h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The Earth has all the amazing stuff! I can't fathom the people queueing for a one-way ticket to Mars.

The surface of Mars is about the same size as the Sahara Desert, but less interesting.

I thought this sounded incredible. So I checked.

The Sahara desert is 9.4 million km².

Mars is 144.8 million km².


And I'd rank the topography of Mars as more interesting... slightly.

Desert on earth is not all sand and rock; a surprising amount of vegetation and animal life survives in most of it, which is more than we can say for Mars.

Mars is quite diverse. Try looking at the moon every day like I do. It's all just grey. As far as the eye can see, grey. Grey with grey craters everywhere you look.

I hear that some people are complaining about the cost of the mission. Is it economically viable? Someone should point out that when the rocket took off in 1877 it had cost only £243.13s and £27 was paid for in Co-Op stamps.

I didn't know they even *had* rockets in 1877.

They must have, George Melies filmed one taking off and landing on the moon. Some people claimed it had been faked. Plus ca change, usually down the back of the sofa.

Sorry about my miscalculation of the surface area of Mars. I forgot to multiply by 4 Pi.

Never worry, I always forget to multiply by 4 pi.

"They must have, George Melies filmed one taking off and landing on the moon." [pebblederook]

I'm not denying that he filmed it, only that it did not happen in 1877. He would only have been 16 years old in `1877. He did, however, release the film "A Trip to the Moon" in 1902, which was 25 years later. I wonder if Melies was the subject of the film "Hugo."

He was.

They played footage from "Journey to the Moon" in "Hugo." It was a splendid feat.

Yes, Hugo was about George Melies.