Rescuing A Rover On Mars 7/23 ( starting in 3 minutes)

[jakeXT]

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasajpl

July 23, beginning at 3 p.m. PDT (6 p.m. EDT and 2200 UTC).

Don't know if it's good, I thought I post it here.

[wryter2000]

1. I didn't get anything

Is one rover trying to save another?

[Greyskye]

2. chat is working...

...and the show just started.

[Greyskye]

3. wow, Spirit is really stuck!

Bogged down to the axels.

[Greyskye]

5. Aww. They need to do more Earth based tests - they aren't trying to get Spirit out today.

[A HERETIC I AM]

4. This reminds me of one of my favorite "Onion" articles ever: "Mars Rover beginning to hate Mars"

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/54360

"Spirit has been displaying some anomalous behavior," said Project Manager John Callas, who noted the rover's unsuccessful attempts to flip itself over and otherwise damage its scientific instruments. "And the thousand or so daily messages of 'STILL NO WATER' really point to a crisis of purpose." (snip)

Project organizers said the most distressing instance of erratic behavior occurred last week, when images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter revealed that Spirit had scrawled the message 'FUCK MARS' in the thick, iron oxide dust that gives the planet its characteristic red color. (snip)

"Hopefully these malfunctions will straighten themselves out," Callas said. "In the meantime, we'll simply have to try to glean what usable data we can from 'OVERPRICED SPACE-ROOMBA AWAITING MORE BULLSHIT ORDERS.'"

:rofl: That article makes me laugh every time I read it.

[jakeXT]

8. Despite bugs, I guess no programmer had the balls to include some easter eggs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg_(media)

[drm604]

6. Interesting stuff.

It's available now as a recording and I just finished watching the two parts. Damn, I wish I had gotten a PHD in robotics. I would love being a rover driver, or being a member of that team in any capacity. I did get to write some code for a NASA satellite ground station back in the eighties, which was cool, but not near as cool as working to get a rover unstuck.

[jakeXT]

7. Good, I can watch the beginning of part 2, because I lost a couple of minutes when the feed dropped