Blogs \/ Bad Astronomy
\n\u00ab A marvelous night for a Moon (and Mars) dance
\nLast Shuttle night launch on February 7 \u00bb
\nGive space a chance
\nsubmit to reddit . .<\/p>\n
For criminy\u2019s sake. What is it with people and all the rending of garments over the impending doom of NASA?<\/p>\n
First:<\/p>\n
1) The reports of Spirit\u2019s death are greatly exaggerated.<\/p>\n
spiritOK, yes, Spirit is now stuck. It looks like even if it survives the Martian winter it may no longer be able to traverse the Red Planet\u2019s landscape. But that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s dead. Instead of a rover, it\u2019s now a stationary platform capable of doing a lot of science on the cheap (since most of the cost was getting it there).<\/p>\n
If you\u2019d rather not have a lander sitting on the surface of Mars doing science that we simply cannot do from millions of kilometers away on Earth, then fine. But astronomers and scientists and science journalists should know better. Stop saying it\u2019s dead.<\/p>\n
[[[MORE]]]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Blogs \/ Bad Astronomy \u00ab A marvelous night for a Moon (and Mars) dance Last Shuttle night launch on February 7 \u00bb Give space a chance submit to reddit . . For criminy\u2019s sake. What is it with people and … Continue reading