Gad, I wish I had wandered into this thread yesterday...or Emily's invitation; I used to read every word in her blog, and I have to do so again. That the Planetary Society can't afford to send her is another troubling sign of the times; so to speak - the very real effect upon those who rely upon donations from the public to function. In many cases, these donations turn into trusts; and the budget is spawned from the revenue yield these trusts. But in a grueling market where trillions of dollars evaporate; so do the revenues from trust funds.

But back to the tiger stripes: The surface temperature measured is a minimal constraint upon the temperature of the engine below. Also, even though the second pass should have had higher resolution (and less of the colder surface mass impinging upon the reading) the 20 deg K increase is really a confirmation of the earlier pass. Amazing phenomenon. If we were truly a geek society; we would have another mission on the way and and at least two more missions planned. It would be interesting (saddening) to know how much more the media spends covering Paris Hilton's faux campaign than it does covering DPS40.

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jwj

It's a big universe out there...is it really unwinding, really burning out?