Mars rover Spirit hits pay dirt

New Scientist ^ | 8/9//05 | Maggie McKee

[cripplecreek]

We've certainly gotten our moneys worth out of those two.

[RightWhale]

Another Mars ship is being prepped for lift off tomorrow on an Atlas 5.

[OldFriend]

All the while the media continues to ignore these two amazing explorers.

Our space agency could be doing a better job of promoting this accomplishment to middle and high schools around the country.

[Sacajaweau]

Husband's Hill?? That would be named after a beer belly?

[Arkie2]

The little "engines" that could!

[HereInTheHeartland]

And some people say that American made vehicles aren't any good. What these things were supposed to last 30 days I think?

[G32]

Sheesh, it's named after one of Columbia's commanders.

[Central Scrutiniser]

Its named after Rick Husband, the commander of the Columbia mission that broke up on re-entry.

[RightWhale]

Update from SpaceflightNow.com :

TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2005
1855 GMT (2:55 p.m. EDT)

Engineers are working to determine if there are any problems with a pair of Redundant Rate Gyro Units (RRGUs) aboard the Atlas 5 rocket that will launch the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The units are part of the vehicle's flight control system.

The concern stems from an RRGU that failed factory testing while being readied for a future launch.

If the issue can be resolved promptly, liftoff will proceed on Thursday morning.

[thoughtomator]

90 days.

[Izzy Dunne]

An interesting NOVA 60-minute program about the challenges facing the team that built them is available here. You can watch on your computer anytime.

[cripplecreek]

I check their progress every single day.

[CasearianDaoist]

After discovering relatively little, other than basaltic lava flows, during its first six months on the Red Planet, Spirit continues to make up for lost time as it ascends Husband Hill - unearthing clues to violence in the planet's youth.

Meanwhile, Opportunity is also experiencing a reversal of fortune on the other side of Mars. After trudging over desolate stretches of sand for about five months, it has finally reached an island of bedrock that appears unlike anything yet seen in the mission.

Amazing! They try to make what are the two most successful planetary probes in history sound hum drum, as if they border on failures, and this is the New Scientist.

How politically corrupt even the science magazines have become.

[birbear]

If they ever find a T-32 Explosive Space Modulator, it's mine.

I lost it a few years ago.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

Our space agency could be doing a better job of promoting this accomplishment to middle and high schools around the country.

There is no future in space and they know it.

All they want is to retire with a government pension.

[kingu]

Impressive - supposed to last 90, and still going..

Wonder if NASA really made a mistake not painting those two pink and getting a logo from Energizer - the ad campaign might have paid for the trip -- or maybe just the coffee stirrers.

[Sax]

Yeah and remember the European Space Agency's Mars explorer - complete dud - no data whatsoever.

That's what they get for sending Le Probe, did Renault make that thing?

[My2Cents]

[Flightdeck]

Wait a second, people around here told me NASA was incompetent. How did they manage to land two robots on the exact spot on Mars they chose, and explore it for more than a year?