Amitabha Ghosh with his parents at his Ultadanga residence. A Telegraph picture

Far from the media glare surrounding Nasa?s Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission team, Buddhadev and Sriparna Ghosh are silently celebrating their son?s contribution to the advancement of science at their Ultadanga residence.

Amitabha Ghosh emailed them a few days ago with news that Science magazine had chosen the MER mission for its top annual honour, Breakthrough of the Year, in its December 17 edition.

The 34-year-old extraterrestrial geologist from Calcutta is the leader of the Atmospheric Science Team on the mission. The team has helped put an end to a Martian suspense of almost three decades ? that enough ?potentially life-supporting, salty, acidic water? existed on the Red Planet?s surface long enough to allow the possibility of life.

The MER discovery has scored over nine other scientific discoveries, including the finding of fossils of Hobbit Man (a species of tiny humans standing around three feet tall) on the Indonesian island of Flores and the cloning of human embryos by South Korean researcher Woo San Hwang.

It was no close contest either. As Donald Kennedy, editor-in-chief of the magazine published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, put it: ?There wasn?t much doubt about this year?s winner. And I think most scientists would agree that landing two Rovers on Mars? and conducting scientific experiments? for such a long time is a pretty impressive achievement.?

The California-based team comprising around 50 scientists and an equal number of engineers, however, has little time to bask in the glory of the honour. ?We are swamped with exciting new findings and locked in teleconferences that run as long as eight hours each day. In between and after these, there is work to be done,? the 34-year-old Don Bosco Park Circus alumnus wrote to Metro, in an email from his Washington residence.

The team will be buried in work even on January 4, the anniversary of Rover Spirit landing in Gusev Crater, a site Amitabha, along with other scientists, had recommended. ?But the team will fly into Pasadena, California, for the anniversary of the landing of Rover Opportunity on Mars on January 24,? he added.

Before that, the Calcutta link to the Mars mission has promised to squeeze time out of his busy schedule to come to Mumbai, where he has been invited to speak at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, 2005.

Amitabha was honoured with the Nasa Mars Pathfinder Exceptional Achievement Award in 1997. Last year, on October 12, he reached another high when Nasa honoured the MER team with one of its most prestigious awards, The Nasa Group Achievement Award, for its ?outstanding contributions to the Nasa mission?.

He was also one of the 15 IITians showcased for exceptional achievement at the golden jubilee celebrations of the institution in Santa Clara, California, in 2003.

Have the successes made the celebrations any grander?

?Not really,? wrote Amitabha. ?The mission has received many accolades, including papers in top journals, standing ovations at conferences and billions of hits on our website and tens of thousands of emails from children all over the world.

The biggest personal satisfaction, however, is to be associated with the most significant advance in the knowledge of our solar system and after that to be working with some of the smartest and most creative people in the world.?