NASA Sees Two Of Its Vehicles Named [By Time] As Top 25 "Groundbreaking" -- Here, In The Young New Millennium. Sweet.

It must be said: even with all the Tangerine 2.0 caused-chaos, this agency continues to. . . shine.

Since the mid- to late-1950s. . . "the best and brightest" have uniformly, and spectacularly. . . applied themselves, at NASA. The Barsoomian rover, NASA’s rolling science lab -- has spent more than a decade uncovering clues that Mars once could have supported life (in exactly the forms as we understand that term) -- transforming our understanding of our planetary neighbor. Truly, these discoveries could not have happened, without the hardy lil' rover.

And despite the initial naming controversy -- there is now no room for doubt: JWST is (far and away) the finest telescope [of any kind!] in all of human history. The stunning images -- and resulting discoveries -- arrive almost daily, now. It sits out at L2, the Lagrange Point, where it floats in gravitational equilibrium, under its mylar shades (in very nearly absolute zero temps).

Here's the story from the mavens at NASA:

. . .Two icons of discovery, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope [JWST] and NASA’s Curiosity rover, have earned places in TIME’s “Best Inventions Hall of Fame,” which recognizes the 25 groundbreaking inventions of the past quarter century that have had the most global impact, since TIME began its annual Best Inventions list in 2000. The inventions are celebrated in TIME’s December print issue.

“NASA does the impossible every day, and it starts with the visionary science that propels humanity farther than ever before,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Congratulations to the teams who made the world’s great engineering feats, the JWST and the Mars Curiosity Rover, a reality. Through their work, distant galaxies feel closer, and the red sands of Mars are more familiar, as they expanded and redefined the bounds of human achievement in the cosmos -- for the benefit of all. . . .”

Excellent -- now you know. And here's to hoping that we soon hear a ping-back from the orbiting MAVEN, around Barsoom, having operated for some 11 years, almost flawlessly -- but now having fallen silent. . . with each passing day, the probability fades, that we will ever hear from it again. And so, I'm smiling a rather sad smile, tonight. But as ever, tomorrow is. . . a new day.

नमस्ते