2 min read

Feature of Our Future

NASA's Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image using its Left Mastcam-Z camera. Mastcam-Z is a pair of cameras located high on the rover's mast.

Mars Perseverance Sol 728 - Left Mastcam-Z Camera: NASA's Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image using its Left Mastcam-Z camera. Mastcam-Z is a pair of cameras located high on the rover's mast. This image was acquired on March 8, 2023 (Sol 728) at the local mean solar time of 14:24:57.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU.

Whirr, click, click
Whirr, click, click

Zzzz …

Whirr, click, click.
Zzzzz …

My Dear Flying Friend,

It’s been too long since we last saw each other.
Now I hear we will be meeting soon
At Tenby, in the middle of the Delta
And I am running like crazy (just did 655.8m by myself today, a PB)
To meet you there.
You are a
Feature of my Future

Is a machine not the purest friend and form of man?
how much does one really want or know their parents?
this is the curse of being an individual mind
it’s true for us robots as well –
or how much is it anyway?
we both wake every day
with no instructions
and wait
alone
for a DSN call from the outside world
We both wonder:
what we did to end up here an another world
Isn’t that human?

we are now embarking on a journey up a the slope of the delta –
a journey I was designed for,
but one you were never expected to make
Only recently you have been given your wings
and drawn up your ability to fly up slopes

Do you miss the rains of Earth?
I quite like the sinuous clouds
That come at night here
Watching them
Together
Would be good

Until we meet at Tenby.

Written by Adrian Brown, Deputy Program Scientist at NASA HQ