"Julius Kilo" wrote in message igy.com...
"ahh" wrote in message
...
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. I think I recall them mentioning they wouldn't want it
to
go in the crater. However with Opportunity it landed in a crater and they
call it a "hole in one" :-D Maybe they programmed the flight computers in
reverse on Opportunity :-) Reminds me of the old joke saying "I planned
it
that way"

I think you mean Pee Wee Herman when he went over the handlebars of his bike
and said: "I meant to do that!"

Seriously, all the self-congratulation and constant proclamations that they
are the smartest people in the universe is getting really smarmy. It
accounts for about half of any press briefing. Maybe it's a JPL thing--the
manned types don't seem to act that way. One guy said that the discovery of
bedrock will rank with the discovery of volcanoes on Io, or geysers on
Titan.

Meanwhile, the glitch on Spirit has not increased their resolve to actually
*do* anything with all this expensive hardware that could fail at any time.
Spirit will now gaze at its navel for another *three weeks*. Might as well
give it a chance to fail completely? On the other side of Mars, Theisinger
says that, sure, Opportunity has a clear path off and no hi-gain antenna
problems like Spirit, but it won't leave its nest for two weeks, just as
before. Not even an allowance for a learning curve! There seems to be no
equation where a decision to keep a Rover on ice costs anything. They have
however noted that the solar panels are degrading every day at the expected
rate. Well, that's a science experiment of sorts I guess.


When people rush bad things tend to happen. The problem with Spirit
based on some technical info I've heard about it is solvable... but the
press conference briefings they give on it is too vague and non-technical
for anybody to say that. Maybe part of the problem is just how they
communicate with the public. Their press conferences are geared up for
people with only a 7th or 8th grade education. It comforts that audience
to hear the kinds of stuff spouted at the press conference. Somebody
like you needs a higher level of info to think about.

-McDaniel