"Another balmy day here in the Gale Crater with daytime highs expected in the -65 C range and overnight lows of -95 C. Wind is non-existent and there isn't a cloud in the sky. The barometer remains steady at 8.2 millibar."
This is what a Martian weather report might read like. Freezing cold temperatures by Earth standards.
Or to put it another way, thanks to Elton John and Bernie Taupin:
"Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids
In fact, it's cold as hell
And there's no one there to raise them if you did"
So, why are we going there?
A human astronaut has yet to step foot on the planet Mars but there have been around 40 unmanned missions to the red planet. Most have met with disaster, such as the Mars Climate Orbiter, which crashed due to a metric system/imperial system mix up.
However, some have landed on the surface and the scientific data that they have sent back has provided us with a picture of a planet that borders on surreal.
I can remember when Viking 2 landed on the surface. After deploying the cameras, the scientists at NASA adjusted the colour of the sky to "blue". After all, that is the colour of sky on Earth.
It wasn't until one of the engineers noted an American flag in the lower quadrant of the image and used that to colour balance the camera that we discovered Mars' pink sky. What a sight that was! The colour of candy floss, it truly brings home an understanding of just how alien Mars is.
In 1997, Pathfinder and Sojourner successfully landed on the surface. The little robot crept over a boulder strewn plain and gave us impressive images of a landscape barren of vegetation or any other sign of life.
I can remember having a debate on the subject of human exploration of Mars. I was on the "con" side, arguing that everything that we needed to learn could be learned by our robotic probes. It was a hard argument to make as it is not what I truly believe.
Not surprisingly, my side lost the debate. There is a human drive to explore - this world and beyond.
In January of 2004, two more robotic explorers bounced to a landing on the surface of Mars. Literally, "bounced to a landing" as NASA tried out an unusual and imaginative landing system for the probes that involved deploying airbags.
Both Spirit and Opportunity exceeded expectations, lasting for years longer than expected and travelling distances no one thought possible. Sure, it is only a matter of few dozen kilometres but it is a few dozen kilometres on a planet millions of kilometres away.
This Sunday, NASA is hoping to land its latest robotic probe on the planet's surface.
Curiousity is a massive probe weighing in at around one ton and is about the size of a Mini Cooper, bristling with new instruments that will allows us to explore even more of Mars.
Its size means that it can't be dropped onto the surface using air bags. Instead, the engineers at NASA have devised a whole new landing system.
This one involves supersonic parachutes and a sky crane carrying retro rockets to lower the rover safely to the surface.
The landing has been dubbed "seven minutes of terror" because that is how long it will take the various components of the space ship to deploy the rover, bringing it from a speed of over 21000 kph to a near stop on Mars.
Aerobraking in a long series of s-curves will slow the ship in the upper atmosphere while it deploys a heat shielded capsule for the descent. As it plunges into the atmosphere, the heat shield will reach temperatures of 2100 C - hotter than molten lava.
Once the capsule enters the lower atmosphere - what little there is of it - it will deploy a parachute designed to slow it even further. Then the heat shield will fall away, releasing the sky crane.
As it comes in for its final approach, Curiosity will then jettison the parachute and fire up four retro-rockets which should bring it to a virtual standstill. The lander, at the end of tethers, will be cut free as soon as the craft touches down.
If all goes right - and that is a big "if" - NASA engineers will know 14 minutes later.
That is how long the signal from the external camera that will be filming the last stages of the descent will take to travel to Earth.
If all has gone right, Curiousity will set off on a trip across the Martian surface with one question in mind: "Was there once life on Mars?" It is finding the answer to that question that drives exploration in such an inhospitable, cold, desolate place.
