Good Night Oppy -- Documentary Tribute to Our Mars Rover Program

[ancianita]

It lasted 15 years -- well done!

[CrispyQ]

1. We watched this the other night.

I had no idea they were only planning for a 90 day mission. Talk about beating your expectations!

[lapfog_1]

2. I got to drive the prototype

we had a "Mars pit" built at NASA when I was there, a simulated Mars dune surface.

They had the prototype of the twins there in the pit... and our networking team did the simulated command delay setup so operators could get the feel of telling the robot to do X with the appropriate delay time (depending on where earth and Mars are in their orbits). Very cool. One of my best memories (other than Shuttle landings and launches) of my time at NASA.

[Bayard]

3. VERY impressive!

You sound like someone on the genius level.

[lapfog_1]

4. not everyone that works for NASA is a genius...

but I did meet a *lot* of people there that probably qualify...

[ancianita]

5. Thank you for sharing your NASA memory! I love NASA, DARPA, and NOAA. I love engineers!

They are the badass best of humanity.

[CousinIT]

6. Just watched this last night. Amazing!

Understandable how they formed emotional attachments to their robotic 'kids'.

[SeattleVet]

7. Saw it a few days before the theatrical release.

Special presentation at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, with a talk and Q&A by the lead scientist.

This was the closest I will ever come to actually being on Mars.

Great film - just go see it! They've made a film with real heart. I especially liked the way they dealt with the people involved, especially a young schoolgirl that attended the launch, got excited about it all, and went on to work on the project for several years.

The science was very well presented, and you got an insider's look at how they worked on and solved the various problems that cropped up during the extended lifetime of this little rover.