Word: rovers
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...pellets - which NASA nicknamed blueberries - that are rich in hematite, a mineral that forms only in watery environments. And by pure serendipity, in 2007 a balky wheel on Spirit dug a shallow trench in the ground, revealing the presence of white silica, another indicator of water. So far, neither rover has uncovered hard evidence of life, but by no means have they ruled it out either...
Spirit's busted wheel is not the only lame limb on the now aging rovers. Opportunity's robotic arm - which carries many of its exploration tools, including its rock drill - has what amounts to an arthritic elbow. This makes it impossible for the arm to retract fully and requires the rover to toddle along with a sort of perpetual salute. Spirit itself has been reduced to driving backwards, dragging its broken wheel in the soil as it moves along...
Without the unerring measurement provided by atomic clocks, we couldn't have landed a rover on Mars, the Internet wouldn't be able to process data superfast and GPS navigation would be a fantasy. These clocks are so precise that they literally redefined time: Once tied to the mean solar day, the official measure of a second was changed in 1967 to refer to the duration of more than nine billion periods of radiation between two levels of the cesium 133 atom...
...Ford's owners have always had a difficult relationship with the hired help. Henry Ford II fired everybody, says Noel Tichy, a professor at the University of Michigan's business school - including Lee Iacocca. Jacques Nasser, named CEO in 1999 to reinvent Ford, bought Volvo and Land Rover to create a luxury portfolio; he saw Ford as more than an auto company and tried to overhaul the culture. He was ousted in 2001 by Bill Ford Jr. - great-grandson of Henry - who took back the wheel for a couple of years...
...What's Next The irony about being called on the carpet in Washington is that Detroit actually has a fairly clear idea of where it's going. Ford, for instance, under the leadership of Alan Mulally, has rationalized the company, dumping Jaguar, Aston Martin, Land Rover and some of its stake in Mazda. Volvo may be next. "We have streamlined all of the brands to focus on Ford," he says. Ford wants to be able to create small- and medium-size cars around the world from a single global blueprint. The initial product of the One Ford strategy...