Spirit: End of Mission |
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Spirit: End of Mission |
 May 26 2011, 03:06 AM
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#46
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Senior Member  Group: Members Posts: 2998 Joined: 30-October 04 Member No.: 105  |
Spirit: you are born, you live, and you die, but the important thing is what you do inbetween.
--Bill -------------------- |
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May 26 2011, 07:40 AM
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#47
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 813 Joined: 8-February 04 From: Arabia Terra Member No.: 12 |
A glorious mission seems to have come to a close. In the annals of unmanned spaceflight the overland multi-year travels of Spirit and her sister, flung across the void to crawl the world next door, are almost without parallel. The numerous trials, tribulations and hard-fought successes of this machine made the urge to anthropomorphize her almost overwhelming, and with that has come a sense of loss at her passing. She may be dead but her scientific and exploratory achievements, which belong to all of those who had a hand in her story, will live on.
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May 26 2011, 11:59 AM
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#48
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Forum Contributor Group: Members Posts: 1372 Joined: 8-February 04 From: North East Florida, USA. Member No.: 11 |
The drive towards the Columbia Hills was one of the most exciting things I have seen, almost each day new details of the hills came into sight.
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May 26 2011, 01:46 PM
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#49
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1083 Joined: 19-February 05 From: Close to Meudon Observatory in France Member No.: 172 |
"...the urge to anthropomorphize her almost overwhelming".
"...Spirit: you are born, you live, and you die, but the important thing is what you do inbetween"  Since the end of Viking Lander I which was experienced as a sad event at JPL (we felt like we lost a companion), I decided for myself not to anthropomorphize the landers any more... I think that the greatest achievements are the ones done by the PEOPLE operating and managing those planetary robots. Here are the real stories to tell. They are filled up with lots of big deceptions, great achievements, sadnesses, joys, etc, etc... The "heart" of Spirit lies within the engineers and scientists who devoted (sometimes a big) part of their LIVES to this outstanding mission. 
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May 26 2011, 02:36 PM
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#50
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 808 Joined: 10-October 06 From: Maynard Mass USA Member No.: 1241 |
One of the great things that came from the Spirit/MER missions, was the unexpected crystallization of this UMSF community from the founding actions of one Doug Ellison. Bravo.
one mission ends - another begins My thanks go out to all the people at JPL and their partners that pulled this off! (BTW: I have a feeling that our great grand children will be able to see Spirit at the Smithsonian ...) -------------------- CLA CLL
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May 26 2011, 07:25 PM
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#51
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 753 Joined: 23-October 04 From: Greensboro, NC USA Member No.: 103 |
I think often about how folks at JPL planned their jobs/careers around a 90-day mission for Spirit and Opportunity, only to see the need to shepherd these little wanderers continue for years and years! How many careers changed as a result of the longevity these incredible machines?
-------------------- Jonathan Ward
Manning the LCC at http://www.apollolaunchcontrol.com |
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May 27 2011, 02:14 AM
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#52
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 903 Joined: 30-January 05 Member No.: 162 |
How many times did that 90 day warranty reset ?
I wish my wheels did as well. Amazing tribute to the folks who put her together and the ones who operated her with such skill and care. Maybe Opportunity can trundle around from the other side of the planet and check out what happened? 
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May 27 2011, 08:10 AM
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#53
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 547 Joined: 1-May 06 From: Scotland (Ecosse, Escocia) Member No.: 759 |
QUOTE (PDP8E @ May 26 2011, 03:36 PM)  (BTW: I have a feeling that our great grand children will be able to see Spirit at the Smithsonian ...) That would be the new branch of the Smithsonian on Mars... For me, Spirit's highlights were the ever-extending ambitions:
the amazing view of the interior, and crashed heatshield, from the little dunes on the rim, the seemingly "impossible" trek which it set out on to the Columbia Hills, the extraordinary realisation that we were actually going to succeed in climbing them, then those unbelievable views fom the summit. It was unforgettable....thanks, team! |
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May 30 2011, 05:45 AM
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#54
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 The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
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May 31 2011, 10:38 PM
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#55
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 239 Joined: 18-December 07 From: New York Member No.: 3982 |
@marsroverdriver
The Nat Geo channel is airing "Death of a Mars Rover" on June 2. Done by Mark Davis, who did previous rover specials and is *awesome*. http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/epis...r-6755/Overview |
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Jun 3 2011, 03:33 AM
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#56
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2228 Joined: 1-December 04 From: Marble Falls, Texas, USA Member No.: 116 |
Thanks for posting that, briv1016. I DVR'd it tonight. I haven't watched it all yet, but it looks like a nice summary of both rover's missions, and includes a lot of fantastic animation modeled by MAAS Digital.
-------------------- ...Tom
I'm not a Space Fan, I'm a Space Exploration Enthusiast. |
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Jun 6 2011, 02:56 AM
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#57
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 Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 3108 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615 |
While Opportunity rolls on and the talk of Spirit turns from sadness to pride, Stu and I wanted to present a perhaps final poster/poem to mark the end of MER2(A)'s amazing journey on Mars.
Full size versions on my blog. |
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Jun 6 2011, 09:30 AM
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#58
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
Beautiful design and image, absolutely beautiful, as always. Thanks so much for doing that.
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Jun 6 2011, 10:44 AM
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#59
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2492 Joined: 15-January 05 From: center Italy Member No.: 150 |
Beautiful indeed! Congrats.
-------------------- I always think before posting! - Marco -
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Jun 9 2011, 08:05 PM
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#60
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 70 Joined: 12-November 06 Member No.: 1354 |
QUOTE (briv1016 @ May 31 2011, 03:38 PM) @marsroverdriver The Nat Geo channel is airing "Death of a Mars Rover" on June 2. Done by Mark Davis, who did previous rover specials and is *awesome*. http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/epis...r-6755/Overview Nat Geo is replaying this now (1:00 PM PST June 9th) |
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