Posts Tagged “Mars Rover”
This Just in: Mars Rovers Will Not Be Shut Down
NASA has announced that the Mars rover Spirit will not be shut down. This is a great relief to us, and to all of the io9ers who cried out in pain when NASA suggested it would have to kill Spirit in order to make a $4 million budget cut requested by the US government. [AP via Yahoo! News]
mars rover
The brave, unflagging Mars rover Spirit, who has lived on the Red Planet for almost four years, has been given a death sentence by the U.S. government. Right now, the little robot is resting on a sunny slope, waiting out the winter and preparing to do more tests on the Martian atmosphere. But now it looks like Spirit has rolled on its six wheels and done science experiments for the very last time. The U.S. government has forced NASA, this country's national space agency, to cut its budget by 4 million dollars. And that means only one rover, Opportunity, will survive. To say that this is a tragedy is an understatement.
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Spirit, the Mars Rover, Left to Die Before Its Time
science porn
NASA tests the next generation of space parachute inside the world's largest wind tunnel, built to hold a Boeing 737. The 165-foot-long parachute opens to a diameter of nearly 55 feet, holds more air than a 3,000 square foot house, and can survive loads of over 80,000 pounds. NASA hopes to launch its new Mars Science Lab in 2009, which will put the next generation of rover on the surface of Mars in 2010. Click through for a couple of images of the new rover in progress.
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