I totally love these guys. It's great knowing that they're up there, trolling around on Mars. Is that weird?Probably. But really, how can you not love them? They're little anthropomorphised robots. Like Wall-E. Or the Energizer Bunny.
Their mission was originally designed to last for 90 days, but we're 6-1/2 years in, and Opportunity is still chugging around in the Martian dirt, picking up rocks and tracking the weather. Spirit, it seems, is now stuck in a rut (literally). He's in a crater, but two of his little wheels are busted, so he probably won't move any more. He's a paraplegic robot. But he still has working instrumentation, and can send info back to Earth (or, he will, as soon as he wakes up from his wintertime deep hibernation).
And seriously, how fun would it be to be a scientist working on this project. It's like a video game for adults, which also happens to pay the bills. Perhaps the best job ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment