Mars Rover Spirit does not want to go to sleep after being told twice ...

[frogfromthenorth2]

10H30 Eastern

Despite two commands from engineers on Earth to enter sleep mode to conserve power, Spirit remained awake all day Friday, Mission Control reported late tonight.

"Shortly before (3 p.m. EST), controllers were surprised to receive a relay of data from Spirit via the Mars Odyssey orbiter. Spirit sent 73 megabits at a rate of 128 kilobits per second. The transmission included power subsystem engineering data, no science data, and several frames of 'fill data.' Fill data are sets of intentionally random numbers that do not provide information," NASA officials said.

"Spirit had not communicated successfully through Odyssey since the rover's communications difficulties began on Wednesday."

oops forgot the link:

http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/status.html

[mjjoe]

1. Cheney has the same problem with Dubya

"Uncle Dick has important work to do in the Oval Office George. Now go take your nap."

"Noooo! I don't wanna!"

[frogfromthenorth2]

2. lol

[shooga]

5. not until ..

Not until I have my . .



. . Jack Daniels and Warm Milk !!

[PartyPooper]

3. Maybe Spirit discovered a secret Starbucks on Mars!

All of those caffeine-laden lattes will get to ya' dontcha' know!

:D

[TexasProgressive]

4. Mars Attacks

Hmmm. NASA can't make the rover go to sleep - it's sending intentionally random numbers of "fill data" - no one at NASA seems to know what's wrong or why. They've lost control.

I remember reading "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury when I was a kid. I hung on every word.

There is life on Mars. I hope he's gay.

[shooga]

6. I just hope he's not ...

.... RePukeian

[Zero Gravitas]

7. good news?

previously the rover appeared to be in a fault mode which meant that it would not communicate during Odyssey or MGS overflights. When it did communicate it was in direct to earth mode at low bit rates. Communication through an orbiter @ 128lbs indicates normal operation!

They said earlier that the rover had re-booted over 60 times since the problem first occurred. Its possible that it finally managed to re-boot into a stable state.

[leftofthedial]

8. sounds like my 10 year old.

I've been a space exploration fan since I first saw Alan Sheppard on a tiny little black and white TV, but NASA is a giant waste right now.

The one thing they finally got working they plan to kill. Everything else is a clusterfuck.

[MattNC]

9. but i thought

government workers were lazy

[AndyTiedye]

10. Maybe We Can Hire Whoever Wins the X-Prize to Fix Hubble

http://www.xprize.org

[bill]

13. the X-prize winner..

is going to be Dick Rutan and Scaled Composites

-bill

[AndyTiedye]

20. Rutan's Craft Looks like a Winner

at least from what we saw at Chabot last week.

[FreeperSlayer]

11. bad spirit bad!

[GabysPoppy]

12. Don't blame Rover

It's those damn telemarketers that keeping waking it up every time Rover puts the covers over itself.

[Buns_of_Fire]

14. They've translated that supposedly random "fill data"

"Mars Needs Women"

[Oilwellian]

15. "Hal, I mean Spirit...

it's time for you to go to sleep now." "But Dave, I'm not sleepy so go screw yourself."

[Gin]

16. great analogy bewtween shrub and dickless...which one is which?

Spirit had not communicated successfully through Odyssey since the rover's communications difficulties began on Wednesday."

[0007]

17. Mars Rover Spirit threw an "Ace Duce" I think!

In other words it crapped out!! But who knows? With highly technical equipment, such as our voting machines, Mars Rover may crank up after the first vote.

[donotpassgo]

18. It's become sentient!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is spirit the next V-ger?

[frogfromthenorth2]

19. UPDATE... They got him to go to bed! More info if you

follow this link:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=329263