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Mars Deep Space 2 Crash Program
NYFreddie writes "ABCNews has an article on NASA's Deep Space 2 program where two basketball sized probes will be dropped from above the Martian atmosphere to crash into the surface at around 400 mph where they are expected to continue operating and transmitting data. "
UPI (United Press Interplanetary) - Amateur astronomers report monitoring two spacecraft obviously orignating from outside the Mars local orbit crashing into the atmosphere and landing near the remote town of Marswell, New Olympus. UMAF (United Mars Air Force) spokesmen claim to have retrieved the debris, and have issued a press release claiming that the phenomena were in fact due to two weather balloons released at high altitude during some test flights. This account is hotly disputed by three Marswell residents claiming to have reached the impact site before the UMAF.
In an interview, local resident "Creepy" Pbtbtwzxk told this reporter that the capsules had strange markings on the exterior surface resembling markings found on other artifacts previously recovered by MUFOS (Mars Unidentified Flying Object Society) which have been the subject of several denials of authenticity by the UMAF. Pbtbtwzxk, waving all six blue tentacles stated emphatically that "The UMAF knows what is going on, but they are trying to keep it secret from the honest citizens of the United States of Canopis."
Meanwhile several other residents of Marswell are in the process of constructing a small meseum and gifte shoppee to commemorate this mysterious event.
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They're crashing on purpose, right? Not like the previous metric/imperial blunder...
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...Off the valleys, around Mt. Olympus, over the Phobos, under Deimos, nothing but soil.
Call on God, but row AWAY from the rocks!
Growing up as a kid in the 70's, I have an eager fascination with space exploration. (Heck, I'm just getting over the fact that it's 1999 and we *still* don't have a moon base...)
... there are 2 dead robots sitting close to each other on Mars ... there are strange devices hurtling towards the stars ... whoa, lyrics!
About the only reason I log on to the various mainstream newssites these days is to catch the space news - who launched what, what blew up on the launch pad, who has the latest mass-market space stuff in experimental stages, etc.
And I love hearing about the exploration of Mars, and the moon, etc.
But one thing that keeps bugging me is that we're littering all this Earth trash all over these external bodies - there's a Hasselblad sitting on a Lunar Rover on the moon, pointed at the stars
Anyway, the point is, we've got all this debris out there. It bugs me.
What if we come to an early demise as a species, and in a few millenia the 'roaches or whatever evolve a Space-faring Caste and they start making their way out to distant rocks, and they find all this crap - and some half-wit 'roach from the Religious Caste holds it up as evidence proving that life once existed on these foreign planets!
Well, damnit. I guess I am a 70's Sci-Fi Cild after all, but c'mon - does anyone else feel the sentiment that NASA should be cleaning up after itself?
:)
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --