Roving Mars Page #5

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to go up and over a rock independently

while the rover itself hardly tilts at all,

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OK, come on in, guys,

Now, stay clear, Watch it, watch it,

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Stay clear of this, 'cause it's gonna move,

Watch the wheelsi,,,/i

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i( Squyres)/i lt goes way beyond

this single mission,

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The eventual goal

is to send humans to Mars,

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but the first person to walk on Mars

is not an astronaut today,

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lt's someone in high school

or in elementary school,

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i( man)/i So it's turning in place,

then, when it gets lined up just right,

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we're gonna drive it backwards,

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i( Squyres)/i We've invested so much work,

so many years,

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so much of our hopes

and our dreams into these rovers,

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And then when you think

about where they're going,

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the ride they're gonna get on that rocket,

the transit through space,

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what it's like when that parachute

goes out at mach 2,

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going through the Martian atmosphere,

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You're standing next to this little robot

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and you realize it's gonna spend eternity

on the surface of another world,

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lt's going to another planet, for real,

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And once they're gone, that's it,

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After the rovers launch, we're never gonna

see them again with our own eyes,

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We've done everything we can to prepare

them for the dangers they'll have to face,

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but it's gonna be very hard

to say goodbye,

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i(wind machine)/i

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''Spirit'' will be launched first,

then ''Opportunity'' three weeks later,

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Mars and Earth are both orbiting the sun,

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so they're always moving

relative to each other,

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Every 26 months,

there's a brief interval

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when the planets are lined up just right,

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At that time, and only at that time,

we have enough rocket fuel to make it,

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So this is our one shot,

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