Flares Injure Mars Odyssey

Henry writes "The BBC is reporting that NASA's Mars Odyssey has suffered a hit from the recent solar flares. Apparently, the instrument which measures radiation levels has been shut down; it is not known if the damage is permanent."

Comments

hmm...

[Danse]

Haven't they already used the solar flare excuse? I woulda gone with "there was a plasma conduit breach".

Re:hmm...

[bad_fx]

Nah, that's too easily fixed - everyone would just keep asking "Why don't they just reverse the polarity!?"

Re:The inhospitability of space

[Wardish]

Hostile, Yes indeed! But the major problem and the reason it's still so very very hostile is that we've never commited to being there.

Explorers are always risk takers and so they should be but if we want things to be safe we need to start sending people who aren't risk takers. Colonists who want to go but will work there tails off to reduce the risk because they are THERE and the risk is personal! And by personal I mean thier and their kids hides.

As for cheap and reliable, those are adjectives that will be appropriate when it is common. They generally don't come first.

You want cheap, give someone the task of moving 50 megaton's of mass to L4 for a set price. I garruntee that they will find ways to make things much more cost effective because every 5 bucks saved is somone's martini.

Reliable, we are back to people risking their hides. That and public opinion after some disaster. And have no doubts... Disasters will happen. It's a time to buckle down and solve problems but not at the expense of not getting the job done.

Ok, I'm done ranting, Mod me down as necessary, I'll go take my medication now...