They Did It!!! "Scientists Free Mars Rover From Sand Dune"

Fox News ^ | 6-5-05 | AP

[rawhide]

PASADENA, Calif. — The Mars rover (search) Opportunity resumed rolling freely across the Martian surface Saturday after scientists freed it from a sand dune where it had been mired for nearly five weeks, NASA (search) officials said.

Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (search), which manages the mission, cheered when images beamed back to Earth showed the rover's wheels were free.

"We've got a working rover on Mars that cost $400 million to build and ... keep working," project manager Jim Erickson said. "I'd like to wear it out rather than lose it."

snip...

[rawhide]

Great news! This little rover just keeps going and going, just like the Energizer bunny.

[JohnnyZ]

They made the sudden discovery that, like R2D2, the rover has the heretofore unsuspected ability to fly.

[demlosers]

I never had a doubt.

[Paul Atreides]

What I'd like to know is how C3PO and R2 could make multiple visits to Tattooine, yet, they don't remember it, nor, does Uncle Owen remember either one of them, in A New Hope.

[boofus]

C3P0 has his memory erased. R2 either seems to remember where Obi Wan lives, or is dumb enough to go trekking off into the desert to find him.

I think the martians got bored with watching the rover stuck and gave a helping hand.

[Paul Atreides]

that cost $400 million to build

A Mars rover never fed, clothed, housed, a terrorist detainee.

/sarcasm

[Wiz]

Good news from Mars ping!

[Darksheare]

I hadn't heard that it got stuck.

[blam]

"Great news! This little rover just keeps going and going, just like the Energizer bunny."

Great. These rovers have already exceeded expectations by 5X.

[Paul Atreides]

I guess Uncle Owen forgot about the 'droids, in favor of becoming a crotchety old fart.

[bayourod]

Will it go find Sheilla Jackson Lee now?

[mikrofon]

project manager Jim Erickson said. "I'd like to wear it out rather than lose it."

OK, he was talking about the Opportunity ROVER...

[Paul Atreides]

I'm waiting for it to find the du.com headquarters, there.

[Paul Atreides]

I think Bubba said the same thing, to the urologist.

[Jackknife]

[ambrose]

I dunno... of course, I'd like to know why the unmasked Anakin/Vader looks like a 65 year-old man in Jedi, when he'd only be in his early 40's.

Or why Chewie doesn't seem to object Han's constant attacks on the Jedi and their religion when he so closely worked with them in the past.

[Paul Atreides]

I dunno... of course, I'd like to know why the unmasked Anakin/Vader looks like a 65 year-old man in Jedi, when he'd only be in his early 40's.

I was thinking the same thing, the other night. How much time has elasped between ANH and RoTJ?

[JohnnyZ]

What I'd like to know is why Duncan Idaho always had such wrotten luck.

[sharkhawk]

I think they mention something about wiping 3PO's memory in ROTS. However, Obi-wan says he doesn't remember owning a droid like R2D2. Lucas didn't really care about continuity in the series, it was all about the cash. Don't be suprised to see the final trilogy, no matter how much he denies it.