Mars Rovers Update

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

Now if only automobile manufacturers could make cars as long-lasting as the MER.

Kudos to everyone at NASA for this mission!

Although I agree that the rovers are a fantastic achievement, give me their budget and I will happily assembly you a car that will function for 900 days, or even triple that. You do need to limit speed to a few MPH, distance per day to a few dozens of meters, no moving traffic nearer than a hemisphere.... I'll even throw in the low temperature and solar-powered package, no extra charge !

The point is, everything is a compromise. For a million dollars, we can build a very reliable Ford Fiesta - but would you buy it? What if we sold a car for $800 - but it always needed repairs frequently (like, once a mile or more) - would you buy that? Between those two extremes lies "what the market accepts" - which is (hopefully) close to what you've built.

This is the basic essence of Engineering: Getting more for less.

Don