Word: rover
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Your illustration of the Mars Sojourner vehicle, "Bargain-Basement Rover" [SPACE, July 14], included a description I got a kick out of. You noted that the vehicle's radio modem "sends signals only at a sluggish 9,600 bits per sec." I was working at the Space Technology Labs in 1957, when we sent our first satellite to the moon. With a 5W transmitter, we were able to receive data at only 1 bit per sec. by the time we got to the moon. The incoming data were so slow that we were decoding them...
...pages are heavy and slick, almost sensuous, like the leaves of some edible exotic plant. And the pictures! They are familiar to him from the thousands of commercials he saw during the N.B.A. finals. The Jeep Cherokee roars up the perilous incline of a desert mountain. Fearlessly the Land Rover grinds its way deep into a rain forest. A Dodge Durango perches at the very lip of the Grand Canyon, staring down upon a world of wusses. These sport-utility vehicles are rugged, invincible, built for the strenuous life...come to think of it, a lot like Husband himself...
...concerns. "We're living on borrowed time," he says. Sojourner has a 100% chance of surviving for seven days, he explains, "because that's what we designed it for. But after that, maybe it's got a 90% chance for eight days or 75% for two weeks." While the rover's electronics are protected in a warm box, the Martian temperatures, swinging wildly from 8[degrees]F to 130[degrees]F, may degrade the batteries. "We'll have to see how well they hold charges," says Wessen. Another threat, both to the lander--which is designed to survive...
...Sojourner awoke, received its instructions and, after one more brief glitch, backed off Yogi, approached again and began eagerly sniffing out the rock's chemistry. Back at J.P.L., the exuberant Pathfinder team was predicting that Sojourner might live for weeks--and even months. Indeed, the little rover just could...
CONVERTING THE RED PLANET INTO GREEN While the most successful Mars-related product has so far proved to be Mattel's Hot Wheels Mars Rover Action Pack (for a mere $5 you get mini versions of Sojourner, Pathfinder and the lander), those who would rather own something more real than realistic may contact Dennis Hope of Rio Vista, Calif. He will sell you 2,000 acres of prime Mars real estate for $19.99 plus shipping and handling and $1.51 for Martian tax. In 1980 Hope informed various Earth governments that he was claiming ownership of all the land...