Michael Gallagher wrote:

The scientists didn't do MER. Scientists wanted to return to Mars for
years after Viking, and god knows enough rovers were tested.

Given the number of scientists doing science via MER, one wonders how
you can make this claim.

But there wasn't a serious chance of that until the '90s; even then, the
go-ahead came from above them, not from some guys in lab coats saying,
"Yes, let's go."

Here's a clue for you; approval for all birds comes from above the lab
coats.

In fact, IIRC, the whole BFC approach got a shot in the arm not from a
NASA science mission but from MILITARY one -- the Clemintine vehicle
launched as part of SDI, out of Vandenberg on a recondtioned Titan 2.
It took photos of the Moon and was going to rendezvous with an
asteroid as part of a test of the targeting system, but that part of
the mission failed.

Which has just about zero to do with the question at hand.

Sorry. Looks like press coverage predated the science by a lot of
years.

Interesting tactic, write unrelated fluff, then tack on a claim
without having added any support for the same.

D.
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