The First Interplanetary Library is intended to be a sort of time capsule for future Mars explorers and colonists.

Putting the newest Mars explorer into orbit will be hair-raising for its controllers, the officials said.

Must have been one of the early Mars explorers, decided Curtis.

"Human beings are headed into the cosmos," he said last month, spinning visions of Moon bases and Mars explorers.

Future human Mars explorers may conduct similar surveys in their search for life and resources to support human settlement.

Data from the Mars explorer has presented a puzzle to scientists; does it actually provide evidence of life on the red planet?

He exuded the calm self-confidence of a man possessed of the certain knowledge that he would be picked as the team physician for the Mars explorers.

It was one of those minor maladies that no Mars explorer would even whisper about during training, for fear of being scratched from the team.

If he hadn't been grinning from ear to ear Edith would have thought some disaster had hit the Mars explorers.

Each would ask a question, to be answered by one of the Mars explorers.