On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 22:24:30 +0800, "ahh" wrote:

I just though of another example and have to share it. During the Spirit
landing they mention during landing how rockets were fired to keep the craft
out of a crater.

Well the rocket was fired to stop it going sidewards, where avoiding
the crater was an added bonus.

I think I recall them mentioning they wouldn't want it to
go in the crater.

No in that the landing would have been a lot more "eventful" had it
landed in that big crater.

However with Opportunity it landed in a crater and they
call it a "hole in one" :-D

Opportunity landed more in a shallow depression, when it can already
see over the edge of this crater in places with hardly trying.

However, there appears to be a very big crater just a short distance
away, which they certainly could visit.

Maybe they programmed the flight computers in reverse on
Opportunity :-)

Unfortunately, the landing system on these MERs is not programmed to
handle or avoid craters.

Reminds me of the old joke saying "I planned it that way"

Ok...

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