Mars Rover's Bizarre Behavior Puzzles NASA

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,485345,00.html ^ | 1/29/2009 | Tariq Malik

[Radix]

 

Michael Valentine Smith

 

  Stranger in a Strange Land tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, orphaned progeny of the first manned expedition to Mars, who has been raised by Martians and brought back to Earth by a second human expedition. Though he is a man in his twenties, Smith looks at absolutely everything on this new planet through the ignorant eyes of a baby, and faces the job of learning how to be a human being. If the world government of Earth will let him, that is, for Smith, through a legal fluke, not only has sole survivor rights to the space drive that his mother invented, but also to the surface of Mars. In a Byzantine maneuver that makes Watergate seem minor, the government holds Smith hostage while it tries to figure out how to seize his assets. Ben Caxton, a muckraking reporter, suspects the worst and attempts to rescue Smith. The problem is, if you can't fight City Hall, how can you even begin to fight a world government?

 

[james500]

They’re beautiful shots and it’s amazing to think that we can put our eyeballs on another planet. If you can scrape up an old pair of red/blue 3D glasses, NASA’s got some stereo images:

http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/3d/

[dragnet2]

They’re beautiful shots and it’s amazing to think that we can put our eyeballs on another planet.

You bet. I have some framed color prints of some of those images..I've had people refuse to believe that was Mars.

I've seen the 3D images, thanks!

[Logic n' Reason]

Indeed it does....I used to live in AZ for over 11 years.

Do you think the little guy in the pic is a Navajo??

[swarthyguy]

>>couldn’t find the sun.

Lying face down in the Martian Sands might do that.

The other alternative is Clouds. Seriously.

Wouldn’t that be something.

[ColdWater]

Infrared ...

[evets]

I BLAME OBAMA !

[r9etb]

According to NASA, the rovers 'Spirit' and 'Opportunity' have lasted more than 20 times their initial three-month mission plan, with each suffering from aches and pains associated with their longevity. Sigh. Growing old is a bitch.

FWIW, the 3-month mission plan was based on the expected worst-case power degradation that might result from dust buildup on the rovers' solar panels. The arrays have stayed surprisingly clear of dust (there were articles about how something had apparently cleaned them off, a couple of years back).

The electronics, sensors, etc. are space-rated, and would be expected to last much, much longer.

[r9etb]

Stranger in a Strange Land

Ah, yes.... A seminal landmark in poor Mr. Heinlein's tragic descent into what became an obsessive interest in breakfast and unusual sex.

[count-your-change]

It has merged with Nomad. Nomad must sterilize!

[bert]

.....“All work and no play makes Rover a dull Robot”.....

We already know from Doug Adams that “All work and no play makes Marvin”

[bert]

:14

[bert]

I’ll watch it again with your insight, but my impression was enviro activist soon after it began

[bert]

.....if you can’t fight City Hall, how can you even begin to fight a world government?.....

Establish a world class brothel and declare it to be a tax exempt church.

[Professional Engineer]

Well, I was visualizing the ratio of the sides.

[bert]

AAhhh!