It's not about 12:30 AM on Sun morning, about 30 minutes after the Oportunity Mars Rover successfully touched down on the surface of Mars. After missing the party during the last landing of Spirit, I decided to have a MER party and watch it on NASA TV (on my kewl satallite dish) with some friends. With all the hype and press coverage, I decided that this was something that I should not miss.
I must admit, it was truely worth staying up late to watch! There was a bit of apprehension while watching, but I'm sure it was not as high as it would have been if I watched Spirit land. I think that is partially due to the fact that Spirit was a success and these are identical rovers, so everything should also be good with this one. Well, so far, so good. The MER landed successfully and was well within all limits that they planned for during the design phase. The only "hitch" to this point, is that the rover landed +Y pedal down, where Spirit landed base pedal down. All that means is that it will take a little longer to flip the rover over and open all the instruments and solar panels up charge up the rover.
I find all this stuff very intreaguing and fascinating. It's been a while since I've shown an interest in the space program. I guess I just had other things on my mind, but the recent missions to Mars have rekindled my interest. And these successful landings have only help with the credibility of NASA and the space program after the tragedies of late.
Posted by doug at January 25, 2004 12:36 AMYay, thanks for having a Mars party! It was much more fun to watch it on TV! :)
Posted by: stacey at January 25, 2004 12:41 AM