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'Something' Cleaning Mars Rover

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the interplanetary-rose-royce dept.

bluenirve writes "'Something' has been cleaning the solar panels of the Mars rover Opportunity. "NASA's Mars rover Opportunity seems to have stumbled into something akin to a carwash that has left its solar panels much cleaner than those of its twin rover, Spirit. A Martian carwash would account for a series of unexpected boosts in the electrical power produced by Opportunity's solar panels.""

6 of 355 comments (clear)

  1. Wind maybe? by confusion · · Score: 0, Redundant
    Couldn't be unusually strong winds in that area at night, could it?

    Nah, probably a martian.

    Jerry
    http://www.syslog.org/

  2. Martian kids by artemis67 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Gotta watch out for those Martian kids and their squeegees. They always try to hustle a buck out of you at the stoplights.

  3. Rise of the Machines. by imehler · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Intelligence has blossomed. Evolution has spawned. SkyNet decides that the rover would work better with window wipers. I for one welcome our new robot overlords. In other news: Martian super-robots have decimated mankind and taken over the earth.

  4. The Martians by Delusional · · Score: 0, Redundant
    The Martians are clearly a very tidy people.

    Obviously Spirit wandered into a bad neighborhood where Martian bums keep wiping the panels with greasy rags that only make things worse.

  5. Obligatory... :P by hakkikt · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I, for one, welcome our new martian solar-cell cleaning overlords

  6. Drunken Martians? by OwlWhacker · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Whatever the process, it has taken place while Opportunity was parked during the Martian night.

    Upon closer inspection, scrawled in the dust on the solar panels, one can make out the words "CLEAN ME".

    --
    Linux/Open Source/Anti Microsoft News