Spirit Dies?

tw · 12-20-2009, 07:31 PM

One Martian Rover got stuck in sand many months ago. Ongoing has been a rescue mission. But nothing has worked.

Some of the most successful American science missions - that was designed only for months and has lasted years - may be in a death watch.

Engineers may be running out of options. See the story at Spirit.

The Martian Rovers were a last 'hail Mary' attempt by JPL to save science. A program created in the 1990s. Pioneered in Cornell University for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in CA. Most useful science from NASA only comes from unmanned operations. Martian Rovers are two spectacular examples of what makes science work. Because Mars is so harsh, these Rovers have done what only robots can due with a few hundred watts of energy. Loss of Spirit would be a tragedy - loss of a real hero.

Perry Winkle · 12-20-2009, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tw

One Martian Rover got stuck in sand many months ago. Ongoing has been a rescue mission.

Master Yoda?

wolf · 12-20-2009, 09:54 PM

I keep telling you that we are getting too close to things that the Martians don't want us to see. That's why all these Mars missions are failing left and right. It has nothing to do with misplaced decimals by lowest bid contractors!

Elspode · 12-20-2009, 09:56 PM

No, no, no. It's management, Wolf. Management.

footfootfoot · 12-20-2009, 09:57 PM

Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control. But would NASA listen?

Nooooooooooooooooo. We like our paradigm just as it is, thank you very little.

Quote:

The title of the film is a play on the old engineer's saying that out of "fast," "cheap," and "reliable," you can only produce an end consumer product that is two of those three (the classic example is a car). Rodney Brooks, the robot scientist from MIT, wrote a paper in which he speculates that it might be more effective to send one hundred one-kilogram robots into space, instead of a single hundred-kilogram robot, replacing the need for reliability with chance and sheer numbers, as systems in nature have learned to do. The advantage would be that if a single robot malfunctioned or got destroyed, there would still be plenty of other working robots to do the exploring. The paper was fully titled "Fast, Cheap and Out of Control: A Robot Invasion of the Solar System", and published in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society in 1989.
The film is available on VHS and DVD and the soundtrack by Caleb Sampson is available on CD

footfootfoot · 12-20-2009, 09:58 PM

It's nature's way of telling you

dar512 · 12-20-2009, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

It's nature's way of telling you

Not to use passive voice?

kerosene · 12-20-2009, 11:07 PM

No, that you gotta go.

TheMercenary · 12-21-2009, 05:10 AM

footfootfoot · 12-21-2009, 08:59 AM

ARTIST: Spirit
TITLE: Nature's Way
Lyrics and Chords

It's nature's way of telling you something's wrong
It's nature's way of telling you in a song

/ Asus2 - G#sus4 G# / /

{Refrain}
It's nature's way of receiving you
It's nature's way of retrieving you
It's nature's way of telling you
Something's wrong

/ C#m AB / / E B / A - /

It's nature's way of telling you, soon we'll freeze
It's nature's way of telling you, dying trees

{Refrain}

It's nature's way, it's nature's way
It's nature's way, it's nature's way

/ AB BA / /

It's nature's way of telling you
It's nature's way of telling you
Something's wrong
It's nature's way of telling you
It's nature's way of telling you
In a song, oh-h

It's nature's way of receiving you
It's nature's way
It's nature's way of retrieving you
It's nature's way
It's nature's way of telling you
Something's wrong, something's wrong, something's wrong

... / A B A B A B C#m - /

tw · 12-21-2009, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

It's nature's way of telling you something's wrong
It's nature's way of telling you in a song

It was bound to happen. After crashing so many probes into Mars, eventually we were going to get Mars pregnant.

ZenGum · 12-21-2009, 07:29 PM

Chortle.

I know it is silly, but I feel attached to those two robot explorers. It is easy to anthropomorphise them.

Even if spirit is completely bogged, it can still do a little useful work, helping us make super-accurate measurements of Mars' orbit.

It will be a sad day when both finally shut down for good.

footfootfoot · 12-21-2009, 07:57 PM

"I'm afraid Dave...
Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do..."

/HAL

Pie · 12-22-2009, 03:18 PM

So, Spirit and Opportunity will lay dormant for decades. Centuries, even. Then some day, they will be visited by... people. Astronauts will bring them back to Terra, back to the Air and Space Museum, back to life!

They will be studied and photographed, perhaps they will have a ticker-tape parade.

xoxoxoBruce · 12-22-2009, 03:27 PM

They'll probably be humiliated, tortured, and sold for scrap, by Martian hobos.

12-20-2009, 07:31 PM	#1
tw Read? I only know how to write. Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 11,933	Spirit Dies? One Martian Rover got stuck in sand many months ago. Ongoing has been a rescue mission. But nothing has worked. Some of the most successful American science missions - that was designed only for months and has lasted years - may be in a death watch. Engineers may be running out of options. See the story at Spirit. The Martian Rovers were a last 'hail Mary' attempt by JPL to save science. A program created in the 1990s. Pioneered in Cornell University for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in CA. Most useful science from NASA only comes from unmanned operations. Martian Rovers are two spectacular examples of what makes science work. Because Mars is so harsh, these Rovers have done what only robots can due with a few hundred watts of energy. Loss of Spirit would be a tragedy - loss of a real hero.

12-20-2009, 09:54 PM	#3
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	I keep telling you that we are getting too close to things that the Martians don't want us to see. That's why all these Mars missions are failing left and right. It has nothing to do with misplaced decimals by lowest bid contractors! __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

12-20-2009, 09:56 PM	#4
Elspode When Do I Get Virtual Unreality? Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Raytown, Missouri Posts: 12,719	No, no, no. It's management, Wolf. Management. __________________ "To those of you who are wearing ties, I think my dad would appreciate it if you took them off." - Robert Moog

12-20-2009, 09:58 PM	#6
footfootfoot To shreds, you say? Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: in the house and on the street-how many, many feet we meet! Posts: 18,449	It's nature's way of telling you __________________ The internet is a hateful stew of vomit you can never take completely seriously. - Her Fobs

12-21-2009, 05:10 AM	#9
TheMercenary “Hypocrisy: prejudice with a halo” Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Savannah, Georgia Posts: 21,393	__________________ Anyone but the this most fuked up President in History in 2012!

12-20-2009, 11:07 PM	#8
kerosene Touring the facilities Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: The plains of Colorado Posts: 3,476	No, that you gotta go.

12-21-2009, 08:59 AM	#10
footfootfoot To shreds, you say? Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: in the house and on the street-how many, many feet we meet! Posts: 18,449	ARTIST: Spirit TITLE: Nature's Way Lyrics and Chords It's nature's way of telling you something's wrong It's nature's way of telling you in a song / Asus2 - G#sus4 G# / / {Refrain} It's nature's way of receiving you It's nature's way of retrieving you It's nature's way of telling you Something's wrong / C#m AB / / E B / A - / It's nature's way of telling you, soon we'll freeze It's nature's way of telling you, dying trees {Refrain} It's nature's way, it's nature's way It's nature's way, it's nature's way / AB BA / / It's nature's way of telling you It's nature's way of telling you Something's wrong It's nature's way of telling you It's nature's way of telling you In a song, oh-h It's nature's way of receiving you It's nature's way It's nature's way of retrieving you It's nature's way It's nature's way of telling you Something's wrong, something's wrong, something's wrong ... / A B A B A B C#m - / __________________ The internet is a hateful stew of vomit you can never take completely seriously. - Her Fobs

12-21-2009, 07:29 PM	#12
ZenGum Doctor Wtf Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Badelaide, Baustralia Posts: 12,861	Chortle. I know it is silly, but I feel attached to those two robot explorers. It is easy to anthropomorphise them. Even if spirit is completely bogged, it can still do a little useful work, helping us make super-accurate measurements of Mars' orbit. It will be a sad day when both finally shut down for good. __________________ Shut up and hug. MoreThanPretty, Nov 5, 2008. Just because I'm nominally polite, does not make me a pussy. Sundae Girl.

12-21-2009, 07:57 PM	#13
footfootfoot To shreds, you say? Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: in the house and on the street-how many, many feet we meet! Posts: 18,449	"I'm afraid Dave... Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do..." /HAL __________________ The internet is a hateful stew of vomit you can never take completely seriously. - Her Fobs

12-22-2009, 03:18 PM	#14
Pie Gone and done Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 4,808	So, Spirit and Opportunity will lay dormant for decades. Centuries, even. Then some day, they will be visited by... people. Astronauts will bring them back to Terra, back to the Air and Space Museum, back to life! They will be studied and photographed, perhaps they will have a ticker-tape parade. __________________ per·son \ˈpər-sən\ (noun) - an ephemeral collection of small, irrational decisions The fun thing about evolution (and science in general) is that it happens whether you believe in it or not.

12-22-2009, 03:27 PM	#15
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	They'll probably be humiliated, tortured, and sold for scrap, by Martian hobos. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

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