Spirit - 2010 Winter@Troy, The first stationary science campaign |
Spirit - 2010 Winter@Troy, The first stationary science campaign |
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![]() Senior Member ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Admin Posts: 3108 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615 ![]() |
Well, with perhaps a few more weeks of tilt-enhancing drives to go and then settling in for the winter, I thought it might be a good time to have a thread dedicated to ideas and observations that will come. It's likely that we won't hear much from Spirit during the coldest part of winter (April-June) possibly longer. There'll hopefully be beeps to tell us that she's still alive.
Already there are plans for radio science and determining the fluidity or otherwise of the Martian core, plus weather observations, surface changes etc. What else could you think of that Spirit could do? Remember that she's not going anywhere (vonBraun is out) ![]() In the meantime, have you sent your postcard to Spirit yet?! It's a great idea from the Mars outreach team. http://beamartian.jpl.nasa.gov/spiritpostcards What would you say to Spirit? |
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![]() Merciless Robot ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Admin Posts: 8784 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 ![]() |
Anthropomorphistic (whew!) sidenote: Working on a whole bunch of airplanes has utterly convinced me that complex machines individually have something very like personalities. There may be twenty or thirty F-4s, A-10s, C-17s or whatever in a given USAF squadron, each theoretically identical to the last rivet, but any of that squadron's technicians will tell you that tail number XXX is a @#$%, but YYY is a sweetheart, and they all got their own vibes (and in the US all of the planes are female, of course!)
![]() It's an emotional relationship between man & machine, always. You'll curse them and coddle them by turns, and it's a core part of the culture. For example, one of the deepest customs/superstitions is that when launching an Air Force plane, the crew chief always ensures that s/he touches her one last time before taxi so she'll perform well & bring the crew home safely. On cargo aircraft like C-5s, you rub the nose as if it were the head of a much-loved dog before walking out to the marshalling spot; on fighters, you jump up & touch the wingtip as it goes by you. We got two sweethearts on Mars right now, and they were clearly touched before they launched for they've given a million percent & more. Spirit has to rest now, but she won't let her crew chiefs & specialists down, ever, though I do feel their pain at this time every bit as much as I've felt joy from & taken vicarious pride in their accomplishments. Hang in there, everybody. -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Senior Member ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 1585 Joined: 14-October 05 From: Vermont Member No.: 530 ![]() |
There may be twenty or thirty F-4s, A-10s, C-17s or whatever in a given USAF squadron, each theoretically identical to the last rivet, but any of that squadron's technicians will tell you that tail number XXX is a @#$%, but YYY is a sweetheart, and they all got their own vibes (and in the US all of the planes are female, of course!) ![]() I've been amused by the maintainer's comments over on airliners.net about which C-5 tail numbers to retire. They are so praying that the low hour planes don't get upgraded to C-5M, because they're total dogs. They are surely not the same at all. Of course, all the C-5's are kind of dogs, which goes to show you that when something that just blows reliability expectations away, like the -135s or the MERs, you just do grow to love them more than seems healthy. Incidentally the UK just signed a contract to buy three RC-135s for a billion bucks. For airframes that popped off the line in the early sixties! (And probably have like 5 cycles because the USAF just doesn't use them much, but still..) Nothing like being 50 years new when they enter service with the RAF. |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 14th June 2024 - 07:37 AM |
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