The rocks, to a great extent, look swept clean. It’s a much cleaner surface than what we had a right to hope for.

We didn’t know if the rover could climb up or down the hills of the crater.

Mars is telling us something. I’m not sure what it is because It’s speaking martian. But it’s telling us something.

I can’t ever remember not wanting to be a scientist.

There’s no way to actually turn the rover off.

Is there water still on Mars? I don’t have a view on that because we don’t have good data to answer that question. One of the biggest mistakes you can make if you’re a scientist is to think you know the answer, or wish for a certain answer, before you actually have it.

We have concluded that the rocks here were once soaked in liquid water. It changed their texture, and it changed their chemistry. We’ve been able to read the tell-tale clues the water left behind, giving us confidence in that conclusion.

These rovers are living on borrowed time. We’re so past warranty on them. You try to push them hard every day because we’re living day to day.

That’s really what science is just trying to figure stuff out, and I like figuring stuff out.

The thing that sets Mars apart is that it is the one planet that is enough like Earth that you can imagine life possibly once having taken hold there.