Mars Mania grips the Nation.

USATODAY ^ | 01/09/04 | Dan Vergano

[Pikamax]

A different kind of rock star By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY The hottest action hero of 2004 is 4 feet tall, looks like a golf cart and stars in a feel-good Mars mania blockbuster that is gripping the nation.

The arrival of NASA's Spirit rover on the surface of Mars Saturday night has thrown into sharp relief public and scientific fascination with this planetary neighbor. The rover's every move has been leading nightly newscasts.

[Agnes Heep]

"Mars is something that clutches at people's guts," says astrophysicist Michael Shara ....

So is dysentery, but it doesn't get front page headlines.

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[MEGoody]

Mars mania grips the nation? LOL They haven't even figured out how to get the rover off the ramp so it can 'rove' yet.

[BigLittle]

Yikes it moved!

[boris]

"So is dysentery, but it doesn't get front page headlines."

LOL.

I used to be a Space Cadet--and I work in the industry--but what can I say? Seen one dead red desert; seen 'em all.

A bore; how sad.

--Boris

[lepton]

"People are interested in something that isn't bad or monetary ... done for no reason except that of interest, really," author Robinson says. "We live in this giant capitalist society where everything is economical. ... And then there's this little robot project going on, and everybody likes it. I think it has to do with that sense of separation from the grubby concerns of the ordinary society that we live in."

Or, maybe it's just new and a better view of something they wouldn't see elsewhere.

[tet68]

A bore; how sad.

Till we find a fossil.
Then it gets REAL interesting.