Link to 'The Onion'

I tried not to laugh, I really did, but that's funny...

Whoever wrote that clearly has serious love for the rovers and mars exploration...

It was the caption to the image that made me LOL

Very true
I wonder if Stu would be able to write a poem of this kind
My bet is YES !

I thought... well, hoped... ALL my poems managed to convey some of the wonder we feel... especially the most recent one about seeing Oppy from orbit on the MRO pic...

Oh well, back to the drawing board (or note book)...

Edit: Climber... take a look at "Journey's End"... think you'll like it...

Not only like, Stu, love...
My remark was about you writting a kind of false interview like in "The Onion" with YOUR poesy... but what you write is much more than that. You know, I'm not leaving in an English speaking language country and I know I'm loosing part of it but I can still feel the music when I miss some lyrics

Whoever wrote it at least has a clue as to what's going on, we might have to look for a few choice words when we do take a picture of Spirit...

LMAO at "overpriced space-roomba"!!!

Obviously this is yet another sign of Spirit's ever advancing sols. It is turning into a dirty old rover.

What I find puzzling is how a Mars rover would know enough about a piece of human anatomy it has presumably never seen to be able to draw one.

It kind of makes you wonder what it was doing during those long lonely nights back on Earth before liftoff when its human minders thought it was safely locked away.

======
Stephen

From the way Steve Squyres nearly cried when he saw Oppy in the MRO image of the Victoria area, one might wonder just *how* close Steve was to his creations before they left for Mars...

-the other Doug

You know, I really don't think you like our brave little rovers at all.

That's another cryptic looks-quickly-from-side-to-side "I'm an insider but I can't say anything" post tuvas; keep this up and you're going to become UMSF's 'Cigarette Smoking Man' a-la X-Files... As far as I know, and no-one's said anything different here, Spirit is perfectly happy sitting on her ridge, her power levels gradually climbing, getting ready to do some more good work... ?

Although it would be great if Spirit could really roll up and down the sides of Gusev crater.

And of words to drive into the sand, this sound like another contest like the one with writing on the dust on the solar panels...

I do indeed like the rovers, beleive you me, I was as excited as anyone to get the pictures in from HiRISE with the rovers there... That was a long 36 hours, the worst of it which was in the 12 hours where we had half of Victoria Crater, but it was the wrong half...

And anyone on this form could tell you it's only a matter of time till we take a picture of Spirit, for the moment everyone here has as good of an idea as I do. I've even avoided trying to get info on upcoming targets for the very reason of appearing to be the insider that can't say anything.

As to the rovers, well, I'm not a rovaholic, but I really am appreciative of the rovers. I might get a chance to take a tour of JPL, and among the more interesting things will be to see what they are doing with the rovers, and JWST. But, well, I treat the rovers as though there were a mission, just like any other, and a mission which while they have been enourmously successful, they could fail any day, and if that happens, well, I'll get over it. And if/when Opportunity goes into Victoria crater, well, I will be as excited about it as any here. Beleive you me, I'm probably one of the larger space cadets out here, to the point that everywhere I'm applying to work has some involvement with space technology, I even had an interview with JPL this morning. I just show it in different ways, that's all. This isn't to say that I don't respect those who constantly watch the rovers, it's just to say that I'm not one of them. To each his own. I'm glad to see that there is such a great interest in space by so many.

That was all said with tongue firmly in cheek tuvas, hence the and smileys...

Of course, if it turns out that you were keeping a Big Secret we'd all have to come over there and pour Coke over your pc...

LOL. It can sometimes be a bit dificult to detect sarcasim via the internet...

I could create a big secret if you want...

The Onion has long been one of my favorite places to find hilarity on the very cutting edge, and they never cease to amaze me.

That was one of my favorite lines in the piece, too. I had to walk across the room to pat my little red roomba on the back to see if it was still Ok. The vacuuming robot is quite a champ in it's own league, though not quite up to competing with the pros.

I have my own theory as to which rover dissident from a Western desert state might have contributed to that piece.

Are you implying that I had something to do with it?

Oh, no! Absolutely not! Banish the thought from your mind. Where would you ever get such an idea?

This might originate from what programmers refer to as "easter eggs".

I knew those rovers were starting to become slackers!


/another classic from the onion

Slightly OT here, but I once maintained maritime electronic equipment. A certain model of LORAN receiver would display the scrolling message "HELP IM BEING HELD HOSTAGE IN A LORAN FACTORY" if a particular key sequence was entered...

Have to wonder what little autographs may lurk deep inside the MER code!

Hm, Spirit's wheel is stuck. Its tracks should be easier to see from orbit. Hmm, sounds like time for it to get sketching.

I finally got around to reading this - my work has The Onion blocked for some reason It really was a funny and well crafted piece, especially since you can't have a media story about Mars without mentioning:

...iron oxide dust that gives the planet its characteristic red color.

Brilliant piece of work! My favourite deadpan line: "That arm contains a state-of-the-art spectrometer meant to provide crucial minerology data."

Ah yes, the outrage only a mission scientist can feel.

Thanks, I almost missed that. As much as I appreciate the raw humor The Onion provides, I never would have expected such a well-timed piece on this Mars topic from them. It was probably only a coincidence, but it was fun to have a diversion during this blackout period.

I didn't try to measure angles, but it appears that Mars has begun to emerge from behind the sun. I think the last JB interview quoted an angle of 0.4 degrees as critical, rather than the 2.0 degrees mentioned earlier. My gut feeling is that we are somewhat beyond the lower limit.

...keeping fingers crossed...

Some work from my favourite cartoonist to help pass through conjunction...

1
2
3

Translation:
1-"MRO probe is getting farer and farer away from Earth"
-"It's getting closer and closer to Mars, you mean"
-"That can be one way of seing things"
-But I don't thing it is the probe's one."

2-"Mars will only be this close to Earth in the year 2018"
- "Some peace, finally"

3-"Man, cheer up! There are so many things to make us happy..."
-"For example, did you know that there are valleys and craters on Mars with Portuguese names?"
-"No mountains?..."
-"No...Only valleys and craters"
-"I knew it. Depressions only"

Also, at some point it MUST be referred to as "The Red Planet."