Mars Rovers On Final Approach

leapis writes "In the wake of the possible loss of the Beagle 2 Mars probe, let us not forget that the Mars Rovers are scheduled for arrival in orbit this weekend. As noted in this article at Space.com, the fourth and final course correction has been made, and Spirit, the first of two spacecraft, will touch down around 22:34 on 3 Jan 2004. More information and a countdown to the landing can be found here."

Comments

I for one..

[Channard]

.. am deeply disappointed by the lack of dog puns.. 'Beagle 2 fails to bark'... 'Down, Rover'.. 'Beagle 2 Space Probe has Ruff Landing'.. so much potential unfulfilled.

Re:What gives us the right?

[sopuli]

Just wondering... Suppose there *is* life on Mars, what gives us the right to drop all sorts of space junk on their planet?

We'll just say they have weapons of mass destruction.

Re:What gives us the right?

[Deraj DeZine]

I would have personally brought up the whole Roswell incident as evidence of just how crazy people get over crashed alien craft.

I mean, the whole incident was probably just some teenage alien coming back from one of those underage Martian drinking parties you hear about so much and crashing his space ship. I never really saw the point in destroying the poor alien's reputation over that one little mistake. I mean, we've had him locked away in the Area 51 supermax prison for how long? It's ridiculous.

Perhaps the Martians are just holding Beagle 2 until we return that poor kid? It's about time those aliens stood up for their rights.

Names

[EuroChild]

Now see, I can tell simply by the names of these probes that they will fail. By giving them these "uplifting" or "inspirational" (eg: spirit) names they are jinxing themselves. Therefore I suggest that the next probes are named things like: "dismal faliure" or "flaming wreck"...

When Rover lands

[maroberts]

Maybe it could sidle up to Beagle 2 and give it a push out of whatever ditch it has managed to land in!

Does Rover carry any jump leads?

One of them's BOUND to make it!

[Greyfox]

The Martians are going to run out of missiles sooner or later!