It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since I was desperately searching through our kitchen, looking for peanuts to eat while I watched the Curiosity landing on Mars. I found the peanuts and, no doubt thanks to my help,  Curiosity safely touched down and began exploring the martian landscape.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt20kTRV-_M&feature=youtu.be&w=480]

I’m not a huge space nerd but even so, I found myself completely wrapped up in the mission and I got a sense of what it might have been like watching the moon landings. I can’t help but wonder if we’ll see humans walking on Mars in my lifetime. That would be something special.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Alq08Poqb0&w=480]

The Curiosity landing also inspired me to write an as yet unpublished first contact story set on Mars – Bottled Lightning. It’s very much a character piece and Curiosity doesn’t actually make an appearance but it was the landing that got me thinking about Mars as a setting for the story.

[One Year on Mars by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 5th August 2013]