'Something' Cleaning Mars Rover

bluenirve writes "'Something' has been cleaning the solar panels of the Mars rover Opportunity. "NASA's Mars rover Opportunity seems to have stumbled into something akin to a carwash that has left its solar panels much cleaner than those of its twin rover, Spirit. A Martian carwash would account for a series of unexpected boosts in the electrical power produced by Opportunity's solar panels.""

They looked for the dirt

[Adam9]

When NASA scientists had the rover examine its solar panels for dirt, it replied, "Nothing for you to see here. Please move along."

Even Mars has homeless

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't it clear that homeless Martians have newspapers to clean the panels too?

That Martian is going to get pissed....

[Neologic]

That Martian is going to get pissed when the probe doesn't give him a tip.

Just goes to show...

[Anonymous Coward]

Women are from Mars.

Bum Martian window washer?

[signingis]

Is NASA going to have a stinky, unwashed, unshaven martian approach the camera and ask for change?

it's obviously love on mars

[swschrad]

maybe one of the "lost" landers has a crush on opportunity ;) OK, enough slashdot, back to the egg nog....

Re: Yesterday's News.

[Black Parrot]

> Dupe from Yesterday

Yeah, but the panels are still being cleaned today!

Beagle 2

[piquadratCH]

So THAT's what Beagle 2 is doing all the time up there...

Great, just what we need...

[binderhead126]

There seems to be no intelligent life, but there are homeless martians who will clean your car for a buck. Go figure. Interplanetary capitalism is here to stay.

can't... resist..the..tempta....

[Anonymous Coward]

I for one welcome our new Martian rover cleaning Overlords!

(That horse has to be a nice bloody pulp by now)

Explanation

[JustinXB]

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20041107 [userfriendly.org]

Re: Yesterday's News.

[elmegil]

Something is cleaning the editor's memory of the past. Too bad it doesn't work more quickly.

I told them....

[Audacious]

I told those peskey custodians to NOT clean the rover while it was on the set!

I for one...

[sacrilicious]

... welcome our new solar-panel cleaning overlords.

Mystery solved

[saddino]

As evidenced by this image [yumahouse.com].

Re:hmmm...

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe.... You didn't read the article did you?

You're new here, aren't you?

It happened to me too

[Magickcat]

A similar phenomena used to occur in my room as a teenager. Perhaps the two occurances are somehow connected.

Re:hmmm...

[thoughtcriminal87]

wait, there's an article?

I didn't get it.

[northcat]

I didn't get that cartoon. What does it mean?

Re:Explanation

[tepples]

I don't get it either. Does "WASH Me" mean something in a Martian language?

Re:hmmm...

[Magus424]

Well we're already polluting it with probes and extra craters ;)

Re:hmmm...

[Walt Dismal]

Martian gravity is lower than Earth's, and dust should be lighter and hence easier to blow off. Or shake off - couldn't NASA have built in some way to have the vehicle shake itself like a dog? Or at least jerk forward, stop, jerk backwards. At which point the Martians would groan and wait for the probe to start spouting rap lyrics.

Re:hmmm...

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot moderators: Please explain

Of course we'd like the moderators to have some basic understanding of the topic, but we'd also like them to act in a manner representative of the /. crowd. Makes for an interesting dilemma.

Re:They looked for the dirt

[rob_squared]

Just wait until the guy selling oranges comes along...

Re:That Martian is going to get pissed....

[Anonymous Coward]

"Probe."
"Tip."

There's a joke in there somewhere...

Re:It happened to me too

[agent dero]

I'm sure the Mars Lander's mom came in, yelled at him for moving so slowly, and sleeping most of the day, then cleaned his solar panels, and left in a huff....

Brilliant!

windex

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the guy on the set just actually used a rag and windex by accident.

Just kidding...

second time this happens in one week

[alonsoac]

what are the odds?

Re:It happened to me too

[feronti]

Only problem is that Opportunity is a hyperactive teenage girl [livejournal.com]

Re:hmmm...

[new_here_arent_you]

You're new here, aren't you? No, I am.

look at me my parent is a FUCKING GENIUS

[loquacious d]

SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP

For serious, who keeps modding this shit up? Is it really still funny? "I, for one, welcome our Soviet grits hot YOU goatse-Beowulf ????? profit run Linux?" Do I get modded up now, too?

Fucking idiots.

They keep passing checkpoints

[iabervon]

As anyone who's played a racing car game in the past twenty years can tell you, when you pass a checkpoint, you get more time. As long as they keep completing new areas, they'll keep getting bonuses. On the other hand, if the Spirit team doesn't get moving, they're going to have to put in another quarter pretty soon.

Re:Explanation

[cdrudge]

Ok. Here's an explanation. The rover(s) are losing power because dust is settling on the solar collectors. But in one case, there was this magical boost in power output by 5%. The first thing you would think of is that more sunlight is getting to the photo cells. Some Martian kid came by and, with his finger/tentacle/whatever, wrote "Wash Me" on one of the panels, just like kids do here on earth with dirty vehicles.

Re:I don't know why

[quint777]

I bet there's already water on mars. Well.... only if the contractors have hooked it up from the main at the 6 Starbucks they've already started construction on.