Word: martianize
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While the General Secretary left the details vague, Soviet and American space scientists have long discussed the broad outlines of a joint mission. The most probable venture, an unmanned mission in 1998 to bring Martian soil back to earth, would blend the strengths of the two nations' space programs. "The Soviets have the ability to put massive amounts of material into space," says John McLucas, a NASA adviser and a former Secretary of the Air Force. "But they rely on other countries to supply a good fraction of their instrumentation. We do things in a more refined...
...major U.S. contribution would be an "intelligent" ground vehicle. The robot rambler, which resembles the "moon buggy" used in the Apollo moon landings, would be used to gather and analyze soil samples. It must be able to find its way around the Martian surface, guided by an advanced artificial- intelligence "brain." It would then deposit the soil samples in a special canister that would be blasted aloft to the Soviet orbiter for the trip home. The 1976 U.S. Viking Lander probes, by contrast, could only radio data from soil samples back from Mars. This time, the samples would be returned...
...outright iconoclastic. Instead of the usual hushed beige backdrops, little gilt chairs and artfully placed mirrors, rich oranges and reds glow on every side. The black border motif on the rugs and walls summons up visions of black flames. Bright pink branches thrust upward from behind small neo-Martian chairs, and the sconces are big burnished theater masks, enough to scare a timid millionairess right out of her chiffon...
...starting a nuclear war. In Starflight by Electronic Arts ($49.95), players explore some 270 star systems and 800 simulated planets, zapping aliens all the way. Infocom has even come out with an "R-rated" adventure game called Leather Goddesses of Phobos ($34.95 to $39.95), which features a band of Martian sirens bent on turning earth into their "private pleasure palace." The game can be played at three levels: tame, suggestive and lewd...
...Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. But The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep are about as close to this beachfront vaudeville as Mars and Saturn are to Pluto (the Disney dog, not the planet). It hardly matters. All of the productions, from Something Wicked This Way Comes to The Martian Chronicles, are portions sawed from a long plank called Bradbury. Brief or full length, they bear the characteristic fine grain, knots, splinters and warps...