Spirit Sol 200

Sol 200. Sol two hundred. Sol TWO HUNDRED.

Nope, I still can't believe it.

Neither, I think, can John Wright. "We're on sol 200," he remarks the moment I walk in the door.

"And it's directly thanks to you and me," I say sagely.

"True," he mock-agrees. "If it weren't for us, they'd be just about to grind Adirondack right now." We solemnly shake hands on this. "Our talent is exceeded only by our humility," he observes.

In honor of our 200th day on Mars, Emily Eelkema has brought in a yummy chocolate cake to share. She also shows a short presentation entitled, "Things NOT To Do While Driving the Rover." My favorite is a picture of a rusting car stuck halfway down a cliffside. "Do not drive the rover over a cliff," Emily says.

Eric Baumgartner is following Bob Bonitz to MSL, leaving us a rover planner short. They're not going to replace him, either. Instead, as a further cost-cutting move, they're sometimes going to have only three RPs available for a given sol. One rover will get two of us, the other will make do with one, and that uplink team will have to simplify the sol's plan to be something a single RP can do reliably.

We're a long way from the days of free ice cream.

[Next post: sol 204, July 30.]