Mars Rover, Spirit, Turns 4

Brandee07 writes "Designed for a 90 day mission, the Spirit Mars Rover is starting its 4th year of exploration. Spirit's sister-module, Opportunity, will turn four on Jan 25. 'We never thought we'd still be driving these robots all over Mars,' said Mark Lemmon, a planetary scientist at Texas A&M University and member of the rover science team. 'We joked about driving Opportunity into Victoria Crater, but now we're there, and we're looking at doing even more science. Each day they still work is an amazing one.'"

Comments

Obligatory

[Matthaeus]

I'm doing science and I'm still alive!

(Sorry, someone had to!)

Re:Shipping cost

[bigdavex]

It can also have big savings in the cost to launch it into space, and NASA would certainly have shaved anything they could.

Bah! That's just the way space contractors avoid paying big ebay fees on the Rovers. $700 million shipping my ass.

Re:why not tell Louis Armstrong to his face

[oskay]

I think you missed the joke.

Re:manned exploration is the boondoggle

[CreatureComfort]

Actually, the Universe has no other purpose than to provide me entertainment. Luckily, even the doubters like you help it succeed admirably.

"If there's anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now."
- Zaphod Beeblebrox