Waspie_Dwarf Posted February 3, 2015 #1 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Aging Mars rover could be shut down NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, working well past their expected lifetimes, could be shut down in fiscal year 2016 as the agency tries to balance funding for older missions and development of modernized new space probes, officials said Monday.Facing bouts of trouble with its flash memory drive, the six-wheeled Opportunity rover marked 11 years on Mars on Jan. 24. The mission was designed to last three months. The spending proposal released by the Obama administration Monday requests no money for the Opportunity rover in fiscal year 2016, which begins Sept. 30. Read more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted February 3, 2015 Author #2 Share Posted February 3, 2015 I have mixed feelings about this. There is part of me that feels real annoyance ever time a usable space probe is shut down to please the bean counters. However the realist in me accepts that there is not an infinite budget for space exploration and that to get the new, exciting missions of the future sometimes we have to sacrifice the old missions of yesterday. Then there is a part of me that is a romantic at heart, that thinks it would be fitting for Opportunity to end it's mission undefeated by the harsh Martian conditions, that there is a kind of nobility in a mission's life been ended so that another may rise. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickian Posted February 4, 2015 #3 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Hasn't it already far exceeded it's expected lifespan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted February 4, 2015 Author #4 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Hasn't it already far exceeded it's expected lifespan? From the second paragraph in the quoted text: the six-wheeled Opportunity rover marked 11 years on Mars on Jan. 24. The mission was designed to last three months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter B Posted February 4, 2015 #5 Share Posted February 4, 2015 I have mixed feelings about this. There is part of me that feels real annoyance ever time a usable space probe is shut down to please the bean counters. However the realist in me accepts that there is not an infinite budget for space exploration and that to get the new, exciting missions of the future sometimes we have to sacrifice the old missions of yesterday. Then there is a part of me that is a romantic at heart, that thinks it would be fitting for Opportunity to end it's mission undefeated by the harsh Martian conditions, that there is a kind of nobility in a mission's life been ended so that another may rise. I tend to have the same thoughts - at some point the cost doesn't justify the benefit. The problem is determining where that point is. I'm reminded of the BBC series "The Planets", specifically the "Moon" episode. One of the storylines covered one of the Lunakhod rovers. The man being interviewed said that it had been determined the rover was about to fail, so he suggested that they "go out with music" - that is, do something risky like driving up the side of a hill, seeing as they had little to lose. He was disappointed that the mission planners decided against that, adding sadly, "So we died without music." Perhaps in the same light the people running Opportunity might like to take a few more risks about where they send it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrimsonKing Posted February 4, 2015 #6 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Hard to believe its been 11 years! We certainly got our money's worth out of it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickian Posted February 4, 2015 #7 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Hard to believe its been 11 years! We certainly got our money's worth out of it... I know right? I remember watching the news, waiting for it to drop. Didn't it use some kind of inflatable ball-bounce method to impact the ground? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toast Posted February 4, 2015 #8 Share Posted February 4, 2015 I have mixed feelings about this. There is part of me that feels real annoyance ever time a usable space probe is shut down to please the bean counters. However the realist in me accepts that there is not an infinite budget for space exploration and that to get the new, exciting missions of the future sometimes we have to sacrifice the old missions of yesterday. Then there is a part of me that is a romantic at heart, that thinks it would be fitting for Opportunity to end it's mission undefeated by the harsh Martian conditions, that there is a kind of nobility in a mission's life been ended so that another may rise. Well said and my opinion also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merc14 Posted February 4, 2015 #9 Share Posted February 4, 2015 (edited) Considering the amount of money it costs to get a mission onto the planet Mars, or even just into orbit, I can't agree with cutting funding for equipment that is still operational. Just look at the missions that failed to survive the trip http://en.wikipedia....objects_on_Mars and think how fortunate it is just to have your platform go operational at/on Mars in the first place. If it is still running and doing science, fund it. $12M/year to keep Opportunity running is a very small amount of money for the real science the rover is doing and the cost of replacing it would be in the 100s of millions. Same thing for the Mars Odyssey Orbiter that provides communication for other Mars related programs as well as doing its own science and no one can say "We aren't going to planet XYZ because Opportunity took funding away." with a straight face and be taken seriously. Find the money NASA and run that rover till it dies of old age. Edited February 4, 2015 by Merc14 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toast Posted February 4, 2015 #10 Share Posted February 4, 2015 (edited) Lousy 12M. The Lotto Eurojackpot is at 33M EUR now and I will manage these lousy 12M for 2 years when I will win. Promised. Edited February 4, 2015 by toast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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