The following link is a small 50 second film created by NASA showing panoramic camera images from the Mars rover Opportunity of the sunset on Mars on November 4th and 5th, 2010:
Truly an awe inspiring sight. The same sun we wake up to every clear day here on good ole Terra (Earth) as seen on the surface of our closest neighboring planet. A sight that perhaps only God has ever witnessed now possible through the use of modern human technology. We truly do live in an age of wonder.
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| Martian sunset photo taken by the Mars rover Spirit at Gusev Crater, May 19, 2005. |
I do wonder though, someday will human beings actually stand on the surface of the Red Planet and see this gorgeous blue sunset with their own eyes? I believe we -meaning humanity- will, both as explorers, and as future Martians ourselves.
Of course, I'm a huge science fiction fan and I must confess a bit of a romantic when it comes to the ideas of space exploration and colonization beyond Earth. Just another of the long line of wild dreamers who look up at the night sky at the distant planets and stars the way our own ancient ancestors must once have looked at the distant horizon and wondered what lay beyond.
I believe that someday there will be generations of humans born and living on Mars, perhaps in vast domed biospheres the size of major cities on Earth. Or maybe - with the help of future technologies yet to be invented - a way to transforming that lifeless world's surface and atmosphere into a place habitable for human life. Today's science fiction could well be tomorrow's science fact. After all look at what progress humanity has made in just one century. Imagine two or three centuries hence.
At the very least I hope to live to see the day the first human explorers touch their boots to the surface of Mars and take that first step into the next great frontier.
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