carbon

It's hard for the laity to know just what to make of Curiosity's carbon find on the red planet.

I flew into DC for business for a couple of days and caught this view of the next Mars rover in front of NASA headquarters.

If this treatment is anything to go by, I think contamination is likely.

Perhaps this is not the next rover. This may simply be a re-purposed runner-up from the design competition for the current mission. In that case, Curiosity killed the (bob)cat.

A future Mars rover? Notice the NASA 'meatball' just below the flag.
Photo credit: Your correspondent