It’s that same hyperactive agency detector. InSight has sent back her first selfie. Did anyone happen to mention to her what happened to the last robots we sent to Mars? We work ’em for years, and they don’t get to come back home.
She’s going to be staring at that same landscape for a loooong time.
At least they haven’t turned her out for prostitution. [sun] I’m not saying there’s anything bad about sex work, but InSight got some pretty good frequent flier miles… (Unfortunately, cannot cash them in)
Careful PZ, a lot of the Mars scientists think of the probes we send as ‘going home’ when they go to Mars. (Anthropomorphization, influenced by weight concerns that mean some parts of the probes (like arms) don’t work well on Earth gravity if only building for Mars gravity + margin of error saves weight.)
So you’re saying I’m not anthropomorphizing enough?
The saddest XKCD ever is about this: Spirit.
They are home.
“Nooo! Don’t make me go back to that horrible cesspool I finally escaped!! Just send me some friends.”
At least the others could move. Insight gets to stare at that same landscape until it dies.
I’m sure that Elvis will keep her company.
InSight has passed its “next” big hurdle: the solar panels are deployed. It’s made the journey, got on the ground, and now it has juice.
Ed Seedhouse @ #6 — “Just send me some friends.” Wonder how it feels by Elon Musk?
Oh yeah? When that penetrator thingy pokes a hole and lets the air out Mars will deflate and fly all around the solar system.
In 40 years she will have graffiti all over her, in 60 years get a fence around her to stop her being further vandalised and in 80 years she’ll be an exhibit at the Beijing museum of quaint colonial artifacts.
robro@9–
My prediction: probes will only have to share Mars with Musk for a maximum of 6 months.
@7 drksky
As far as I read it, it’s staring down, at different depths, using ‘eyes’ we don’t have. Enough to see there.
Don’t anthropomorphize robots. They hate that.
kaleberg: “…It makes them soggy and hard to light.”
@10 zoniedude:
Velikovsky revisited?