Well, that's just the one failure scenario. An RTG would have solved many more - bad solar cells, cracked solar cells, particulate matter covering cells (ice/sn

Well, that's just the one failure scenario. An RTG would have solved many more - bad solar cells, cracked solar cells, particulate matter covering cells (ice/snow/dirt), failure to deploy cells, etc. In fact if an RTG was used on the ESA's Beagle 2, it would also have not failed. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped a photo of it recently. Its in one piece, its just its cells didn't deploy correctly due to hitting the ground too hard. Landers take big chances with solar only power. There are so many things that can, and do, go wrong here. I don't know why taxpayers tolerate such shoddy work.