both mars rovers survive dust storm

[watermelony2k]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19916977/

Nice. I wonder when they're finally going to shut down.

 

[Brent]

Those things just won't quit! This bodes well for future robots, as well as one day a Mars habitat, apparently we can build something that will hold up pretty well on Mars.

 

[arch101]

Whoever built those things ought to go into the car business! I hope NASA documented every detail of their construction and how they were built. Obviously, someone has learned how to build a space probe.

 

[Gertch]

If I wore a hat it'd be off to all the engineers and others that ever worked on these rovers. We certainly got our moneys worth and then some. It's nice when that happens.

 

[FordSVT]

It certainly helps to make up for the failed attempts they experience in the years immediately leading up to the rover missions.

They are a hearty pair of robots indeed, truely excellent engineering.

 

[Quo Vadimus]

They certainly are living up to their names! Excellent job, guys and gals over at NASA. :thumbsup:

 

[TerriO]

Wearing my JPL MER shirt to Comic Con in their honor.

And if you didn't see it last year, Roving Mars will be out on region 1 DVD by the end of the month. Highly recommended, as well as Steve Squyres' book of the same name. Read that, and you'll really be impressed that they even got off this planet, let alone to Mars.

 

[Naraht]

TerriO said:
Highly recommended, as well as Steve Squyres' book of the same name. Read that, and you'll really be impressed that they even got off this planet, let alone to Mars.

I nearly bought it, but changed my mind when I discovered that it only discusses something like the first three months after landing. Personally I'm waiting for the complete account... and I fervently hope that it will still be a while in coming.

 

[Outpost4]

I read the book and, too, was disappointed when it ended so soon. That's the trouble with rovers that go on and on and on...

While I agree there is a great book out there still to be written, there is a contemporary solution, Naraht. You can continue the story by reading Squyres' site, Athena, Mars Exploration Rovers. There he blogs about the mission and the archives go back for years.

I'd recommend both the book and the site highly.

 

[Amaris]

Great work, NASA!
I think, in honor, it's time for a short poem:


The Spirit Gods of Mars

Dusky soil and copper clime,
nomadic artificial life,
roaming about with robot hearts,
and seeing with man made eyes,
super colored spectral images,
pulled together at the seams,
Oh robots, keep on roving,
the planet of my dreams.


-J.

 

[Spider]

Without the rovers, we wouldn't get pictures likes these:

The one shows the edge of a crater they want to drive Opportunity into.

This one shows some silica dug up by Spirit's wheels. One more indicator that water once flowed freely on Mars.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Nice poem, J. :thumbsup:

 

[Mallory]

This is indeed good news. I was starting to really get worried about Opportunity. It's going to be a sad day when one (or both) of these rovers finally do call it quits.

 

[Gertch]

Mallory said:
It's going to be a sad day when one (or both) of these rovers finally do call it quits.

That gives me a very sad feeling. Queue the end of Silent Running.

 

[Lior .B.]

Mallory said:
This is indeed good news. I was starting to really get worried about Opportunity. It's going to be a sad day when one (or both) of these rovers finally do call it quits.

I agree dispite the fact the they are operating way above their initial planned duration period.

 

[Brent]

those pictures are amazing, it is so awesome to see pictures like that from another world

 

[Outpost4]

Gertch said:

Mallory said:
It's going to be a sad day when one (or both) of these rovers finally do call it quits.

That gives me a very sad feeling. Queue the end of Silent Running.

I saw that movie on its first run. I went into it knowing that it is a fairy tale and if you push it too hard, it falls apart. Instead, I cried when they found the foot of the lost drone. I'm sure I'll shed a tear for Spirit and Opportunity.

 

[Johnny Rico]

As much as I'm impressed with the Mars Rovers, their robustness, and their 3+ year mission, I think JPL just lucked out on this one. Seems like the dust storm may have just finally let up as it neared the rovers.

But on side note, how does this bode for future manned missions? What if we pre-send the fuel makers to Mars and they're blocked most of the time by dust storms, which will then hamper their ability to create the fuel necessary for the later manned mission to return home? Or does that system not work like that, ie. solar-powered?

 

[TerriO]

Naraht said:

TerriO said:
Highly recommended, as well as Steve Squyres' book of the same name. Read that, and you'll really be impressed that they even got off this planet, let alone to Mars.

I nearly bought it, but changed my mind when I discovered that it only discusses something like the first three months after landing. Personally
I'm waiting for the complete account... and I fervently hope that it will still be a while in coming.

Well, with the lead time needed in publishing, they couldn't be to up to the moment. I just hope we see a volume two one day.

What the book is, IMO, excellent for is the process they went through just to get those two airborne.

 

[Mallory]

Lior .B. said:

Mallory said:
This is indeed good news. I was starting to really get worried about Opportunity. It's going to be a sad day when one (or both) of these rovers finally do call it quits.

I agree dispite the fact the they are operating way above their initial planned duration period.

That's the whole reason for everyone's attachment at this point. If they really had only run for around 90 days or so, it would have been a successful mission and we all would have moved on. But the very fact that we're here years later and so are they means that they've become a part of lives to some degree.