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NASA's Insight Mars Lander Is Dying. This May Be Its Last Image
- Stratoscope 4y agoI have to hand it to NASA's communication team, or whoever thought of giving each lander/rover/helicopter its own personality. > My power’s really low, so this may be the last image I can send. Don’t worry about me though: my time here has been both productive and serene. If I can keep talking to my mission team, I will – but I’ll be signing off here soon. Thanks for staying with me.
- ggm 4y agoLook, it's not offensive, it's amazingly good outreach to young minds, it "worked" but it's also artificial, anthropomorphic and cringe. A core compute voltage check and/or a Battery Management model dropped below a sustainable level for active use. Maybe a programmer put an Easter egg in but truly, it might have said SYS$SYSTEM:LOW VOLTAGE EVENT SHUTTING DOWN And they'd have said this sob story. I know I'm being a grinch. I do not like this infantilism and I do not like the ritualised post countdown motivational speech read to air breathlessly at launch. 5..4..3..2..1.. lift-off. <microphone drop> WFM