Well, at least the University of Tulsa geosciences professor has a fragment of a meteorite there which is believed to have originated on Mars before it crash-landed in Nigeria 50 years ago.
Michael, the McMan chair in geosciences at TU, said Saturday that he has been interested in Mars since he was a child. And he isn't the only one.
From 19th century theories about the lines on its surface representing canals for Martians to use to the eerie 1970s' Viking images from its surface to dreams of mankind someday making a giant leap there, people have long been fascinated with the Red Planet.
Monday morning's landing (at about 12:30 a.m. CDT) will mark another important milestone in that borderline obsession.
Curiosity, which has been described as a six-wheeled, roving geochemistry laboratory, is scheduled to land on the Martian surface then.
The largest robot humans have ever attempted to deposit on another planet, Curiosity has a 7-foot-long arm with a power drill at the end that can bore into rocks and soil. It carries a laser that can create a hole in rocks up to about 25 feet away and identify the chemical elements inside.
"It will be just like having a geologist on the planet," Michael said Saturday as he sat in his office in TU's Keplinger Hall.
According to NASA's website, Curiosity will carry the most advanced payload of scientific gear ever used on Mars' surface, more than 10 times as massive as those of earlier Mars rovers.
The information it eventually provides will be worth the wait for scientists like Michael, who can use the data to learn scientific lessons that transcend Mars.
"We go to Mars to learn about the earth," Michael said.
NASA says on its website that Curiosity's mission is to investigate whether conditions have been favorable on Mars for microbial life and to preserve clues in the rocks about possible past life.
"If there's life on Mars, that would be an amazing thing," Michael said.
However, he said that even if this particular mission does not find life, "it doesn't mean it's not there."
Before Curiosity can get to work on the surface of Mars, it first must successfully land. Michael said if the landing goes as scheduled, "it will be a real testament to high-quality engineering."
Curiosity has been doing experiments even before landing. It has been tracking radiation during its 8 1/2-month, 352-million-mile journey which should help NASA gauge risks to future astronauts.
Michael was teenager growing up in Cranston, R.I., when man landed on the moon in July 1969.
In April 2010, President Obama announced plans to land an astronaut on an asteroid in 2025, and then to have humans orbit Mars by the middle of the 2030s, with a landing there to follow.
Michael said it requires him to be optimistic on two fronts to believe he will be alive if and when man lands on Mars.
He said it would also require a "concerted effort and the national will" to get there.
It would also require quite a bit of money. The price tag for the Curiosity mission has been placed at $2.5 billion.
However, Michael said part of human intelligence involves looking beyond immediate needs and circumstances and asking larger questions.
David Harper 918-581-8359
[email protected]
Michael, the McMan chair in geosciences at TU, said Saturday that he has been interested in Mars since he was a child. And he isn't the only one.
From 19th century theories about the lines on its surface representing canals for Martians to use to the eerie 1970s' Viking images from its surface to dreams of mankind someday making a giant leap there, people have long been fascinated with the Red Planet.
Monday morning's landing (at about 12:30 a.m. CDT) will mark another important milestone in that borderline obsession.
Curiosity, which has been described as a six-wheeled, roving geochemistry laboratory, is scheduled to land on the Martian surface then.
The largest robot humans have ever attempted to deposit on another planet, Curiosity has a 7-foot-long arm with a power drill at the end that can bore into rocks and soil. It carries a laser that can create a hole in rocks up to about 25 feet away and identify the chemical elements inside.
"It will be just like having a geologist on the planet," Michael said Saturday as he sat in his office in TU's Keplinger Hall.
According to NASA's website, Curiosity will carry the most advanced payload of scientific gear ever used on Mars' surface, more than 10 times as massive as those of earlier Mars rovers.
The information it eventually provides will be worth the wait for scientists like Michael, who can use the data to learn scientific lessons that transcend Mars.
"We go to Mars to learn about the earth," Michael said.
NASA says on its website that Curiosity's mission is to investigate whether conditions have been favorable on Mars for microbial life and to preserve clues in the rocks about possible past life.
"If there's life on Mars, that would be an amazing thing," Michael said.
However, he said that even if this particular mission does not find life, "it doesn't mean it's not there."
Before Curiosity can get to work on the surface of Mars, it first must successfully land. Michael said if the landing goes as scheduled, "it will be a real testament to high-quality engineering."
Curiosity has been doing experiments even before landing. It has been tracking radiation during its 8 1/2-month, 352-million-mile journey which should help NASA gauge risks to future astronauts.
Michael was teenager growing up in Cranston, R.I., when man landed on the moon in July 1969.
In April 2010, President Obama announced plans to land an astronaut on an asteroid in 2025, and then to have humans orbit Mars by the middle of the 2030s, with a landing there to follow.
Michael said it requires him to be optimistic on two fronts to believe he will be alive if and when man lands on Mars.
He said it would also require a "concerted effort and the national will" to get there.
It would also require quite a bit of money. The price tag for the Curiosity mission has been placed at $2.5 billion.
However, Michael said part of human intelligence involves looking beyond immediate needs and circumstances and asking larger questions.
David Harper 918-581-8359
[email protected]