Combined Curiosity

Now that Curiosity on Mars has landed safe and sound,
it does the things that rovers do--it now begins to move around.
As far as anybody knows, he is the only game in town;
deposited by rocket crane and happy when his wheels touched down.

His scientific instruments are state-of-art and in the pink;
he is somewhat intelligent--in basic ways he has to think.
Because if he drove to a cliff, he’d have to know that danger loomed;
it’s much too far away to ask--without his insight he’d be doomed.

So Curiosity now drives across the ancient face of Mars;
by day he samples atmosphere, by night he sleeps beneath the stars.
Gale Crater was his starting place but now that site is left behind;
because of curiosity, his motto is, “I come to find.”

Upon the top of crater lip he seeks to see what Mars reveals;
within the give of Martian clay he motors on his six wide wheels.
Then as he checks his RTG* in circuits surging furious,
he spots disturbance in the sand, and he says, “This is curious.”

He sees the pockmarks lead away in Martian sand and Martian stone;
he draws upon computer banks yet signature comes back, “Unknown.”
His curiosity now piqued, he follows them up on a rise;
for he is Curiosity--this place is Mars and he has eyes.

High up upon a Martian ridge, metallic glowing and bright green,
she hovers right above the ground, quite alien yet still serene.
Her rounded shape inspires him to send out microwaves full blast;
for he is poised to be direct and as for contact, to act fast.

At first she turns and blinks a light, acknowledging she is aware;
but in a flash she then takes off and shines like Venus in midair.
Then Curiosity looks up and radios a plaintive plea;
“I’m here from Earth to look around--are you as curious as me?”

The shapely probe decreases glow and then begins a slow descent;
attentive Curiosity begins to feel much more content.
He slicks his one antennae probe and straightens up his main high-gain;
this interest on the planet Mars is very far from the mundane.

She hovers down in front of him emitting a receptive blip;
Curiosity wheels forward, intent to know if she is hip.
Face to face both probe and rover, beneath a Martian sky this day,
have differences in memory, but nonetheless they find a way.

The structures of Cydonia, great channels where the water flowed;
Olympus Mons, the Golden Plain--so much to learn and to decode.
Now Curiosity and she proceed as learners so inclined;
they share a motto as they search: “This is the day that we will find.”

40 Lines

*RTG ...Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator

Cydonia is a region on the planet Mars, and has attracted both scientific and popular interest. The "Face on Mars" is there.
Olympus Mons (Latin for Mount Olympus) is a large shield volcano on the planet Mars
Golden Plain (Greek, "Chryse Planitia") is a smooth circular plain in the northern equatorial region of Mars close to the Tharsis region.