

NASA loses contact with Spirit - geuis
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36126734/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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rauljara
Rationally, I should be very happy that Spirit made it as long as it did, and
say, what a fine piece of engineering. But ever since <http://xkcd.com/695/>
every time I think of Spirit, I get very sad.

~~~
mattyfo
Totally amazing, something designed to work for three-months is (possibly)
still working after six years. Now if only my iPod was just as reliable.

~~~
CWuestefeld
I know this kind of engineering costs serious money, but I find it remarkable
the amount of self-monitoring it can do, how much it can be reconfigured
through a lousy and intermittent signal, and how deep is its ability to low-
level reboot from errors.

If only all of my systems could do that...

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btipling
One day we're going to go back and rescue it and put it in the Smithsonian.

~~~
jgrahamc
I hope that one day we go there and build a Smithsonian around it and just
leave it in place. Put a little perspex dome over it and make it a central
attraction.

~~~
CamperBob
If we don't, _we're_ the ones who belong in a museum.

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joblessjunkie
The HN headline makes this sound like a permanent failure. Reading the article
reveals a much less dire situation (a power-saving hibernation has begun).

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aw3c2
Goodbye, dear Mars Rovers: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXPoIDuFqao>

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garply
I find this far more interesting than the Topeka Google thing and yet this
only has 14 points to Google's 56 in the same amount of time.

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JoelMcCracken
I read this as "NASA loses contract with Sprint"

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covercash
With the intermittent communications they have with Spirit, I fully expected
them to be on AT&T.

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pohl
The article appears to have vanished. I get redirected to the front page.
MSNBC links always seem to do this to me.

~~~
tialys
It seems that MSNBC has some sort of redirect in place for sites that refer a
lot of people. I clicked on the link on their main page and got the exact link
posted here, but was able to read it.

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adrianwaj
The friggin' Jawas have made it to Mars and picked it up.
<http://bit.ly/cERGcp>

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SapphireSun
It's not an April 1st joke is it? This is really sad :-(

~~~
aero142
I think the rover itself is making an April fools joke. I fully expect it to
reconnect tomorrow and say "Gotcha".

