ROFL of the day: "Mars Action Hero"

[Bob Schroeck]

From http://www.scientificblogging.com/marsw ... ion_hero_0]this article about the Mars Science Lab:

MSL has class. It's not going to arrive on Mars huddled and asleep,
cocooned in wussy airbags. No, MSL is going to arrive in style: on a jetpack.
That's right. After its heatshield (the largest ever flown to another planet) withstands a fiery entry and is discarded, and its parachute
(50 feet across and deployed at twice the speed of sound) slows MSL
down, our action hero will cut the shrouds and fire up a jetpack. The
rockets will fire, bringing MSL within a few meters of the surface. And
then, as if all that was not impressive enough, MSL will rappel down
from the hovering platform, touch the surface, and cut the cords with explosive bolts. It will then smooth the creases in its tuxedo, adjust its tie and order a martini.

-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[DHBirr]

Makes an impressive entrance, carries a laser, going to Mars ... y'know, it's a pity the engineers couldn't, for symbolism's sake, build this
thing as a tripod. Back atcha, you tentacled sonsabitches!

"Incidentally, I wonder why we always are menaced by Mars? I suppose that man Wells started it. One day we may have a big interplanetary libel action on
our hands--unless we can prove that the Martians have been equally rude about us." -- Arthur C. Clarke
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Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

[Rod.H]

If they went for that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds]symbolism route, then they'd also needed to have developed a cylindrical impactor shell capable of protecting the rover as it smacked into the ground and be able to deploy said rover from the exposed rear surface, regardless of what angle the impactor 'crashed' at.

--Rod.H

[Matrix Dragon]

THIS IS THE VOICE OF THE MYSTERIONS. WE KNOW YOU CAN HEAR US EARTHMEN.

... NOW YOU'RE JUST SHOWING OFF.