's all about. Come on, what skifianado's heart doesn't beat a little faster at the thought?

In a nutshell, Nasa spacecraft in orbit around Mars have spotted the likely entrances of seven caves. And if that doesn't excite you, you'll never understand.

But honestly, the names ... researchers have dubbed the caves Dena, Chloe, Wendy, Annie, Abbey, Nicki and Jeanne. Who are they? The mission controller's teenage son's girlfriends? For pity's sake! The first ever known example of a particular geological feature on another planet -- which already boasts the mighty Mons Olympus, the Valles Marineris, the Hellas basis, the Tharsis plateau -- and we call it ... Nicki.

I hope these people aren't the first to discover a whole new planet.

4 comments:

  1. I don't know... Planet "Jacobus Gideon Hanekom" has a kinda nice ring to it.... *evil smile*

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  2. I think it is kind of sweet. I wonder how much the mission controllers sons girlfriends payed to be on another planet...

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  3. I can't get past the Freudian imagery of it. Plus the possibility of future manned expeditions "We are now entering Nicki..." sounds like the same reason they called the server "Monica".

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