On Sat, 17 Jan 2004 12:05:01 -0500, Michael Gallagher
wrote:

Right now, we have Spirit on mars, and it seems to be doing ok, but as
I understand it, in three months it will go at most 125 feet from the
lander;

It can move 15 meters each day, which is about 49 feet. So your
calculation is for 2 and a half days and not 3 months.

So after all 10 weeks it could have traveled 1050 meters (over 1 km)
or 3445 feet.

there's no chance of it making to the mountains in the
distance.

Incorrect.

The quoted 3 months is its *minimum* designed lifetime. Again the
Viking landers were also designed to last these minimum 3 months.

They latest about 2 years I recall, where why should Spirit last less
just because it has wheels?

So I have a feeling that Spirit may drive right up to those hill and
maybe even take a pass through the middle of them. They are between
3.5 and 4.5 km away I recall.

They would take about 280 days to reach, which would be somewhere
around the end of this year.

And it took a week just to check out the systems and get it
to roll off the lander to begin with.

Don't concern yourself, when Spirit has plenty of time left to
explore, when it could well still be going in over a year from now.

Still, it is designed to last 3 months, where it could really go and
break down at any time.

How much work could a human geologist do in three months (and yes, you
would have to stay on Mars either 30-100 days or ~500 days before the
return trip, depending on the type of oribit used to go there and come
back)?

A lot of work for a far greater cost.

And if the human crew is equipped with their own rover, how
far could they go from the lander? Probably a LOT farther than 125
feet in three months!

Over 1 km in the remainder of these three months.

With the proper equipment they could collect
samples AND do some analysis on site.

And spirit can do a lot as well, like tell you how long water remained
at this site, if at all.

Cardman
http://www.cardman.com
http://www.cardman.co.uk