Luckily they won't shut down the rover programme, as officials
stated yesterday. Gov got cold feet from the martian atmosphere, eh?
fra
-----Original Message-----
From: das ende der nahrungskette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: BAGASCH@LISTS.MONOCHROM.AT
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:51:25 +0100
Subject: [monochrom] Kthxbai, Spirit, kthxbai!
> Spirit, the Mars Rover, left to die before its time.
> The brave, unflagging Mars rover Spirit, who has lived on the Red
> Planet for almost four years, has been given a death sentence by the
> U.S. government. Right now, the little robot is resting on a sunny
> slope, waiting out the winter and preparing to do more tests on the
> Martian atmosphere. But now it looks like Spirit has rolled on its
> six wheels and done science experiments for the very last time. The
> U.S. government has forced NASA, this country's national space
> agency, to cut its budget by 4 million dollars. And that means only
> one rover, Opportunity, will survive. To say that this is a tragedy
> is an understatement.
>
> The Mars rovers have been one of NASA's most proud achievements, and
> the information they gather today can help future planetary colonists
> tomorrow. While NASA is planning to land another rover on Mars within
> the next year, it's a shame to shut down a perfectly serviceable
> rover that could be supplementing what the new rover will learn.
>
> <http://io9.com/371700/spirit-the-mars-rover-left-to-die-before-its-time>Link
> (via <http://twitter.com/Annaleen/statuses/776870365>Annalee Newitz)
>
> --
> Posted By johannes to
> <http://www.monochrom.at/english/2008/03/kthxbai-spirit-kthxbai.htm>monochrom
> at 3/25/2008 06:01:00 PM
