Mars Rover Spirit Falls Silent ...

Gatekeeper · January 22, 2004, 15:09

... apparently scientists have been getting only bits and pieces of gibberish from the probe for a day or so now. It was initially attributed to weather factors over Australia, but apparently that's no longer the case. Scientists aren't sure what the cause(s) might be, but are maintaining hope that the issue(s) can be solved.

Personally, if the rover is lost, it only reaffirms the fact that if we want to truly explore what lies beyond Earth, we have to send ourselves there. Robotic probes certainly have their place but, in the end, we need to have humans out there.

As for a Mars mission ... why not use crews that have experience with life aboard submarines? "The Silent Service," IMO, would be an excellent source of people acclimated to months of living in tight quarters w/o going insane.

Gatekeeper

Japher · January 22, 2004, 15:11

Martians took the Rover!!!

Well, that's what they get for letting it just sit there for a month.

The diplomat · January 22, 2004, 15:11

Maybe the martians killed the probe because it was about to discover their secret hiding place?

just kidding!

shmily_dana · January 22, 2004, 15:24

Check out what they say about what is on Mars. I'm sure they'll comment on the probe malfunction soon.

http://www.enterprisemission.com/

DanS · January 22, 2004, 15:25

This is a shame. Hope they get it to work again.

MrFun · January 22, 2004, 15:26

So which copycat thread will be locked -- Gatekeeper's, or GePap's??

Stay tuned for the next episode to find out.

Winston · January 22, 2004, 15:27

I suspected there might be trouble for the Rover. This last weekend, there were'nt any updates to the official press releases between the 16th and 19th, while prior to that, a new release went up daily for almost two weeks.

Let's hope they'll be able to get it going again.

alva · January 22, 2004, 15:29

Quote:

people acclimated to months of living in tight quarters w/o going insane.

I doubt that's the biggest problem with manned mars missions, Zero gravity is much harder to deal with I would think.
-

Sad news, sure hope they can fix it.

Brundlefly · January 22, 2004, 15:33

NASA officials work around the clock to get this problem fixed, costing taxpayers $$$ in overtime.

In a related story, old person freezes to death in a rundown innercity dwelling without heat in the Northeast because of insufficient funding of social programs to reach her and give assistance.

Winston · January 22, 2004, 15:34

Not only weightlessness, the radiation levels one would be exposed to going to Mars are twice of those experienced in LEO.

Anyway, we need robots - and lots of them - to pave the way and establish a basic "infrastructure" at a possible landing site for the first humans, before we can even start the planning of a manned mission.

Japher · January 22, 2004, 15:34

don't try and skirt this very important issue bfg9000

Japher · January 22, 2004, 15:37

I just found this image on NASAs web site. Appears the problem is that a couple of computer geeks have hacked their computers and have done so in the past. Why? The ultimate Robot War on Mars!!!

Beagle vs. Spirit, who will win?!!!

MrFun · January 22, 2004, 15:38

@ Japher's joke

Agathon · January 22, 2004, 15:38

In other news... Microsoft today declined to comment on rumours that the Spirit Rover was using Windows XP Professional...

Japher · January 22, 2004, 15:41

... did they get a memory error when trying to start a DOS program?

MrFun · January 22, 2004, 15:43

So THAT was the problem.

Paul Hanson · January 22, 2004, 15:43

It probably ran into the wreck of Beagle 2 and damaged itself beyond all repair.

Zopperoni · January 22, 2004, 15:49

Quote:

Originally posted by Japher
The ultimate Robot War on Mars!!!

Beagle vs. Spirit, who will win?!!!

That reminded me of this comic from Real Life Comics:

yavoon · January 22, 2004, 15:52

Quote:

Originally posted by bfg9000
NASA officials work around the clock to get this problem fixed, costing taxpayers $$$ in overtime.

In a related story, old person freezes to death in a rundown innercity dwelling without heat in the Northeast because of insufficient funding of social programs to reach her and give assistance.

maybe she should have gotten a job at NASA.

chequita guevara · January 22, 2004, 15:53

Quote:

Originally posted by bfg9000
NASA officials work around the clock to get this problem fixed, costing taxpayers $$$ in overtime.

In a related story, old person freezes to death in a rundown innercity dwelling without heat in the Northeast because of insufficient funding of social programs to reach her and give assistance.

Yes, because we know for certain if we hadn't spent the money at NASA, we would have a full social safety net.

Spend your tax cut yet?

Brundlefly · January 22, 2004, 15:54

Do you remember that cable show where people would build these killer robots and then compete against each other trying to destroy each others robot and avoid dangerous obstacles by remote control? I think the winner of this contest is qualified to go to Mars. Did NASA ever enter their pvssy bot in this contest? I dont think so.

Brundlefly · January 22, 2004, 16:12

Quote:

Originally posted by chegitz guevara

Yes, because we know for certain if we hadn't spent the money at NASA, we would have a full social safety net.

Spend your tax cut yet?

Well, since you're fond of making wild assumptions about the usage of federal tax money without Bush's guidance, I'll make a wild assumption of my own: Since Bush's proposed Mars exploration initiative includes people walking on the red planet , maybe your suggestion is that we take the old woman in my example and put her on a spaceship to Mars. That way we dont have to think about her anymore, right?

The money that would have been available if NASA wasnt using it would go a long way towards building a social safety net.

No I didnt spend my tax cut. I'm middle class - I didnt get one.

yavoon · January 22, 2004, 16:14

Quote:

Originally posted by bfg9000

Well, since you're fond of making wild assumptions about the usage of federal tax money without Bush's guidance, I'll make a wild assumption of my own: Since Bush's proposed Mars exploration initiative includes people walking on the red planet , maybe your suggestion is that we take the old woman in my example and put her on a spaceship to Mars. That way we dont have to think about her anymore, right?

The money that would have been available if NASA wasnt using it would go a long way towards building a social safety net.

No I didnt spend my tax cut. I'm middle class - I didnt get one.

yes lets abolish a program that accomplishes something and replace it w/ a program that gives money to ppl who accomplish nothing.

I bet thats how all great nations are built.

Brundlefly · January 22, 2004, 16:22

Quote:

Originally posted by yavoon

yes lets abolish a program that accomplishes something and replace it w/ a program that gives money to ppl who accomplish nothing.

I bet thats how all great nations are built.

Yeah lets just take the old, the feeble, the indigent and put them on a barge, send it out into the ocean, and fire a torpedo into it. Who do they think they are for being too sick or too dumb or too unskilled to support themselves. We're better off without them.

yavoon · January 22, 2004, 16:29

Quote:

Originally posted by bfg9000

Yeah lets just take the old, the feeble, the indigent and put them on a barge, send it out into the ocean, and fire a torpedo into it. Who do they think they are for being too sick or too dumb or too unskilled to support themselves. We're better off without them.

yes because obviously since I don't want to scrap NASA and revert all funding from something that has given us innumerable technological advances and is leading the way towards our invariably future(if we have one) which is outside the planet earth. I obviously must want to slaughter all poor ppl.

u pegged me good.

Sprayber · January 22, 2004, 16:33

Quote:

Originally posted by yavoon

yes lets abolish a program that accomplishes something and replace it w/ a program that gives money to ppl who accomplish nothing.

I bet thats how all great nations are built.

What exactly is NASA accomplishing???? So far they have only managed to litter the Martian landscape with expensive toys.

yavoon · January 22, 2004, 16:35

Quote:

Originally posted by Sprayber

What exactly is NASA accomplishing???? So far they have only managed to litter the Martian landscape with expensive toys.

obviously u r grossly uninformed.

Sprayber · January 22, 2004, 16:36

Quote:

Originally posted by yavoon

obviously u r grossly uninformed.

Well inform me ole mighty one

How has this little trip to Mars helped me

Brundlefly · January 22, 2004, 16:39

Quote:

Originally posted by yavoon

yes because obviously since I don't want to scrap NASA and revert all funding from something that has given us innumerable technological advances and is leading the way towards our invariably future(if we have one) which is outside the planet earth. I obviously must want to slaughter all poor ppl.

u pegged me good.

I dont think that you want to "slaughter all poor ppl", but you obviously dont place much value in them. That we would make tech advances from manned flight to Mars is presumptuous. Do you really feel we urgently need to put a man on Mars for any reason? We are one of the most populous countries in the world and it is more important to tend to our infrastructure than go on some nationalistic tromp into space. Lets face it - this is all political posturing by Bush. He wants to paint himself as a pioneer in an election year because young voters would closely identify with that image.

yavoon · January 22, 2004, 16:43

Quote:

Originally posted by bfg9000

I dont think that you want to "slaughter all poor ppl", but you obviously dont place much value in them. That we would make tech advances from manned flight to Mars is presumptuous. Do you really feel we urgently need to put a man on Mars for any reason? We are one of the most populous countries in the world and it is more important to tend to our infrastructure than go on some nationalistic tromp into space. Lets face it - this is all political posturing by Bush. He wants to paint himself as a pioneer in an election year because young voters would closely identify with that image.

it will always be important to attend to our infrastructure and our poor. I'm sure its political posturing by bush.

NEVERTHELESS if we ignore space, spend all our time building bigger apartment buildings to cram more ppl while feeding them all rice and paying ppl not to work. we will be utterly pathetic failures as a species.