Mars rover Daily Updates -Spirit Making Ground - Opportunity-A Beautiful Grind

NASA - JPL ^ | 2-24-2004 | NASA/JPL

[Don Joe]

Look above the black rectangle and 80% down the length starting from the left edge and you will see another circle of dots.

Doesn't look so much like "dots" to me, but more like a round object with a series of radial arms. Maybe something like the "stars" at the lower left corner of the photo.

[Don Joe]

Concretions, Thunder Eggs and Geodes

The two geodes in the upper-right of that page (repeated at the bottom) are reminiscent of the Mars spheres, they even have the hole at the end, but they lack the "peach line" that so many of them feature. Can you think of any explanation for that "peach line" -- something that would explain why it's on so many of them? (Possibly all, since we see at most only half of each sphere.)

[from occupied ga]

Spirit woke up to Vangelis’ "Chariots of Fire."

Am I the only one here that thinks it's more than a little strange to play wake up music to a computer?

[Phil V.]

Am I the only one here that thinks it's more than a little strange to play wake up music to a computer?

You have company.

I've griped about it a little on other threads, but I've not become sufficienty irritated to gripe to NASA/JPL. It's the kind of cutesy, inane pablum that is more befitting of Walt Disney. But at another level it is a symptim of the depth of utter indoctrination of today's "scientists" in "social PC" . . . It leads to an accretion at the top of "scientists" who decide to scrap more reliable products for more "environmentaly friendly" products . . . and dead astronauts.

This generation has devolved by a factor of ten from the "Von Braun" crowd that got us to the moon.

[Frank_Discussion]

Uh, ditto. Wow! No matter what that is, it is at least peculiar, for starters.

[from occupied ga]

It leads to an accretion at the top of "scientists" who decide to scrap more reliable products for more "environmentaly friendly" product

The triumph of junk science over real science - I can't argue with you there.

[Frank_Discussion]

"This generation has devolved by a factor of ten from the "Von Braun" crowd that got us to the moon."

Wow. Such grumpiness, such curmudgeonry. Some people are both able to have a little fun AND do serious work. This has been the case since before, during, and after the Von Braun era.

They might have said the music was for the rover, but it was really for the team. Just a fun little marker to start out another mission day.

Lighten up.

[Frank_Discussion]

I agree with this sentiment, but it bears pointing out that the particular change in ET tank materials was policy directed on high, and not decision of the scientific/technical community. The PC at NASA has GOT to go.

[chimera]

I have a fossil of a crinoid and there is a section of it that looks very similar to what that picture highlights. But looks can be deceiving, and we shouldn't jump to conclusions. Unfortunately, we don't have men there (yet) to grab a sample and bring it back for closer scrutiny. Maybe in the course of time...

[Brett66]

Am I the only one here that thinks it's more than a little strange to play wake up music to a computer?

Just another example of NASA's PR hacks getting carried away.....

[from occupied ga]

Just another example of NASA's PR hacks getting carried away.....

The weirdest part is that they don't think it's strange. I guess when you get paid by the taxpayers you don't have to make sense. It's not like we can fire them. They get their sinecures no matter what happens. If the rovers crashed on landing, not one of these hacks would be out looking for a productive job.

[FireTrack]

Here's another terminating in what appears to be a hole. Very small and located to the left of the bottom right spherical.

[Cold Heat]

Now that is a WOW!

Looks very much like a fossil. Similar to one we might find here.

I hope I am right.

[Cold Heat]

Wouldn't ya know it!

They forgot to bring some canned air to blow the trash off.

[Cold Heat]

The rock hounds must be freekin nuts at JPL with all this data and questions.

I doubt they have slept well for days.

I used to be that way in my trades. This is all very interesting stuff for anyone who enjoys science.

[hang 'em]

I'll bet you two are wearing short sleeve white shirts, clip-on ties with a pocket protecters. Oh yeah, and a slide rule and horn-rim glasses. Guh-huik.

[Frank_Discussion]

Actually, those who wore such attire and accouterments had a good sense of humor and approached the future with much less burnished pessimism than these folks.

[RadioAstronomer]

Thanks for the all the pings! :-)

I will go thru them this evening.

[FireTrack]

I would be jumping up and down and demanding more and greater magnification of the "grind" images.

Nothing new has been uploaded to the Opportunity Micro-image folder since Tuesday afternoon. Not very fair of NASA I say.

[FourtySeven]

Am I the only one here that thinks it's more than a little strange to play wake up music to a computer

Phil V: You have company.

I've griped about it a little on other threads, but I've not become sufficienty irritated to gripe to NASA/JPL. It's the kind of cutesy, inane pablum that is more befitting of Walt Disney. But at another level it is a symptim of the depth of utter indoctrination of today's "scientists" in "social PC" . . . It leads to an accretion at the top of "scientists" who decide to scrap more reliable products for more "environmentaly friendly" products . . . and dead astronauts.

This generation has devolved by a factor of ten from the "Von Braun" crowd that got us to the moon.

Frank Discussion: Wow. Such grumpiness, such curmudgeonry. Some people are both able to have a little fun AND do serious work. This has been the case since before, during, and after the Von Braun era.

They might have said the music was for the rover, but it was really for the team. Just a fun little marker to start out another mission day. Lighten up.

I'd be inclined to agree with Frank on this one, especially since the team that's working with these two rovers aren't keeping meticulous track of time on Mars for fun. They actually have divorced themselves from Earth time, and are living on "Mars Time". Thus, they actually do physically "wake up" when the Rovers do. So, in my opinion, they're not really playing the music "for the rovers", but for themselves to get "going" in the "morning". (Martian "morning" that is)