"Jon Berndt" wrote in message ...
"Tom Merkle" wrote in message

Almost everything that happens that can be hyped does get hyped.

agree 100%. When I hear that NASA scientists are 'astounded' and
'don't know what to think' over current pictures from Opportunity, I
imagine that they must have found an alien artifact or something--only
to discover that the jaw-dropping was from seeing the two different
types of rock, which the same people who are 'astounded' originally
listed as a reason for sending MER B to that location in the first
place! Gee, what a miracle.

We've seen the same thing happen when a probe arrives pretty much anywhere
in the solar system. For Mars, we only experience a growth of close-up
experience a little at a time. The early moments of revelations of new
vistas -- after a period of years of hard work, and following the risky and
exhilirating EDL process -- is always breathtaking. I think it's great to
see this cohesive team of competent people experiencing what I am sure will
be a career high for them, and observe how their curiousity drives their
motivation.

Not being able to comprehend this excitement shows not only a lack of
understanding of their experience, but a lack of imagination. It takes no
effort to mentally temper their colorful statements if you are put off. Let
them be excited.

Jon
I am all for excitement in one's field.
After an extra day of reading & listening, it's clear that media
misquotes are more to blame than NASA hype. The initial reports made
it sound like NASA was exceptionally excited to have landed in the
type of area they had aimed for. Later stories have more accurately
made clear that the excitement was caused by initial proximity to
samples and likely high science return being less dependant on a long
rover life.

I saw the main public spokesman even attempt to correct CNN's initial
impression that JPL had aimed for that exact 20 ft crater, explaining
that "hole in one" meant not an extremely accurate landing, but an
extremely fortunate random starting location for the rover.

Tom Merkle