Comments on: Happy Birthday Spirit!

By: MARSH

MARSH — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:05:50 +0000

Happy Birthday Brave little Machines with Big Hearts that "Can"
and don't know what "I cant " means !!!

The comparison to the canine kind of "Rovers" is significant.

They will work their hearts out for you and die for you in the end .

These two Rovers named Spirit and Opportunity are truly all Space Advocate's , JPL's and NASA's best friends .

By: Pam

Pam — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:28:25 +0000

Happy Birthday to you…Happy Birthday to you…. Happy Birthday, dear Spirit…Happy Birthday to you! And many more!!!

By: Oscar

Oscar — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:59:25 +0000

Why did Nasa have no experiment to test for life?, when even Beagle and Viking did. Is it because they already know its there?

By: btw

btw — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:02:01 +0000

Comcast only carries NASA TV on one of its public access channels, and even at that, only during the "off" hours of the day. If a launch or a landing happens between 9:00 PM and 8:00 AM, I can watch the entire event.

It was quite a ride.

By: Kevin F.

Kevin F. — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:57:36 +0000

I started keeping a scrapbook of newclippings of the rovers, but it died off when most of the info was online instead of in the papers. I haven't added to it since late 2004

Aside from the occasional blurb, the newspapers treat the rovers as if the only thing interesting about them is that they're still there.

By: Frank Glover

Frank Glover — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 19:25:48 +0000

In all fairness, to achieve the kind of reliability 'overkill' these rovers have displayed (for an environment Earth vehicles don't face*), there was a degree of fabrication, design and testing that would make a car produced that way, well, astronomical in price…

And even so, one rover has a locked-up wheel that it must drag.

* And I don't just mean that the rovers must work remotely in a dusty place of low atmospheric pressures and extremely low temperatures, but also that they *don't* have to operate at highway speeds, possibly very elevated summer/desert temperatures (inside and out), frequent starting, stopping, vibration, salt, slush, rain, snow, corrosion from various sources, questionable owner care and maintenance, much lower quality control by the manufacturer, the built-in assumption that repair *will* be possible, so it doesn't have to be 'perfect'…no, it's not easy to be an Earth vehicle, folks. Think about what your car has to deal with, that those little guys do not.

By: Mike B

Mike B — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 11:10:20 +0000

Great work to all involved. I can't even keep my remote helicopter going for five years and I can touch it with my own hands.

Mike.

By: Silver Thread

Silver Thread — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:56:47 +0000

You know, if someone were to design a scale model remote control version of these things, they'd probably be pretty damn popular, Maybe there's a revenue source for NASA.

At any rate, here's to five years, Bravo Zulu!

By: marcellus

marcellus — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:25:36 +0000

Amen to that! Spirit was aptly named to suffer all the hard luck experiences and trials on the Martian surface that it has been through.

Although Spirit's explorations haven't been as dramatic as Opportunity's have been, the landscapes and subtle revelations of the Martian geology have been amazing.

I love these machines. Keep them going.

By: USSDRAKE1968

USSDRAKE1968 — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 03:15:59 +0000

Happy Birthday Spirit! Way to go!! Hope your still going strong for another 5.