Strange comment by NASA.....

Asked if they robots will still be at work in May, Squyres alluded to his hard-working team, which for much of the early part of the mission worked on Mars time, by joking that "the rovers have a better chance of being alive then than we do."

www.cnn.com...

This is an article about the odd rocks and minerals they have discovered on mars the last few days and about the longevity of the rovers with the expected mission life of just 90 days. Now we are approaching the 1 year anniversary of the rover landings. But such a strange comment at the end of the article by a NASA / Mars Rover team member.

'the rovers have a better chance of being alive then we do' this was a response to the question of if the rovers will be operating in May. Again what does May have to do with anything ???? There is nothing in the article about what is supposed to happen in May and why is that month significant ????


I just find it really odd that this NASA guy would say something like that

That is a rather odd thing to say.... I shall begin a Google Quest to find out more....


EDIT: My initial questings say that May 2005 is the re-launch date for the Shuttle.... Doubt they would spend so much time and money on getting the Shuttle airborne if something was going to happen.....unless they need the Shuttle for some reason...

[edit on 14/12/04 by stumason]

Woohoo!!! All-out nuclear war with the select few surviving in bunkers, aircraft and quick Space Shuttle launches!
Or maybe he was just stating how much he believes in his teams and technical engineers?

I don't find that an odd thing to say at all! I took it to mean that they have a better chance of surviving on mars than we do...what'd I miss? I don't get it.

I'm going to have to agree with ChrisRT on that he has a lot of belief in the engineers. There's a lot that can go wrong with an unmanned probe or rover and EVEN MORE that can go wrong with a human expidition.

Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid
I'm going to have to agree with ChrisRT on that he has a lot of belief in the engineers. There's a lot that can go wrong with an unmanned probe or rover and EVEN MORE that can go wrong with a human expidition.

Oh, I thought he/they where talking about human life here on Earth... Not on Mars. It would still work the same for both I belive.

He was talking about human life here on earth. To me it sounds like he is saying that the odds that the rovers will be functioning on Mars in May is better then US being alive here in May.

My impression was that it wasan offhand comment meaning they were so exhausted from all the work on the rover they might be dead before may. aka a jk.

Hey wow, clouds on mars, im really really beginning to wonder how much like earth mars really is, and weather nasa/gov really are hiding something, realeasing a little hint here a little hint there so whatever the truth its not such a big shock later? not leaping to the fantastic mind you, i dont think theres any sizable life on mars, but it could be far less harsh and barren in places than we think. very intresting link.

Wait guys...


I think it's pretty clear that he was talking about the stress his people have been under. He was not hinting that the world was going to end. He was saying that his people were exhausted. Note how the article emphasized the fact that they were working on martian time for most of the mission... if you had your sleep cycles thrown off for several months like that, you'd get exhausted (and probably depressed because you wouldn't be able to see your family).

actually you would get accustomed to it, remember Martian cycles are like 20 hours, so they take shifts I think 10 on, 10 off, 10 on, 10 off. If you stay indoors and have no bearing of the Sun up or Sun down then its quite easy to adjust to whatever schedule.

If you have ever been to Vegas and stayed up all night gambling etc for a few days you will discover that the "time" is really no longer important. You go to sleep at 9am get up at 3 or 4 in the afternoon, take a cat nap at 6 and then stay out until 6,7,8 the next morning. When your brain cannot desern the status of light and darkness you will stay focused as long as you have energy sustaining you, drinks, keeps the bodies metabolic rate at a steady pace and the noise of the machines (slot machines bells, ringers etc) keeps the neurons firing in your brain.

Just think if a casino was totally quiet except people yelling or the sound of clicking buttons. You would get tired really fast and start to drift off, then if someone yelled (hardly because most people do not want to embarass themselves, another thing the background noise helps to conceal) you would suddenly be shocked away only to drift back and realize you should go to bed, ending your money flying out of your pockets and onto the tables.

A casino is a psychological attack on your senses. But just like the dealers at the tables you can get aclimated to it. So I am sure has the Mars Rover team.

just find it really odd that this NASA guy would say something like that

What's so odd about it? I'm sure he too saw the election results...

yes I do agree that he probably was commenting about the sad state of affairs we have at the moment. But I just thought that it was quite odd that they would print it as an ending quote. It just leaves so many questions to ponder and thus the start of a new conspiracy. Or maybe he and NASA really do know something that they are witholding.....

Originally posted by robertfenix
He was talking about human life here on earth. To me it sounds like he is saying that the odds that the rovers will be functioning on Mars in May is better then US being alive here in May.

The quote is at the end, and is easy to be taken in any context. Being though that the main context of the article is Mars I would have to say that his statement is related to human life on Mars.

maybe aliens are planning to arrive and they know it but he is a bit sceptical about there intensions.

I agree with LADYV

He was talking about humans on Mars, because it would be very hard to keep humans on Mars for over a year.

You damn conspiracy people, the earth wont end in May.

Originally posted by Murcielago
I agree with LADYV

He was talking about humans on Mars, because it would be very hard to keep humans on Mars for over a year.

You damn conspiracy people, the earth wont end in May.

I dont think the earth would end in may either, however, i am fairly confident that he was jokingly reffering to humans on earth, not on mars.

Asked if they robots will still be at work in May, Squyres alluded to his hard-working team, which for much of the early part of the mission worked on Mars time, by joking that "the rovers have a better chance of being alive THEN than we do."

Notice the then was reffering to May. There are no plans to have humans on mars by May, so it really makes no sense for him to be reffering to humans on Mars when he was making the comment, but rather humans on Earth.

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It could be the FBI, CIA, and Miltary have the next 'terrorist' attack scheduled.

Possibly at least one nuke on a city.

Then Bush can declare marshall law and be ready to become dictator for life.

That will save a lot of time and money having to rig phony elections and evade the 22nd Amendment.
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Originally posted by slank
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It could be the FBI, CIA, and Miltary have the next 'terrorist' attack scheduled.

Possibly at least one nuke on a city.

Then Bush can declare marshall law and be ready to become dictator for life.

That will save a lot of time and money having to rig phony elections and evade the 22nd Amendment.
.

But then most people would still be alive, and the specific thing that made the comment odd was how the person said the mars rover has a better chance of being alive during May then they did.

quote:
Asked if they robots will still be at work in May, Squyres alluded to his hard-working team, which for much of the early part of the mission worked on Mars time, by joking that "the rovers have a better chance of being alive THEN than we do."


Notice the then was reffering to May. There are no plans to have humans on mars by May, so it really makes no sense for him to be reffering to humans on Mars when he was making the comment, but rather humans on Earth.

That makes me think that they are just tired, like: If you work a 12 hour day at the end of the day you feel dead.
I know humans wont be on Mars in May, I was referring to someday, when we do go to Mars around 2030 humans wont stay on the surface for that long because of health reasons, while these rovers can because they dont need food and water and oxygen.

No terrorist attack will happen in may.

Man relax, hes talking about the people working on this project, its tongue in cheek. Some of those guys have been working on this every day for the last year, often with long shifts. I'd say there are some bloody tired people wandering around at JPL.