Posted on by Ken Kremer

Vote ‘Curiosity’ as TIME Person of the Year

Caption – I Need You ! Vote for ‘Curiosity’ as TIME magazine Person Of The Year.
NASA’s new Curiosity Mars rover snapped this Self-Portrait on Sol 85 (Nov. 1 , 2012) as Humanity’s emissary to the Red Planet in Search of Signs of Life. Mosaic Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Ken Kremer/Marco Di Lorenzo

You can make it happen. Vote Now ! Vote Curiosity !

Vote for ‘Curiosity’ as the Time magazine Person of the Year

Make your voice heard – Help send a message to the Feds to “Save Our Science” as the Fiscal Cliff nears and threatens our Science.

Perhaps you are a doubter. Well think again. Because at this moment NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has thrust forward into 5th Place, inching ahead of – comedian Stephen Colbert, according to the running tally at TIME’s Person of the Year website.

NASA’s SUV-sized Curiosity Mars rover is the most powerful science robot ever dispatched as Humanity’s emissary to the surface of the Red Planet. She is searching for Signs of Life and may shed light on the ultimate questions – “Are We Alone?” – “Where do We fit In?

Curiosity is NASA’s first Astrobiology mission to Mars since the twin Viking landers of the 1970’s.

TIME’s editors are soliciting your input on worthy candidates for Person of the Year, although they will choose the ultimate winner.

You have until 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 12 to cast your vote. The winner of the people’s choice will be announced on Dec. 14. The magazine itself with the ultimate winner appears on newsstands on Dec. 21

Image caption: Curiosity trundling across Mars surface inside Gale Crater on Sol 24 (Aug. 30, 2012). Colorized mosaic stitched together from Navcam images. This panorama is featured on PBS NOVA ‘Ultimate Mars Challenge’ documentary which premiered on PBS TV on Nov. 14. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Ken Kremer / Marco Di Lorenzo

Read TIME’s statement about voting for Curiosity:

You may own a cool car — you may even own a truly great car — but it’s a cinch that no matter how fantastic it is, it can never be anything more than the second best car in the solar system. The greatest of all is the Mars Curiosity rover, one ton of SUV-size machine now 160 million miles from Earth and trundling across the Martian surface. It was the rover’s landing on Mars last August that first caught people’s eyes: an improbable operation that required a hovering mother ship to lower the rover to the surface on cables like a $2.5 billion marionette. But it’s the two years of exploration Curiosity has ahead of it — with a suite of instruments 10 times as large as any ever carried to Mars before — that will make real news. NASA built the country one sweet ride, and yes, alas, it’s sweeter than yours.

Cast your vote for Curiosity now, and avoid the long lines – before it’s too late

Ken Kremer

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Learn more about Curiosity’s groundbreaking discoveries and NASA missions at my upcoming pair of free presentations for the general public at two colleges in New Jersey:

Dec 6: Free Public lecture titled “Atlantis, The Premature End of America’s Shuttle Program and What’s Beyond for NASA” including Curiosity, Orion, SpaceX and more by Ken Kremer at Brookdale Community College/Monmouth Museum and STAR Astronomy club in Lincroft, NJ at 8 PM

Dec 11: Free Public lecture titled “Curiosity and the Search for Life on Mars (in 3 D)” and more by Ken Kremer at Princeton University and the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton (AAAP) in Princeton, NJ at 8 PM – Princeton U Campus at Peyton Hall, Astrophysics Dept.

19 Replies to “Vote ‘Curiosity’ as TIME Person of the Year”

  1. I love the robotic space program and am following Curiosity with breathless anticipation. Curiosity is a worthy candidate for this honor, certainly more than Psy (currently polling just ahead) or Colbert (currently polling just behind).

    But I’m not voting for Curiosity, sorry.

    Not when there is an outstanding candidate like Malala Yousafzai available; the school student (age 15) and education activist prominent in support of school for girls in Pakistan, and shot by the Taliban as a result. She survived the attack and is now recovering in hospital.

    As of this comment, the poll leader is Kim Jong Un (Supreme Leader of North Korea) followed by Mohamed Morsi (President of Egypt), then Malala Yousafzai (education activist from Pakistan)

    Then Psy (rapper, South Korea) Curiosity (Robot, Mars) and Colbert (comedian and political commentator, USA)

    2. Exactly. Besides, Adolf Hitler was “Time person of the Year” for 1938, Joseph Stalin for 1939 and 1942…so much for that. This is Mr Kremer’s silliest article since erroneously describing the Exo-Mars project as “Cancelled”. But on balance, Universe Today is still living up to it’s mission of staying “on top of all the space news”.
      Thanks U.T.

  5. Too much hype, IMHO. The facts are not yet in, but this is a low-budget rover. Innovative, yes. Cost-efficient, yes. But it is not even close of what a program like this could be or ought to be!

    Priorities and budget constraints are sometimes hard to stomach. But media stunts are for the entertainment industry and politicians, all scientists and interested laypersons should know better and pursue a higher standard.

  6. Time’s “**** of the year” has twice been a non-person.

    1989: Planet of the Year (Earth)
    1983: Machine of the Year (The computer)

    It’s also been generic categories eleven times. (American Fighting-Man 1950, Hungarian Freedom Fighter 1956, U.S. Scientists 1960, Twenty-Five and Under 1966, The Middle Americans 1969, American Women 1975, The Peacemakers 1993, The Whistleblowers 2002, The American Soldier 2003, You 2006, The Protestor 2011)

    If Curiosity wins, it won’t be called Person of the Year: it will more likely be “Robot of the Year”. Don’t let the fact Curiosity isn’t a person put you off. It would make the third time for non-person.

    Still pushing for Malala Yousafza, myself though. If she wins, she’ll be the first child to do so.

  12. Malala by a mile…
    Strength of pure Spirit and the Curiosity of a teen… Looking for the Opportunity for freedom.

    Vote for a machine when only machines qualify.

  13. I honestly think the measurement of the Higgs particle is a far bigger scientific development than landing Curiosity on Mars.

    LC

  14. Just as an aside, the reflection in Curiosity’s camera lens looks like a human head and shoulders, with a window-frame behind him/her/it ! Tell me it’s not true. Tell me this is not a fake photo taken on Earth!

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