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I guess the guys at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have not been seeing enough
traffic to the site where they (used to) update the status of the mars rovers on
a daily basis. In late October, Spirit went into a serious power crisis and
they stopped updating. Through other sources, I kept up with the news and -
just as everything was coming to a head - we went into solar conjunction. The
beleaguered little 6-wheeler wasn't going to be able to talk to us for about
two weeks - give or take.
Spirit and Opportunity are one of the greatest engineering accomplishments of
our time, but they aren't things. People ascribe personality to their cars,
but the Mars Rovers are the equivalent of vehicles that have clocked six to ten
million miles; they were designed for a 90 day stint and have been in near-
continuous operation for thirty times that long.
So Spirit and Opportunity are my team. No baseball, football, soccer,
basketball, thanks. Just give me my Martian Chronicle Sports Page every day
and I'll be happy. The last couple months have been hairy and I understand that
the blog isn't a high priority, but we - the armchair engineers - need it.
-rbarry
UPDATE 20090613
While the updates are currently weekly, at best, they are no longer
months behind. Given the current situation (Spirit high-centered on a
rock in soft soil,) I check the thing for news compulsively. I'm still
wishing they were doing updates daily, but I am at least happy that the
site is seeing some activity again.
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