[extropy-chat] Gods of Mars was "Mars probe marred"

[The Avantguardian]

Hey Amara,
I am curious, is Mars historically more dangerous to space probes than the other planets? Or is it just a bias effect because we have sent more probes there than elsewhere? Considering what I know about Mars' geography and climatic conditions, I would say it should be a cakewalk for most probes, compared to Venus' corrosive SO2 atmosphere and crazy temperatures. I wonder if there are any spacecraft "mortality" statistics compiled anywhere. I would love to see a breakdown of lost space probes by destination. It may be then possible to quantify the probability that there may be more going on then meets the eye in this situation. Maybe we are landing them in places the Martians (or the A.I.machines that supplanted them) don't want us to see.

Amara Graps <amara at amara.com> wrote:


One (sad) joke I heard on Friday is that, since Mars eats spacecraft,
maybe Nozomi is the sacrificial animal to the Mars gods so that the
other spacecraft can arrive safely at the end of this year....




The Avantguardian 


"He stands like some sort of pagan god or deposed tyrant. Staring out over the city he's sworn to . . .to stare out over and it's evident just by looking at him that he's got some pretty heavy things on his mind."

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