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comment by goobster
goobster  ·  1807 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: NASA's Mars Lander 'Mole' Is Digging Again as Marsquake Mystery Baffles Scientists

Alright. This just got weirder.

This project is NOT American. It's not some dopey narrow-minded NASA geek, who has never been outside of ABQ, designing something definitely unworkable.

It's GERMAN.

Now THAT makes it even MORE complexing! What the hell are we missing here...? Who thought this was a good idea? How was it tested? What types of calculations did they make to allow for the lower gravity, and composition of the Martian soil? Or if it happens to hit a sub-surface PEBBLE 3 inches down in its 5-meter journey??





kleinbl00  ·  1807 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Penetrator is Polish, yo.

goobster  ·  1807 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Oh right. Misread that. The heat sensor is German/ESA. The penetrator is...

... nah... let's just let the last word be penetrator

kleinbl00  ·  1806 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I suspect that diffusion of responsibility has been a major theme throughout this particular instrumentation package.