xkcd Spirit rover comic

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jennchlebus

“And all I ask is a merry yarn
from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream
when the long trickâ€™s over.”
rebdav

How about we make a space program as a stimulus thing to fix the economy. We could go to the moon and even Mars. Or we could cancel manned space and give to the trillion dollar march into banker pockets.

Don’t worry little guy, sooner or later we will be there to pick you up. Truth is I hope we never take him home but instead house him in a nice museum in the thriving capitol city of free Mars.
VagabondAstronomer

Rather poignant. Makes me want to hug my old Tandy Model 102 (my favorite piece of field equipment and long time friend…).
snorkybluefog

DAMN YOU NASA! You heartless bastards! ;__;
Diatryma

That’s my girl, Spirit. That’s my girl.
agoodsandwich

you make us proud, little buddy. We will see you again.
SamSam

I’m NOT crying. I’m only… cutting onions… for a lasagna.
Tom Hale

Did Rover ever make it to that giant buried robot or the pyramids?
ackpht

It ain’t over until the electronics freeze. As long as it talks to us there’s still science it can do- NASA mentions collecting data to determine whether Mars has a solid or liquid core.

Perhaps some future generation will bring them back, but I’m sure the people who put them there would prefer that they stay there.
MisterEd

We didn’t do a good job of telling you this before, Spirit. But you ARE home. You were built to thrive exactly where you are. Of all the things ever brought forth from Earth, you and Opportunity are the only ones entitled to call Mars home.
Anonymous

Clay lies still
But blood’s a Rover
Anonymous

I was half expecting a Wall-E joke in the last panel
benher

By the time we humans get to Mars, Spirit and it’s brood are going to be armed and waiting.

Much love Spirit!!
Snig

If you haven’t heard Jonathan Coulton’s Space Doggity, don’t listen now unless you need more sad:
http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/podpress_trac/web/7264/0/jonathan_coulton-space_doggity.mp3

Of course it’s not aware, but a few months ago when it was getting stuck, I was morose too.

Then I thought:
A Rescue! A Rescue! Prep the rockets. We’ve spent money on stupider things.
faithmanon

I’m with redmonkey – goddamn anthropomorphism at 6 a.m. I’m not generally a softie but I have a tepid spot in my heart for these rovers. (Good boy…)
2k

sheesh…
princeminski

Usually I regret reading comments on articles, but not on Boing Boing. I was glad to see somebody else was sad.
Anonymous

I came here to read the comments even though I read the cartoon last night. I needed some closure to my sad-robot feelings. Thanks # 1, 7, 9, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21-23…. Particularly 17, though Maxwell’s anthropomorphism can be a little crushing.

captcha: material careened

exactly.
-moph
limepies

AWWWW. poor guy.
darth_schmoo

We finally have justification for a manned Mars mission.

“We go to Mars not because it is easy, but because dammit that little rover needs a hug!”

And yes, I cried. Wanna make something of it, punk?
Tweeker

The technical term for the projected 90 day life is sandbagging.
endotoxin

We pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave us birth;
Let us rest our eyes on the fleecy skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.

– Robert A. Heinlein
jfrancis

It’s okay. Soon he’ll be with Dave Bowman and HAL.
Avram / Moderator

I’m not sure why anyone thinks Rover was ever going to “go home”.
Anonymous

This is why we should not program machines to have feelings or self-awareness.
Vnend

Wall-E was far from the first. Neither was “The Brave Little Toaster”, and it was published in 1980 (the movie came seven years later).

We (humans) seem to haves personified our tools and machines as long as we have had them. “Enola Gay”? Boats with eyes? A hauberk named Emma? Various named swords?

I figure that if your average car has a designed life expectancy of 150,000 (I think in miles, but it doesn’t really matter), it would have to run for 3.24 million to match Spirit’s record. Great job, NASA.

And it isn’t done yet. It just won’t be roving any longer.
frogmarch

That’ll do, probe. That’ll do.
Boba Fett Diop

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do,
I’m half crazy, all for the love of you…
lorq

I’m also reminded of that killer final scene from “Silent Running,” where the little drone-robot, all alone, tends the garden in the geodesic dome adrift in space.
Anonymous

if only those swiffer mop commercials were able to create this much emotion
- Anonymous
  
  he reason they don’t is because the old mop is portrayed as an ex-lover, someone we might feel a little bad for, but ultimately hope to see move on. If they portrayed it as a child or pet abandoned to the cold, we’d feel a lot more sorry for them.
  
  Of course, they don’t want us to really connect with the mop – nobody would ever buy a swiffer.
  
  Anyways, the moral of the comic is obviously to include a GOOD_JOB message in all remote control interfaces.
- anthropomorphictoast
  
  FROWNY FACE. :<
Xopher

Count me among the sad. Munroe is damn good at what he does. ~~If only he would use these powers for good.~~

I don’t think we’re going to have trouble accepting AIs as equals. We already feel sorry for AS’s like this guy.

“Guy.” See? I can’t help it. And he IT’s not even cuddly.
Xopher

Dammit. <strike> is a perfectly legitimate text mod, BoingBoing!

OK, my own fault for not previewing. Or, of course, remembering that BB doesn’t allow <strike>.

The third sentence in my post above should be stricken, as should the word ‘he’ in the last sentence.
Solnar

Many of you feel bad for this rover. That is because you crazy. It has no feelings. And the new one is much better.

Honestly, though, I couldn’t help but go, “Awww… poor rover.”
- nixiebunny
  
  Many of us feel sad for the rover in the comic strip. Unlike the one that’s really on Mars, this one *does* have feelings.
  - Sekino
    
    @Nixiebunny-
    
    I gather you have yet to see the IKEA ‘sad lamp’ commercial? That’s what Solnar was quoting ;)
    
    And count me in on feeling all down about that poor lonely rover. I’m a sucker for personalization. *snf*
Anonymous

standby… working the problem…
GeekMan

Damnit Randall! Now I’m sad. :’(
Anonymous

http://edl-mission.com/

this is old, we never published it really – if anyone has an interest in this, the full recordings are available. quite amazing really, a good hour and a half of live overlay
Boba Fett Diop

Um…I think there is something in my eye.
Anonymous

I have to concur that I would prefer its shrine be in place. A nice little bubble with a plaque and some landscaping… This can be done. We can do this! I’m in; let’s go!
Anonymous

in fact, the reason that CD is not published is that we had trouble both identifying and acquiring the rights to all the tracks. the copyright office denied our claim for a sound recording saying that overlaying and mixing were not authorship…

..
politeruin

Touching. Definitely touching.

Asimov would be turning in his grave…attaching human feelings to machines… stop over-analysing.
ecologist

best.
rover.
ever.

you did a good job.
phisrow

Yeah, having scenes like this running through your head is pretty much the reason not to use dogs for one way space missions.
Anonymous

Well they want to push the retirement age higher and higher.
cratermoon

That’s the saddest and yet most inspiring thing I’ve seen from Mars since http://twitter.com/MarsPhoenix/status/999383469
jacques45

Pretty much sums up my thoughts. Maybe when we have outposts there, they can retrieve it for the spacesonian museum.
uricacid

hah, the rovers replied
http://twitter.com/MarsRovers/status/8358334530
RainyRat

I was NOT prepared to encounter that at this hour of the morning.
dalesd

You shouldn’t anthropomorphize the Mars rovers. They hate that.
Anonymous

This makes me sad. We’re proud of you Spirit. You did a good job.
Jelf

When I read that comic I was filled with an overwhelming feeling of sadness.
Anonymous

Move over Rover, and let Jimmy take over!
(paging Bill Hicks)
adent1066

:’( now i’m sad
SamSam

Good Rover. Who’s a good Rover? You’re a good Rover. Yes you are. Oh yes you are.
Anonymous

How many of you are old enough enough to remember Laika?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika

I was seven and cried because they couldn’t bring her home.
That’s truly sad.
Maggie Koerth-Baker

I’m not going to lie. I cried a little.
pKp

We should send him a Roverette. Least we could do for the little guy.
Lobster

Look on the bright side, at least he’s not stuck in loose Martian sand.
dancentury

Why would a dutiful rover expect to return home (which I assume is earth)? This makes no sense to me. Thery’re put on Mars to execute a mission, explore, and do all sorts of cool stuff. Why return to earth to hang from the ceiling of the Smithsonian for a bunch of nose-picking fatsos to ignore.

I hope my Honda isn’t longing to return to the Honda plant in Ohio.

Maybe I’m bitter because mr stick figure cartoon guy’s cartoon makes in on boingboing, but my concept album about rovers didn’t.
The Hamster King

He’s doing science and he’s STILL ALIVE!
- politeruin
  
  Go ahead and leave me.
lyd

Seriously, this is far too sad a thing to have to deal with before coffee.
JohnRomeoAlpha

Red rover, red rover, send overwhelming sadness right over.
- Anonymous
  
  briliant, tragic.
uricacid

it’s a machine, people. (and I have a black, shriveled heart)

I can’t imagine the elation of the people working on this project, having been able to collect data for years after the projected life of the rover.

In an episode of COSMOS, Carl Sagan suggested that one day we would send rovers to Mars and the world would watch through their cameras as they discovered many wonders. I guess it’s a good thing he wasn’t around to see how quickly the world got bored with rocks. I’d like to think he’d still be giddy about it, though.
- Comatose51
  
  I don’t think it’s the actual rover that made us sad, it’s the personified rover in the comic that made us sad. Actually, it’s more “dog-ified” than anything else. Now, had the real rover never existed and he just drew a comic like this, I don’t think people would have been sad either. The combination of the two produced a strange effect of making people feel sad for an inanimate object.
  - MelSkunk
    
    Hell I was sad about the rover BEFORE this comic. I hope when we do get to Mars we collect our two wayward scouts and give them the respect they deserve.
RedMonkey

I’m dealing with it with coffee, still sad. Damn anthropomorphism ….
Vengefultacos

Be sure to tune in for part two, where after an alien space probe collides with Spirit, it turns into S’pit, a giant angry cloud entity that heads off to Earth to find its makers…
minamisan

90 days? Spirit has been driving around Mars since 2004.
- SamSam
  
  Right. That’s the point of the comic. The projected (hem hem) lifetime of the project was 90 days.
MrJM

The family of Spirit asked, in lieu of flowers, that donations be made in yts honor to MÃ©decins Sans FrontiÃ¨res: http://MSF-Donation.notlong.com
Decio

Eve?
- Architexas
  
  Damn it, you beat me to it. I don’t think the sadness of the post would have been so great without the influence of Wall-E, leading me to automatically project human emotions onto cute little machines like that…
imipak

It’s not dead yet, folks.

@scottmaxwell ‘s on Slashdot post is the best summary I’ve seen so far.

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1525368&cid=30913324