Time again for our Website of the Week, when we showcase interesting and innovative online destinations.
At MarsToday.com, you can not only review the latest scientific discoveries from the Red Planet, but you can explore the geology, climate, moons and the possibility of life on Mars.
COWING: "MarsToday.com is a daily compilation of news regarding the planet Mars. It's a series of status reports, press releases, news stories, photographs and so forth. I tried to pick a niche where I thought we could be most useful, relaying information and news about Mars, and trying to pick the best of the best."
Keith Cowing is the editor of MarsToday.com, which presents a wide range of information about Mars from various sources. Cowing says it's important that visitors know where the information comes from.
COWING: "We try to make certain that people know exactly what it is they're reading. If it's a press release, it says press release. As far as the images go, we make certain that people can see a small version but then go directly to the source imagery. So we're very focused on making sure that people get the information in the most accurate and traceable format that we possibly can provide."
Mars has long had a special place in the imagination of Earthlings. In science fiction, such as H.G. Wells' classic War of the Worlds, the alien invaders always seem to come from Mars. And MarsToday.com is the first space website I've seen that has links to some of the vast science fiction literature on Mars right alongside the real deal — the latest pictures from the Mars rovers.
COWING: "When you eventually arrive at a place physically, many people have already been there in their minds, whether it's imagining things or putting their imaginary trips into writing. And oftentimes how we've imagined a place affects how we explore it and what we think of it. So the idea of exploring Mars is clearly, of all the planets, one of the ones that has been most visited in flights of fancy."
Lots of Mars stuff, including an email newsletter and an RSS feed you can subscribe to, at MarsToday.com, or get the link from our site, voanews.com/ourworld.