We refer to the successful landing  of the rover Curiosity  on Mars, whose average distance from earth is 225 million kilometres.

That’s a range difficult for earthlings to comprehend. The idea of landing and operating by remote control the most sophisticated roving laboratory ever to land on another planet is simply mind-boggling.

US President Barack Obama described  the landing as an unprecedented feat of technology “that will stand as a point of national pride far into the future”.

National pride is all very well in an election year but the achievement is one in which people everywhere can share in wonder.

The technological wizardry  behind the most ambitious excavation  into the red planet’s past may unlock secrets about whether Mars does or has ever had conditions conducive to life.

Some are quibbling, with good reason, about the cost. But can you put a price on the advancement of knowledge?