I completely forgot that NASA was due to land a rover on mars today, but when I got up and went to the bbc news website this morning, I was greeted with this incredible story. Amid the sound and fury of the Olympics, such events seem to have been eclipsed, if you ill forgive the pun. Yet, in terms of human history, I find such landings much more important, and impressive though the Olympics have been, I am much more impressed with the fact that NASA got this machine down in one piece. I can’t wait to see the pictures that will soon come back from mars and the results of the experiments: I find the prospect of at last establishing whether there was once life on mars far more captivating than any race or competition. Mid you, this landing brings the possibility of teraforming and colonising Mars one step closer, so as our PA Dominic wryly quipped earlier, maybe one day the Olympics could beheld on mars; now that would be cool.