2.5 YEARS INTO THE MISSION
GFX LOWER THIRD: 2.5 YEARS INTO THE MISSION
STEVE SQUYRES: There was a group of us sitting around the table, drinking margaritas at a party, and someone came up with the idea of, “Hey, let’s have a bet.” Picked up a cocktail napkin, and we all wrote down our names. And everybody had to put in $20.
ROB MANNING: We said, “Okay, who believes that 0, 1, or 2 rovers are alive next year?”
STEVE SQUYRES: We kept that same cocktail napkin. We did it year after year after year after year. ROB MANNING: And every year, Steve Squyres, the project’s principal scientist, voted that both rovers would be dead the next year. STEVE SQUYRES: My logic being that someday I would eventually win. And when I did win, it would cheer me up at a time when I was feeling sad. ROB MANNING: I voted just the opposite. That both rovers would still be alive. So, actually, I did pretty well through the years in these bets. STEVE SQUYRES: At this point, Spirit, our kinda hard-working blue-collar rover was going for the Columbia Hills. But she’d been having mechanical problems.
JPL TEAM TAKES BETS
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