David Knisely wrote in news:1066974869.269230@cache1:

Mork posted:

The MER guys just seem not to care.

You are interpreting it this way, but from the information on the site
this is clearly not the case. I have talked to one of the people
involved with the MER program, and the team seems to have a bit more
serious attitude than the Pathfinder one did (probably as a result of
the MPL failure). I don't really care which instrument's power supply
they tested this week or what light bulb they turned on. All I care
about is getting the darn thing down in one piece and fulfilling its
misssion requirements.

Such a simplistic attitude desparately needs to be eradicated! The CAIB
spent most of this year battling such complacency. The catastrophic
failures of MPL, MCO and Challenger resulted from such complacency. You
would supress criticism and discussion on the basis that someone else
knows better. Read the CAIB report and prepare for an epiphany.

It is outright folly to sit back, head in sand, and trust the geeks to
get everything there in one piece. Discussion and public awareness of
every aspect of the mission is healthy, and I would say essential, even
if the public may not be able to have any meaningful impact on the
minutiae. Telling the taxpayers of the world to toss $500 Mil into a
black box and forget about it for a few years while propeller heads spend
it freely is simply not a flyer these days.

Scientists on the public purse have to deal with this reality just like
their brethren in the other segment of the economy. (The one that digs
holes, drives goods to market, builds walls, puts bread and butter on the
table and, oh yeah, pays the scads of money it takes to build the sandbox
for the boys at JPL to play with their MERs in.



Mark