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Comments on: Phoenix Lander listens to Mars murmurings

Strange..... 

Posted Friday 3rd October 2008 11:40 GMT

Happy

"..It wasn't switched on because it might have endangered the landing..." what?? why?? how??

"..have now got funding to switch the mike on and process its signals..." It wasn't planned for?

"..the mike is a simple cell phone-like mike, not a high-fidelity one.." Done on the cheap?

This may sound whimsical, but I get the feeling that this microphone was added as a last minute 'unofficial upgrade' by a junior engineer who thought it would be a good idea. Only later, after launch, did he tell his senior colleagues - "Hey, guess what, I rigged it up with a microphone! :) "

mic - not mike 

Posted Friday 3rd October 2008 12:36 GMT

Coat

It's a mic (short for microphone - not mikerophone).....unless the mic is named mike, I suppose.

Sounds like 

Posted Friday 3rd October 2008 12:38 GMT

An excuse to put up an "artists impression". A scientists impression might be more realistic, but I'll settle for a martian's impression of GW Bush.

Mars mic 

Posted Friday 3rd October 2008 15:18 GMT

The 'Mars mic' is a public outreach project supplied by the (not-for-profit) Planetary Society.

Full details, including why it wasn't switched on during descent, can be found here:

http://tinyurl.com/4eklq4

Dwarfs 

Posted Friday 3rd October 2008 17:44 GMT

Coat

"If they can pick up sounds like a shovel passing through gritty sand or scraping a rock, then they'll try listening when the Lander's tools are idle."

I'd be happier if they heard the lander singing "heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to work we go" followed by whistling.

Why do NASA not know how to have fun? Sigh

It's Life Jim . . . 

Posted Friday 3rd October 2008 18:55 GMT

Alien

Lets hope the quasi-barnacles don't silence the mission first . . .

be that as it may 

Posted Friday 3rd October 2008 19:07 GMT

Happy

We need playmobil pictures...i want to SEE and HEAR the martians

Not dust 

Posted Saturday 4th October 2008 01:10 GMT

Boffin

Clearly, they have found one of Mars' native life forms. They're attracted to the heat of the lander, especially since the martian winter is coming.

Microphone 

Posted Saturday 4th October 2008 15:19 GMT

Coat

They spent umpteen million (billion?) dollars on this project. They couldn't have splurged an extra $25 for a decent microphone? "Hey guys, I know how we can keep this under budget!"

Just as long as it doesn't hear... 

Posted Saturday 4th October 2008 18:16 GMT

Alert

Ull-la! Ull-la!

Still, the chances of that are a million to one...

@ Dwarfs 

Posted Saturday 4th October 2008 22:21 GMT

Alien

<< Why do NASA not know how to have fun? Sigh >>

I suspect it's because they've learned a hard lesson, one that most public-facing organisations learn sooner or later: a sense of fun is a dangerous thing when you're dealing with the public at large. If I suffer from an abject lack of sense of humour, a significant part of that is down to years spent in a job involving talking to the public.

I don't know if you recall a certain incident in the 1970s, when NASA released a certain photograph with a certain geographical (all right, areographical, if you insist) feature on it that looked a little bit like a face? NASA probably thought, "oh, cool - look: a rock that looks like a face; isn't that groovy?" (I'm paraphrasing - it was the 70s.)

NASA must have learned pretty quickly after that that you have to be enormously careful about what you say and what you suggest. Show a sense of fun, or any kind of emotional investment in what you're doing, and the public will take indignant offence; or they'll mock you for your stupidity (and "it was just a joke" doesn't ring true even when it's true); or they'll misrepresent whatever you said and construct unconvincing yet elaborate conspiracy theories about it, with websites and everything.

Marvin 

Posted Monday 6th October 2008 03:40 GMT

Alien

Where's the Kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth shattering kaboom!

Bliss 

Posted Monday 6th October 2008 08:12 GMT

Thumb Up

"Somebody on the surface 20 feet away from you could be talking and you wouldn't hear a thing, just see their lips moving." Could I relocate the missus there?? It sounds ideal.

Re: Bliss 

Posted Monday 6th October 2008 09:33 GMT

(Written by Reg staff.)

Hey, Chris, the Guild of Seventies Sitcom Writers called for you. They sounded... angry.

Re: Re: Bliss 

Posted Monday 6th October 2008 10:50 GMT

Joke

Sarah - my sponsors (The B. Manning & J. Davidson Preservation Society) take all my enquiries. Please forward any correspondence on to my willing assistants (who are all currently running around the park at high speed in naughty-nurse underwear).

@NT 

Posted Monday 6th October 2008 12:56 GMT

Alien

"NASA must have learned pretty quickly after that you have to be enormously careful about what you say and what you suggest"

Well, the nerds at JPL clearly didn't get that memo:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-details.cfm?imageID=1041

@ Gianni Straniero 

Posted Monday 6th October 2008 17:10 GMT

Thumb Up

<< Well, the nerds at JPL clearly didn't get that memo: >>

Good on them. I like to see people enjoying their work, and I salute their bravery. But I stand by my previous answer.

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