Rover Spirit Climbing Columbia Hills

Last night I watched 5 Year On Mars, the National Geographic documentary of the two martian rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) built by NASA JPL, which have well exceeded their design parameters of 90 days of operation. After nearly 5 years of major successes and numerous near death experiences, these robots (guided by human operators by remote command loads) have really changed humanity’s understanding of Mars and the Universe. I strongly recommend it for the family. What I like about the program is how it portrays the workers at NASA, the engineering miracle workers that are providing mankind this amazing insight into our sister planet – which is half the size of Earth (see image below).

If folks have any questions leave them in the comment field and I will attempt to answer them as best I can. LJStrata has suggested I start posting more on other subjects than just politics and do more science related posts on stem cells and global warming. I was thinking I could do a series on NASA’s Constellation Program. Since there is nothing happening for the next few months seems like a nice diversion. Until then, grab your family and sit down and watch a tiny fraction of your tax dollars doing amazing things.

Rover Opportunity Investigating Rock Formations Inside A Crater

Tags: 5 Years On Mars, Constellation, NASA, Opportunity, Rovers, Spirit