Missives from the 6th Floor

Squyer's is a geologist by training, and a robotic-rover-guy by virtue of the years he spent dreaming up, championing, and coming so close you could taste it to the Mars rover missions. He's a charismatic speaker, and incredibly passionate about the missions.

Steve came to Real about a week before this picture was released. The team had already seen most of it, and he showed us a panel or two. The story he told, about Spirits seemingly miraculous return from the brink of death, is just as moving in memory as it was in person. The depth of his investment in the rovers, and his desire for them to live on - exploring - was palpable.

I'll always remember, at the end of his talk at Real, I raised my hand and asked him his opinion on manned exploration. After watching him present for 40 minutes, I wouldn't have thought he could get any more passionate or animated, but my question pushed a hot-button, and he spent a few minutes expressing in absolutely certain terms that must put humans on the red planet.

Having reached the end of his book, I understand the source of the passion I witnessed:

Above all, I simply hope someone sees them again. A word like love is one to be used advisedly, especially when talking about pieces of metal. But I love Spirit and Opportunity. They were built by a loving family, and I wish more for their fate than eternal abandonment on a distant world.

Don't misunderstand: I wouldn't ever want them to be brought back to Earth. We built them for Mars, and Mars is where they should stay. But Spirit and Opportunity have become more than just machines to me. The rovers are our surrogates, our robotic precursors to a world that, as humans, we're still not quite ready to visit.

And that what I really want to see change. There are many things that I could wish for our rovers, but in the end, there's only one that matters. What I really want, more than anything else, is boot prints in our wheel tracks at Eagle Crater.

Amen.