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Print 26 comment(s) - last by JediJeb.. on Jan 2 at 7:36 PM
Word art message was not what (most of) the crowd was hoping for

The Curiosity Rover's official Twitter account, maintained by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, titillated space exploration fans with a Twitter message promising, "Will you be in @TimesSquareNYC for New Year's Eve? Look for a special message from Mars on the giant Toshiba screens."

Fans were hoping for some new images or video from the Rover -- possibly even news of a new discovery.  Instead they were treated to a brief pre-rendered animation, followed by a word art "text" from the Rover commenting "Happy New Year From Mars".

The Verge, whose offices are based in Manhattan, New York, described the build-up and delivery as "groan worthy".  One commenter hints that maybe budget cuts were to blame, commenting, "I think we should double NASA's budget, purely for the reason that they can then go and license decent typefaces."


However, the $2.5B USD third generation NASA rover perhaps has earned itself a bit of slack for its hard work blasting rocks on the hostile Martian landscape and for becoming the first Mars rover to directly observe the long hypothesized dried stream beds of the "Red Planet".

Hopefully NASA gets the memo and treats the crowd to a more impressive display next year.

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RE: Can you really blame them?
By DiscoWade on 1/1/2013 4:38:09 PM , Rating: 5
Although I personally believe there is no life on Mars and could never be life on Mars, I don't consider this to be a waste. There are other parts of NASA that are a waste. And there are other things in government that should be cut, but obviously won't because doing so requires a backbone and the desire to think beyond the next election. The things that NASA does when reaching out like this provides benefits for all us. But that is the problem with NASA now: it is a shell of itself now run by activists.

There is so much waste in our government, and you are going after the some of the most important work NASA currently does.


RE: Can you really blame them?
By Visual on 1/2/2013 3:22:05 AM , Rating: 3
Ok, "could never be"? Really? Do you really believe that?


RE: Can you really blame them?
By mcnabney on 1/2/2013 9:51:52 AM , Rating: 3
The current pressure/temperature make life extremely difficult on Mars. However, we do know that it wasn't always this way - so looking for signs of life in the past is not such a bad idea.


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