Explore Mars: Spirit's Journey Options

[Robert S]

This is a wonderful tribute to Spirit!

http://exploremars.jpl.nasa.gov/Spirit

[CosmicRocker]

Getting back to the topic at hand, I agree with Robert S in post #1. It's a nice tribute to Spirit's mission. This was really a quite nice first attempt at using science and engineering data from an actual planetary exploration mission to provide a virtual exploration experience for web users. I commend NASA/JPL for doing this, and I look forward to improved versions for Opportunity's mission and others in the future.

Of course, nothing they could have done on a realistic budget would satisfy those of us who have followed these rovers every single day since January 2004. We need to be realistic; this is a start; a first attempt at creating a re-playable mission using actual mission data.

I think the space exploration enthusiast community should enthusiastically embrace and support an effort like this with the hope that eventually it will evolve into a truly immersive, virtual planetary exploration experience. As a next step I would like to see some of MMB incorporated. As a retired scientist, I followed these rovers because they were designed to be extraplanetary robotic explorers, controlled by scientists and engineers from earth. These rovers have been one of the most amazing space exploration missions I have ever imagined.

If I must find fault with something, it would be the lack of significant science content in the program. This was a science mission after all. I don't think the science should be left out on the assumption that most people might not understand it. This shouldn't become a video game.

Finally, I have to recommend that all enthusiasts who have opinions go to the survey link that Doug provided a few posts earlier and take a few minutes to share your thoughts with the developers.