My friend is gone...

[JoitheArtist]

Ok, yes, maybe I'm being a little overdramatic, but dammit, I loved that machine!

It was announced today that the last command will be sent to the Mars rover Spirit tonight, and barring any response (HIGHLY unlikely at this point), they will stop listening for a response on May 31.

Basic story: Rover was toodling around Mars, being all awesome, got stuck in a hidden dust trap. They tried to drive it out, it got stuck worse. They tried to turn it so the solar panels could at least get enough energy to keep its heaters running through the winter, no dice. They kept "listening" for it, no response. What probably happened is that the electronics broke from the cold of Martian winter, and Spirit "died" sometime in 2010.

Yes, it's a machine. It's a machine I never touched or set eyes on. But I loved that machine, and it's dead, and I'm sad about it.

So of course, I made a tribute video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AkBUmPrQXY

[teh_blumchenkinder]

Many, many hours went into this machine, years, even, all tallied.
This machine had many people working on it, and it had meaning for all of them-- and people like you.
It was complex enough to have its' own charisma and charm; it went to a place few, if any, had been to-- and lasted far longer than any expected as a pioneer in a land that had no one else in it.
All this, of course, has a dimension, a depth, that I would have to work a great deal while longer to capture-- but suffice to say, "this was an investment," in true senses of the term.
I can see why you're sad.

[Racket_Man]

plus the fact that the two rovers were ONLY supposed to last like 90 days but kept going for what like 5 or 7 YEARS?????

[fma_fanatic]

Somehow, that makes me think of this.

[Stormraven]

Then there's this XKCD comic.

[Sheldonrs]

Must have been men controlling the rover. A woman would have gotten directions first after getting lost. :-)

[MoonCat]

Must have been men controlling the rover. A woman would have gotten directions first after getting lost. :-)

I would have asked directions before getting lost.

[AccountingDrone]

Maybe if we ever get to Mars they will find him and make a nice little memorial for him ...

[JoitheArtist]

Maybe if we ever get to Mars they will find him and make a nice little memorial for him ...

Her. Spirit and Oppy are girls. And yes, we will build a memorial. If not in my lifetime, I will come back as a ghost and haunt them until they do!