A live webcam stream of the Mars rover "Curiosity" being built in a clean room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. It provides a weirdly mesmerizing backstage view of the nuts-and-bolts process that results in an extraterrestrial explorer. There's a chat window where viewers (1820 as I write this, mid-morning on a weekday) can ask questions for a JPL rep to answer in real time. The tandem of video and comment is educational in all sorts of ways. For instance, I've learned that the construction of a Mars rover apparently requires a lot of guys to stand around in futuristic white jumpsuits, making the scene look like an outtake from Woody Allen's "Sleeper." And as a bonus, I've learned what what the jumpsuits are called:

NASAJPL: Curiosity's clean room technicians are covered head-to-toe in white smocks, aka "bunny suits," to protect against [giving] Earthly contaminants a ride on the rover to Mars.

There are worse ways to spend a Thursday. Curiosity will launch late next year for her seven-month trip to Mars.

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