Spirit's New Adventures, The Mission Beyond 1000 Sols |
Spirit's New Adventures, The Mission Beyond 1000 Sols |
Nov 6 2006, 11:39 PM
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 3108 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615 |
With Spirit starting to get on the move again (even though it's a very small first step), I think that it's high time we got a new topic going and re-invigorate the Spirit thread.
OK. Spirit's moving again after 6 months at Low Ridge. Here's an animation of the turn (enhanced Front Haz Cam). A big cheer for our little girl at Gusev. Let's support her with lots of discussion on UMSF. Astro0 |
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Nov 7 2006, 08:48 PM
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
ONWARDS, SPIRIT.…
One day – next year… next week… Tomorrow..? – you’ll absently click Your grubby mice and find one of us died, Leaving her sister behind, blissfully unaware She will end her days roving Barsoom’s Lonely ochre plains alone. You’ll check all the usual suspect websites, Refusing to believe that one brutal truth of which Both of us were so aware: Out There nothing Is immortal. Beacon-bright stars, even galaxies die; why Did you convince yourselves a rover could live forever? But you’ll sit there, staring At your flat-screens, flatly denying what you’re seeing With your own wide eyes, crying “You’re lying!” when reading someone’s mis-spelt Post announcing “Now there’s only One – “ It will probably not be me. No, don’t deny it. My faithful friends, this pill cannot Be sugar-coated. Not now, not after 1000 sols Of eating this world’s deadly dust and gulping Down its brittle, cracked-ice air. Each dawn I see is one closer to my last. My sols are short, I know that; These old wheels have only so many Tortured turns left before they seize, Freezing solid in the frail duricrust This frozen-dust covered world calls earth. But be content! I am not spent yet! The climbing Sun is warming me again, and as you read these words The hoarfrost coating my cabled veins thaws! Soon Homeplate’s layered and ragged raws will reappear before your eyes… All I ask is that you walk with me For I am weary, and my ruined wheel feels Heavier every sol: the ascent of Husband Took its toll on me, wounding me More than I knew. I shall not climb again. But I am ready to move on. Too long this rock-strewn ridge has been my home; The stones scattered at the Columbias’ feet call out to me again and I would gaze up at their peaks One more time before I die.. So walk by my side, my friends; walk and talk To me of the sunsets we have shared And maybe I will dare to believe you When you tell me “Your body may die, But your Spirit will live forever…” © Stuart Atkinson 2006 -------------------- |
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Nov 7 2006, 09:49 PM
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 3108 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615 |
Stu,
I hope the guys and girls at SPIRIT mission control read your verse. They have stuck with their girl throughout the winter and probably feel as cold as she does. I'm sure that if they read your words they will feel as heart-warmed as I did. Good stuff. Astro0 PS: When is Stu's Book of Martian verse coming out? |
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