Martian Rovers Spotted In Arizona Desert
Posted by Matthew on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @11:45PM
from the Capricorn-V dept.
Mearzuh writes: German tourists visiting the Grand Canyon, spotted and photographed the Martian rovers Spirit and Opportunity in the middle of the Arizona desert.
According to preliminary reports, the husband and wife couple did not report this to anybody right away. “We wanted to have our fun with it, first,” said husband Hansel, “so we kinda took funny pictures with it.” The couple admits that they may have damaged the Spirit rover by toying with it. NASA, however, was able to restore it to full functionality.
As to how the two rovers ended up in Arizona rather than on Mars, even officials are not sure. One official suggests that scientists and technicians involved in the missions may have confused the American with the Metric system, and instead of programming the rover to fly to Mars, it was programmed to slingshot back to Earth.
NASA intends to auction the rovers off on Ebay since they are of no use anymore. But this story is not all that bad, for the couple got to keep its pictures along with their bragging rights. Says a smiling wife Gretle, “I mean come on! How many people can say they have been on Mars and have undoctored pictures to prove it?”