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May 15, 2005
Opportunity Still Stuck in Sand Dune
Opportunity appears to be going nowhere fast. He's buried up to all six hubs in fine martian dust.
This is, of course, assuming that NASA isn't still lying about the missions. Recall that they initially warned that after 90 days, the rovers would grind to a halt due to a buildup of martian dust. But now that they've been roaming around up there for a year and half now, it turns out that this was all just a big lie. They were sandbagging so that, if they broke after 90 days, they'd call it a success. Whereas, they knew all along that the little Martian robots would, in all probability, last for a full earth year, and possibly much longer.
After their initial 3 month mission, their mission was extended two times for for an additional 11 months. After those 14 months passed, their mission was extended again, this time through September of 2006. This is sandbagging on an almost unimaginable scale, and makes me wonder what other issues they're sandbagging on? Hubble's life expectancy? The Deep Impact camera problems? Project co$t$?
So, is the rover really stuck? I have no idea. I know NASA has lied to us before. How's the saying go? "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me", right?
Posted by Peenie Wallie on May 15, 2005 at 7:00 PM
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