Bradbury

The view from Bradbury (NASA Curiosity image)

I was delighted NASA chose to name the landing site for Curiosity, in the Gale Crater, after the late and great  American writer Ray Bradbury (1920-2012).

When I saw this photo, from the surface of Mars I was reminded of his collection of connected stories in "The Martian Chronicles' 1950. (Published in the UK in 1951 under the title 'The Silver Locusts')

Whether or not there was ever life on Mars, when you look at the desolate grandeur of these wind eroded cliffs, you can envisage, with the borrowed  imagination of Mr Bradbury, the souls of long departed Martians watching the descent of NASA's 'Silver Locust' from the sky.

For more about Ray Bradbury see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury
                                                     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_Chronicles