INT. AUDITORIUM -- DAY
JAMES FRANCO walks up to the podium.
JAMES FRANCO: The Goddard Trophy is a prestigious award, one that recognizes a team for significant contributions. A team working together. Dr. Robert Goddard built the world's first liquid-fueled rocket. An engineer and a theorist, Dr. Goddard's work has had a lasting impact. So it's only fitting that the award named after him should go to those who are leaving a lasting impression. Past receipiants have included the Apollo 11 Astronauts -- Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins -- and, last year, the folks behind the GPS. This year's winner is . . . Team Curiosity!
JAMES FRANCO (Con't): The Curiosity/Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Team! The team is honored for their significant contributions to the development of the most capable deep space mission ever developed and the initiation of the most ambitious science mission ever conducted on the surface of another planet!
We love the Academy Awards. But science matters too. And the land rover Curiosity is discovering so much on Mars. It has won the Goddard Trophy -- ceremony is March 22nd -- and it's done so much more.
NASA notes Curiosity's accomplishments, "NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has relayed new images that confirm it has successfully obtained the first sample ever collected from the interior of a rock on another planet. No rover has ever drilled into a rock beyond Earth and collected a sample from its interior."
But we really think Betty's said it best:
If it helps you, think of Curiosity as an avatar of sorts. And she's up on Mars finding out all this information that we would otherwise never know.
Curiosity is an extension of ourselves, our limbs and our dreams. I really think it was the story of 2012 and is shaping up to be the story of 2013.
For more information, NASA has a web page about Curiosity's mission -- regularly updated -- and a Facebook page and a Twitter account.