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=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: Venerable Bede on January 22, 2004, 02:00:00 pm
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NASA Team Loses Contact with Mars Rover
24 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!
PASADENA (Reuters) - NASA (news - web sites) scientists said on Thursday that they had lost contact with the robot rover Spirit on Mars and were unsure what had caused the problem.
Spirit project manager Pete Theisinger told a news briefing that there was a "very serious anomaly" in communications with the six-wheeled craft, which landed on Mars on Jan. 3 on a planned three month mission to explore the geologic history of the planet.
Theisinger said scientists had been unable to communicate with Spirit for about 24 hours, adding that scientists had so far been unable to explain the source of the problem.
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It probably broke down...it is American made after all.
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Originally posted by mankie:
It probably broke down...it is American made after all.
the beagle 2 sure was a smashing success. . .
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Maybe we should spend a couple billion dollars to send Mr Goodwrench out to fix it. I can't beleive we're all paying to send a person to a fucking desert.
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Originally posted by Mongo:
Maybe we should spend a couple billion dollars to send Mr Goodwrench out to fix it. I can't beleive we're all paying to send a person to a fucking desert.
Wouldn't it be easier to just push the onstar button and have roadside assistance come out and tow it back?
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Originally posted by Venerable Bede:
Originally posted by mankie:
It probably broke down...it is American made after all.
the beagle 2 sure was a smashing success. . . [/b]
That crashed...evidently they had an Italian driving it.
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<img src="http://www.gargaro.com/images/MarsLanding.jpg" alt=" - " />
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I bet some scousers nicked the wheels off it.
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Man, for a second, I thought this was about the Martians, the terrible pop-punk band I saw in Ocean City one year. They were like 40 year old men rocking out Green Day-like punk. I'll never forget the lead singer's response when he asked the crowd if they were at OC for Senior Week...
"Yeah....school sucks!"
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I heard that he pulled out all the stops on his shred solo after that statement.
Originally posted by nkotbie:
"Yeah....school sucks!"
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NASA gets 20-minute signal from Mars rover
PASADENA, California (CNN) --After two days having trouble sending transmissions, the Mars rover Spirit sent data Friday morning to its NASA flight team in a communications session lasting 20 minutes, said the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
"The spacecraft sent limited data in a proper response to a ground command, and we're planning for commanding further communication sessions later today," said Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager Pete Theisinger.
The transmissions were detected at a NASA antenna complex near Madrid, Spain, NASA said.
The Spirit rover stopped transmitting data from Mars on Wednesday, but mission controllers remained hopeful, saying there were signs of it operating at a basic level.
Their efforts at restoring communications with Spirit come at a time when they are also focusing on a safe landing for the rover's twin, the Opportunity, set to descend Saturday on the other side of red planet.
Since Wednesday, NASA scientists had received a basic communication tone from the rover indicating it was alive, but the solid flows of data that marked its first 18 days on Mars stopped, said deputy project manager Richard Cook.
The tone is programmed into the spacecraft, to be emitted when there is a serious problem onboard.
"We know that we have had a very serious anomaly on the vehicle," said Pete Theisinger, manager of the $400 million Spirit mission, told reporters Thursday.
"Our ability to determine exactly what has happened has been limited by our inability to receive telemetry from the vehicle."
To find out what went wrong, scientists need additional data.
The team was pursuing several scenarios, such as a possible software crash or a problem with the solar power supply, sources said.
The problem initially was blamed on rain in Canberra, Australia, where NASA operates a major radio dish that receives radio messages from space.
But several opportunities to communicate with Spirit since then came and went with the space agency receiving no solid data, said Cook, who managed the ill-fated Mars Polar Lander, which presumably crashed into Mars in 1999.
Mars project engineers sent a query to the rover Wednesday afternoon, and it did respond. But the craft was silent when the Mars Odyssey, a satellite in Mars orbit, passed over the six-wheeled robot, Cook said.
Later, when another red planet satellite, the Mars Global Surveyor, passed over the rover, NASA received radio communication but no data. Several opportunities came and went Thursday with no communication. But later the basic communication tone was received.
Previously, the rover's performance had been virtually flawless. Scientists were reviewing the early data to see if they might have missed some predictor of trouble.
CNN's Jeordan Legon, Miles O'Brien, and David Santucci contributed to this report.
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I thought about this last night and realized that you're asking for trouble naming your vehicle "Rover" aren't you? I mean...what were they thinking?
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This merely verifies Bush's great leap forward for manned space flight. Robots = Waste of money. Manned space flight = sound investment for future.
Perhaps Karl Rove was behind the switch off?
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Originally posted by mankie:
I thought about this last night and realized that you're asking for trouble naming your vehicle "Rover" aren't you? I mean...what were they thinking?
Funny you mention that. A couple days ago there was a Land Rover in our parking lot that burst into flames. One less SUV on the road, fine with me.
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<img src="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dave88/images/snoopy.jpg" alt=" - " />
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I hope they've got PC Anywhere installed on that thing.
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Snoopy is a force to reckon with. His skirmishes with the Red Baron should be studied by all fighter pilots.
Originally posted by Dupek Chopra:
<img src="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dave88/images/snoopy.jpg" alt=" - " />
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Isn't Snoopy a doodle?
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I say there's mud caked in that thing and screwing up the circutry.
On a lighter note, maybe NASA went with the cheapest bidder and the rover rolled into a bad cell. What does ET use when he needs to phone home?
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Originally posted by mankie:
Isn't Snoopy a doodle?
A beagle
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Originally posted by Dupek Chopra:
Originally posted by mankie:
Isn't Snoopy a doodle?
A beagle [/b]
That's right. Haven't you noticed that he barks with a British accent?
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Originally posted by Jaguär:
Originally posted by Dupek Chopra:
Originally posted by mankie:
Isn't Snoopy a doodle?
A beagle [/b]
That's right. Haven't you noticed that he barks with a British accent? [/b]
Snoopy's not a doodle. Snoopy's a cartoon character drawn by Charles Schultz. The same Charles Schultz who is a combat veteran of America's largest military engagement, the vaunted "Battle of the Bulge". You may thank him for keeping Europe(including Britain) Nazi-free.
Charles Schultz (cartoonist) - US Army. Staff sergeant and leader of machine gun squad. (http://www.whatisthis.com/cgi-bin/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=312)
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Originally posted by Dupek Chopra:
Originally posted by Jaguär:
Originally posted by Dupek Chopra:
Originally posted by mankie:
Isn't Snoopy a doodle?
A beagle [/b]
That's right. Haven't you noticed that he barks with a British accent? [/b]
Snoopy's not a doodle. Snoopy's a cartoon character drawn by Charles Schultz. The same Charles Schultz who is a combat veteran of America's largest military engagement, the vaunted "Battle of the Bulge". You may thank him for keeping Europe(including Britain) Nazi-free.
Charles Schultz (cartoonist) - US Army. Staff sergeant and leader of machine gun squad. (http://www.whatisthis.com/cgi-bin/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=312) [/b]
Shame you couldn't keep Pearl Habor Jap Free....which is the ONLY reason you all got involved in the war by the way, before then it was a case of "Eff you Europe, you're on your own" so don't give me that great liberator bullshit...we could've done it without you, and probably much more efficently too.
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Originally posted by mankie:
Shame you couldn't keep Pearl Habor Jap Free....
Ah...sweet freedom (http://www.guardian.co.uk/freedom/Story/0,2763,1126891,00.html).
When will you taste it?
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Originally posted by Dupek Chopra:
Originally posted by mankie:
Shame you couldn't keep Pearl Habor Jap Free....
Ah...sweet freedom (http://www.guardian.co.uk/freedom/Story/0,2763,1126891,00.html).
When will you taste it? [/b]
Oh, in about 15 months time when I finally get to move away from Big Brother Ashcroft...when that day arrives it will be "double plus good"
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Ashcroft (http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1425046/19971003/story.jhtml) speaks of a British invasion..?
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Originally posted by mankie:
Shame you couldn't keep Pearl Habor Jap Free....which is the ONLY reason you all got involved in the war by the way, before then it was a case of "Eff you Europe, you're on your own" so don't give me that great liberator bullshit...we could've done it without you, and probably much more efficently too. [/b][/QUOTE]
ahhh, the fabulous lend-lease program didn't help at all, eh?
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This is why I question whether or not you like living in Aspen Hill.
Originally posted by mankie:
Oh, in about 15 months time when I finally get to move away from Big Brother Ashcroft...when that day arrives it will be "double plus good"
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Originally posted by thirsty moore:
This is why I question whether or not you like living in Aspen Hill.
Originally posted by mankie:
Oh, in about 15 months time when I finally get to move away from Big Brother Ashcroft...when that day arrives it will be "double plus good"
[/b]
Thirsty, you are beginning to sound like a cross between Rhett and Dupek.
I don't really like living in the US....not because it's a bad place or anything, just because I come from a very different culture (yes it is) and I'm tired of feeling foriegn and reminded I'm a foriegner daily for the last 17 years. Being a foriegner while on vacation is nice and interesting, but to live it day in and day out wears on you. I do have some real problems with America, and from what I've witnessed they're the same problems that many Americans have with the place....However, I made a choice for personal reasons to stay here until the time is right to leave, so I have to have a place to live and I like the Aspen Hill/Wheaton area because it's "real" for want of a better word. Not the ghetto and not too highbrow, friendly people that acknowledge each other on the street, kids playing outside, folk walking their dogs etc. etc. etc.
okay?
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Aw, poor Mankie... <img src="http://pages.prodigy.net/indianahawkeye/newpage10/12.gif" alt=" - " />
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Fair enough.
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Alt country martians have landed and are taking over the record industry :D
Originally posted by mankie:
Thirsty, you are beginning to sound like a cross between Rhett and Dupek.
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Originally posted by Dupek Chopra:
Aw, poor Mankie... :p
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Originally posted by Dupek Chopra:
Aw, poor Mankie... <img src="http://pages.prodigy.net/indianahawkeye/newpage10/12.gif" alt=" - " />
can you find one with a violin? although, the harp is almost more clever because of it being slightly off
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<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~slawler/SpiritHUGE.gif" alt=" - " />