NASA imagining a Martian future. Image – NASA.
I’m not going to lie, sometimes writing science fiction can be a right pain in the arse.
As a writer you’re racing to produce some visionary story based on groundbreaking ideas about the world of tomorrow, only to find out the real world is already way ahead of the curve. I mean realistically, how many bitter writers cloistered in darkened rooms have had to angrily rewrite their dystopian future novels thanks to the political omni-shambles of the last few years? Seriously, it might just be best to give up, the world’s way ahead of us on that one it seems, and George Orwell pretty much has the salient points covered.
The pain of stolen visions aside, it’s still pretty amazing when a sliver of that sci-fi imagination makes its way into the real world. Having grown up feeding my dreams with epic books like Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy, it gives me a shiver of excitement to see NASA unveiling their own slice of that future with their Mars rover concept vehicle. This 8.5-metre monster is designed to function as a working laboratory and vehicle, providing a look at the kind of machines that man might one day use to explore Mars in person. That’s definitely some sci-fi reality worth sharing.
Thanks NASA, you’re doing a great job of feeding the geeks.
A Wheezy Life of Words and Coffee 
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