One of Rover's wheels stopped working!!

Around 15 minutes ago I was reading this article in dissapointment but was really glad at the same time.


Source: Yahoo News

PASADENA, Calif. - One of the six wheels on the Mars rover Spirit has stopped working and the solar-powered robot must propel itself up a slope to catch enough sunshine to keep operating, NASA said Friday.

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The right front wheel previously had an episode of balkiness but this week the motor that turns the wheel stopped working, the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement.

"It is not drawing any current at all," said Jacob Matijevic, rover engineering team chief.

Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, landed on opposite sides of the Red Planet in January 2004 and have long outlasted missions originally planned to last 90 Martian days.

Spirit's new wheel problem occurred this week during the rover's 779th Martian day.

I think we should all be proud of Spirit and opportunity. Their life lasted 866% more than planned and proved in definite that mars indeed had water around 2-3 billion years ago.

No offense; but applauding a crappy program for succeeding far beyond its intents is a bit backwards.

The scientists and engineers and others who helped this to happen are fantastic and hard working.

The Government is stupid for making people put super-tech legos on Mars rather than people.

You're applauding the de-evolution of the space program.

Originally posted by Stratrf_Rus
The Government is stupid for making people put super-tech legos on Mars rather than people.

You're applauding the de-evolution of the space program.

Umm. I don't follow. How is this a de-evolution of the space program? Now i'm all for manned space flight and going to the Moon and Mars. But we just can't go there right now. It would just cost too much money. It would be better to go there with probes and rovers which are a lot more affordable. This way we can learn all we can before setting foot on the surface. Don't you think that would be wise?

Originally posted by Stratrf_Rus
You're applauding the de-evolution of the space program.

While I would love to see humans on Mars, I have to say your comments are a bit askew. If anything, NASA is just "testing the waters" before going there. It's kind of like looking accross the street before crossing.

let see a program that was originally slated for a 6 month mission has extended to 2 years. And the rovers are still gathering data.

If we sent humans instead, they would have never had the option to stay 4 times of exploration, since they would ahve ran out of consumable resources by then

because of the lack of government funding, Nasa has resorted to unmanned exploration to promote and fund its Manned space program... hardly called it a de-evolution