Based on the Phoenix lander, the craft is tasked with giving us a peek beneath the planet's surface, armed with tools that include a geodetic instrument from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which will be used to calculate Mars' rotation axis, a seismic wave sensor and a subsurface heat probe, to measure the planet's internal temperature.

ENGADGET: NASA InSight tapped for Mars drilling mission in 2016

Earth's magnetic field gives the planet and its inhabitants a good measure of protection, but with space agencies seemingly intent on sending astronauts to the Moon and even to Mars in the next few decades, there is a pressing need for a fuller understanding of the Sun's activity.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Spacecraft go to film Sun in 3D

To get out ahead of nature, the WOF will, to begin with, offer instant access to almost every environmental variable that science can measure, from points scattered all across the face of the planet.

FORBES: Warning--Tsunami

By any material measure, and relative to the aspirations of most people, she was one of the most privileged human beings on the planet.

NEWYORKER: Books as Bombs