Quote:
Originally Posted by classicman
No matter how one looks at this, it was and continues to be a HUGE success.
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Which is exactly what my post said. More important - best science is not from a political agenda - Man to Mars.
Same questions will be asked soon about Ares 1 - a Saturn V on steroids that might need be canceled. A rocket that does what the French and Russians are already doing - for less money.
Due to political agendas and White House lawyers rewriting science, America will soon have no vehicles to get to the ISS. A political agenda almost cost us Hubble. Destroyed at least eight major space science experiments that we will not profit from years from now. The death of Spirit demonstrates why success best occurs when science is not rewritten by White House lawyers. And why such successes will be less than what could have happened. Why the best science comes from robots and unmanned vehicles.
The death of Spirit (like the death of George Washington) is a tribute to what does work - and why. After six years, Spirit is in a death watch. Opportunity continues. We need more science from such superior solutions – some that were canceled or delayed by decisions in the 2000s. Fundamental to many upcoming question about to be asked because after six years, Spirit may die.
BTW, how much power does all that productive work? At one point, Spirit ran all sol on energy consumed in 50 minutes by one 100 watt light bulb. Both Spirit and Opportunity operate all sol on maybe 12 watts of electricity. Survival on Mars is that difficult.