Comment Re:Non-units "holy war" thread here (Score 1) 86
You either completely missed the point, or didn't pay much attention to the ridiculous statements that came out of NASA when the rovers were being prepped (and thus missed the point anyway, oh well).
It was quite clear at the time that NASA was creating a very expensive self-fulfilling prophecy (panels will last three months without cleaning system, so we'll make the mission three months long, oh hey, the panels will last for the duration of the mission, so we don't need a cleaning system! yay! oh, and we're going to spend over 2x the cost of Pioneer 10 while chanting "smaller cheaper better"), and it is now equally clear that they couldn't even get that right.
I applaud the hardware engineering skills that went into the construction of what's there. I curse and ridicule the absurd thought processes that led to such an insane disconnect between the stated goals and the final results. As I said in the first place, even when NASA gets it right, it's wrong.