Spirit: End of Mission |
Spirit: End of Mission |
May 1 2011, 09:20 PM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 239 Joined: 18-December 07 From: New York Member No.: 3982 |
New Update:
http://www.planetary.org/news/2011/0430_Ma...ate_Spirit.html There is only so much that can be done from down here, and the countdown to the end of mission for Spirit has quietly, unofficially begun behind the scenes. Word is that NASA headquarters is preparing to announce that MER will continue as a one-rover mission around the first of June. Later: JPL's crew will continue the current recovery operations, which take place several times a day, through May 25th, informed Nelson. Following that, "greatly reduced recovery operations" -- averaging one effort each week -- will continue through the end of the year. |
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May 24 2011, 11:28 PM
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#2
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14434 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
I've been pondering the words that best describe what's happened.
Spirit is just a robot. A bunch of thinking metal sent from Earth (as Scott would say). The adventure, the personality, the achievements - they are because of the team of scientists and engineers who designed, built, tested, launch, landed and drove her. She is their avatar. Every image she ever took. Every cm she ever drove. Every RAT brush, grind, APXS or Mossbauer integration. Every scuff, turn, bump, beep and approach. They were all the result of a carefully crafted set of instructions running on a carefully crafted spacecraft built onthis rock and then sent to that rock. So yes - our little robot has gone silent. But what made her, the essence of what she is.....is still right here on this rock, driving Opportunity, testing Curiosity, or analyzing spectra from 6 years of Gusev exploration. She didn't die. She just moved on. |
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