NASA staff were jubilant last night as Curiosity II, sister ship to the Mars rover, beamed the first grainy pictures from a region hitherto unknown to rocket scientists. 'The rover touched down at 2300 hours, ' said a spokesman, 'which was quite a shock as calculations predicted the landing site to be completely smooth. It was more like being on the edge of a giant bush.'
The project aimed to see if cutting edge exploratory equipment could be replicated at micro level, enabling man to boldly go where previously he'd blindly fumbled. Earlier British attempts to send small probes into virgin territory ended in failure. 'I'm not surprised they've succeeded, what with their multi-billion dollar nanobot craft' said Professor Colin Pillinger of the Uk space agency. 'All we had was a second hand reflector telescope strapped to a pair of wellies with some gaffer tape. We kept getting interference of a cotton-type nature.'
But the Brits remain confident of future success. 'Brian Cox has made astronomy cool, and Bradley Wiggins brought the sideburns back in' said Professor Pillinger. 'All I have to do these days is say 'alright love, fancy a bit of milky way?'.'