"Spirit" has a major problem.

David Sander wrote:

"Chateau"

Doesn't that mean 'cat's water'?

Having been a staff member of a male cat,


Well that's better than being a stiff member of a male cat...

Pat

Charles Buckley wrote:


If it is hardware, MER-A is a goner..


If it's a hardware problem, it also could be endemic to both rovers.

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote:



Charles Buckley wrote:


If it is hardware, MER-A is a goner..



If it's a hardware problem, it also could be endemic to both rovers.




Yes. But usually hardware problems are production problems as
opposed to systemic flaws. Software can be exactly copied. Hardware
is never identical.

You do know that Spirit's electronics are made by Lucas, the lord of
darkness? :-DD

Pat Flannery wrote:

http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/040122anomaly.html
Did the ghost of Beagle strike it down?
It was the damn _Australians_ who were talking to it when it went
bad...first they lull us into a false sense of confidence with "The
Dish"...then their snake and spider infested telemetry station suffers
the all-too-common "storm" as the Foster's-addled lads that comprise its
"crew" muck about inside of its antenna playing cricket....and WHOOSH!
The subtle touch of death via the British Commonwealth's limitless space
experience strikes down Spirit, just like it struck down Britain
itself...and their pathetic little tin wind-up toy masquerading as a
Mars lander!
Remember all those Soviet Mars probes that didn't work...remember how
Britain gave the Soviet Union all those free jet engines after WW II?
The ones that later powered those MiG 15s that were shooting at our boys
over Korea?
Well.... I'll bet those Soviet Mars landers had BRITISH COMMONWEALTH
MADE PARTS ON THEM!!! Mayhaps even AUSTRALIAN-MADE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH
PARTS!!!!
This must mean WAR! We've invaded countries for less severe **** than
this....FAR less severe **** than this!
I notice that SpaceDaily hasn't even reported this story yet... so
ashamed is it's formerly Australian owner of his mother country's
soon-to-be-infamous part in this debacle!
Pat

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...


Justin Wigg wrote:


By the way Pat - I've got a request. Find a graduate student majoring
in CGI animation and give him one of your dreams to animate for a
project. I've gotta *see* this stuff you're dreaming up. :-)


Just look at some Hieronymus Bosch and Salvador Dali paintings- that's
about what they look like.

Years ago a college buddy showed me a drawing he made while he was tripping
on acid.

That picture alone convinced me to never do acid.

I think this is similar.

Pat Flannery wrote:

David Sander wrote:

Having been a staff member of a male cat,

Well that's better than being a stiff member of a male cat...

True.

The staff member issue is from the old saying: "Dogs have owners, cats
have staff".


David
--
per aspera ad astra

In article ,
says...
Pat Flannery wrote:



Charles Buckley wrote:


If it is hardware, MER-A is a goner..



If it's a hardware problem, it also could be endemic to both rovers.




Yes. But usually hardware problems are production problems as
opposed to systemic flaws. Software can be exactly copied. Hardware
is never identical.


But it can be "close enough" to fail in the same way.

A hardware failure is not necessarily fatal, either. Depends
on what failed, and how, and if they can find a workaround.

And software can still be uploaded. I believe that's what
they were doing at the time of failure?

Diane Wilson wrote:

In article ,
says...

Pat Flannery wrote:



Charles Buckley wrote:


If it is hardware, MER-A is a goner..



If it's a hardware problem, it also could be endemic to both rovers.




Yes. But usually hardware problems are production problems as
opposed to systemic flaws. Software can be exactly copied. Hardware
is never identical.



But it can be "close enough" to fail in the same way.



True. Mars Observer had a systemic hardware flaw that would
have doomed anything built along the same lines.

A hardware failure is not necessarily fatal, either. Depends
on what failed, and how, and if they can find a workaround.


Not necessarily fatal, but all indications are that this one
is RAM or CPU. Either would be very bad. I am pretty certain they
do not have the ability to map out segments of bad ram.

I read that it had tried to go thru about 60 reboot cycles.
That would explain the missed scheduled events. It also shows
a persistent problem, which is not good.

And software can still be uploaded. I believe that's what
they were doing at the time of failure?

Yes. They were loading software at that time.

"Greg D. Moore (Strider)" wrote in message
...
Years ago a college buddy showed me a drawing he made while he was
tripping
on acid.

That picture alone convinced me to never do acid.

Just watched Letterman chatting with the NASA guy. Letterman shows a couple
of pictures of rocks and the NASA guy is excited. Then he shows one with an
Appleby's in it, and the NASA guy didn't choke. He gets big points for that.

This time Jeff Golumbek doesn't seem to have a comb-over. All those
close-ups during Pathfinder were distracting. "No! No! For god's sake, NO!"

"David Sander" wrote in message
...
The staff member issue is from the old saying: "Dogs have owners, cats
have staff".

But thanks to Viagra, not half-staff.