The MAVEN Spacecraft is well on it's way to Mars. It is supposed to arrive to orbit Mars on September 21, 2014. It launched November 18, 2013. A while ago I mentioned that anyone could send their name up to Mars on a DVD that MAVEN would carry through space, by submitting their name through a website. I sent mine, Tami's, and the kids' names up. They are hurling through space as I write this. There was also a Mars haiku writing contest through the same website. I submitted two:
Beautiful and cold
You are watched and roved and probed
Spinning there in red
Holding ice inside
Cold, imagination warmed
Reflecting red far
It was fun to encapsulate a thought within a haiku's structural limitations. Here were the winners voted on by the world:
It’s funny, they named
Mars after the God of War
Have a look at Earth
-Benedict Smith , United Kingdom
Thirty-six million
miles of whispering welcome.
Mars, you called us home.
-Vanna Bonta , USA
Stars in the blue sky
cheerfully observe the Earth
while we long for them
-Luisa Santoro , Italy
distant red planet
the dreams of earth beings flow
we will someday roam
-Greg Pruett, Idaho, USA
Mars, your secret is
unknown for humanity
we want to know you.
-Fanni Redenczki, Hungary