Six years, huh? Whaddya expect for
400 million dollars, anyway?
After six highly successful years of exploring the red sands of Mars, NASA's rover Spirit will rove no more.
With its six wheels stuck in powdery sand and two wheels no longer working, the resilient little explorer will become a fixed, immobile scientific observatory -- if it can survive the harsh temperatures of the upcoming winter.
"Its driving days are likely over," Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, said in a telephone news conference Tuesday. "Its contributions will continue" if it can be re-awakened after what could be a six-month hibernation during the Martian winter.
If Spirit can be resuscitated, researchers will use it to attempt to answer one of their most pressing questions: whether the planet has a solid iron core or a liquid one.
4 comments:
While they're at it, can they resuscitate my Spirit?
It was only designed to work for several months, but it has been chugging along like the energizer bunny for years.
I wish I could find a car like that.
Steve, even if your wheels have become stuck and you have to shut down for the long winter, you still can answer the most pressing question ... do you have a solid iron core or a liquid one?
That was a joke, but in fact, that's a question we have to pose to those Democratic idiots in Congress. Why are they still afraid of Republicans fer gawd's sake?
Bryan, talk about energizer bunnies... my little '82 manual Tercel is still plugging along while the '94 Windstar van died in the Cash for Clunkers program...
But just think of what I could have bought with $400 million.....
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