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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
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This comic explores what the {{w|Spirit rover}}'s life would be like if it had a human personality. The rover lasted 5¼ active years on the Martian surface, far exceeding its expected mission duration of 90 Martian days. A sentient  robot might assume that after its initially planned 90 {{w|Timekeeping on Mars|Martian day}} mission was over, it would get to return home.  This assumes, of course, that the rover never understood that the mission was a one-way trip, and that the expectation was that it would simply fail after ninety days. When no one comes to return it home, ''Spirit'', possibly in a pun on its name, keeps its hopes alive while continuously analyzing rock after rock for ''years.''
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{{w|Anthropomorphism}} is attribution of distinctly human characteristics to animals or non-living things. We make parallels between ourselves and objects, to the point where some people even jocularly worry about hurting the feelings of, say, an automobile. We call ships "she". We see human faces in objects like the arrangement of lights on the front of a car.
  
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It would be cruelty of the absolute worst kind to abandon a human on an uninhabited planet with no intention of ''ever'' bringing them home,{{Citation needed}} so it's horrifying when we see the rover in this way. It's a relief to us that the Spirit rover is just a programmed machine.
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The {{w|Spirit rover|''Spirit'' Mars rover}}, like many high-functioning robots in real-life and fiction, shares many physical similarities with a human being or animal. It has a head, eyes, neck, body, legs, feet, arms and a hand. And it strikingly resembles sentient robots from fiction, such as Johnny 5 from ''{{w|Short Circuit (film)|Short Circuit}}'', or {{w|WALL-E}} from the film with the same name.
  
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{{w|Opportunity rover|Opportunity}}, the rover's twin, lasted longer than Spirit and was shut down in February 2019 ([[2111: Opportunity Rover]]). More than five years after this comic, when Opportunity had passed a Marathon distance, [[Randall]] celebrated this rover with the comic [[1504: Opportunity]].
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Thus, this comic explores what the ''Spirit'' rover's life would be like if it were sentient like those robots. The rover was never intended to return to Earth, and lasted 5 1/4 active years on the Martian surface, far exceeding its mission duration of 90 Martian days. A sentient robot might assume that after his initially planned 90 {{w|Timekeeping on Mars|Martian day}} mission was over, he'd get to return home. So, heartbreakingly this did not happen, ''Spirit'', possibly in a pun on his name, keeps his hopes alive as he continues analyzing rock after rock for ''years.''
  
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The title text has an apparent miscount: January 26, 2010, is more like sol (Martian day) 2156 by JPL's [http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status_spiritAll_2010.html#sol2151 mission status site,] not 2274.
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It would be cruelty of the absolute worst kind to create an intelligence with such feelings, and then abandon it on an uninhabited planet with no intention of ''ever'' bringing it home. So one is rather heartened that the ''Spirit'' rover ''is,'' in fact, just a programmed machine.
  
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The final contact with ''Spirit'' was on sol 2210 (March 22, 2010).
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The title text has an apparent miscount: January 26, 2010, is more like sol (Martian day) 2156 by JPL's [http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status_spiritAll_2010.html#sol2151 mission status site], not 2274.
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;Alternative versions
 
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The strip had a strong emotional impact on the fans of the rover, who created a number of alternative versions and endings for it.
 
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In a [http://blog.xkcd.com/2010/02/08/android-bug-reports-songs-rovers/ blog post] Randall mentioned this upbeat [https://imgs.xkcd.com/blag/spirit_rewrite_unknown_author.png rewrite] of the comic. [http://xkcdsw.com/2486 Several] [http://xkcdsw.com/2485 others] [http://xkcdsw.com/3524 were] [http://xkcdsw.com/2483 made], including a [http://xkcdsw.com/2488 silent] one.
 
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Many alternative endings were also proposed: some are [http://xkcdsw.com/3729 sad], some [http://xkcdsw.com/2492 sarcastic], some [http://xkcdsw.com/3100 romantic], some look forward to the day when Spirit is finally [http://xkcdsw.com/2487 recovered] ([https://imgur.com/r/xkcd/zNi5YSZ this one] was seen somewhere at {{w|CERN}}). Others imagine a [http://xkcdsw.com/3968 future] when the rover is not alone any more.
 
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
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:[The ''Spirit'' rover is on the surface of Mars.]
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:[The Spirit rover is on the surface of Mars.]
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:Day 1 of 90
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:Spirit (thinking): 89 days to go!
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:''Spirit'' (thinking): 89 days to go!
 
  
 
:Day 88 of 90
 
:Day 88 of 90
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:''Spirit'' (thinking): Two days until I go home!
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:Spirit (thinking): Two days until I go home!
  
 
:Day 91 of 90
 
:Day 91 of 90
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:''Spirit'' (thinking): ?
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:Spirit (thinking): ?
  
 
:Day 103 of 90
 
:Day 103 of 90
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:''Spirit'' (thinking): Maybe I didn't do a good enough job.
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:Spirit (thinking): Maybe I didn't do a good enough job.
  
 
:Day 127 of 90
 
:Day 127 of 90
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:''Spirit'' (thinking): Maybe if I do a good enough job, they'll let me come home.
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:Spirit (thinking): Maybe if I do a good enough job, they'll let me come home.
  
 
:Day 857 of 90
 
:Day 857 of 90
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:''Spirit'' (thinking): I thought I analyzed that rock really well.
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:Spirit (thinking): I thought I analyzed that rock really well.
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:''Spirit'' (thinking): It's okay, I'll do the next one better.
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:Spirit (thinking): It's okay, I'll do the next one better.
  
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:Day 1328 of 90
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:Day 1293 of 90
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:''Spirit'' (thinking): Sandstorm. Power dying.
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:Spirit (thinking): Sandstorm. Power dying.
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:''Spirit'' (thinking): But a good rover would keep going. A good rover like they wanted.
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:Spirit (thinking): But a good rover would keep going. A good rover like they wanted.
  
 
:Day 1944 of 90
 
:Day 1944 of 90
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:''Spirit'' (thinking): Oh no.
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:Spirit (thinking): Oh no.
 
:''whirrrr''
 
:''whirrrr''
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:''Spirit'' (thinking): I'm stuck.
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:Spirit (thinking): I'm stuck.
 
:''whirrrr''
 
:''whirrrr''
  
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:''Spirit'' (thinking): Did I do a good job?
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:Spirit (thinking): Did I do a good job?
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:''Spirit'' (thinking): Do I get to come home?
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:Spirit (thinking): Do I get to come home?
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:''Spirit'' (thinking): Guys?
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:Spirit (thinking): Guys?
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:[Spirit rests in the middle of a vast Martian landscape.]
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==Trivia==
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''Spirit'' continued to operate for nearly two months after this comic aired, but eventually stopped transmitting; its last communication was on March 22, 2010 (day 2210 of 90, [http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status_spiritAll.html#sol2533 by JPL's reckoning]). However, ''Spirit'''s sister rover {{w|Opportunity rover|''Opportunity''}} remains active (as of January 2014) and continues to investigate the Martian surface. In August 2012, a much larger, more modern rover named {{w|Curiosity (rover)|''Curiosity''}} successfully landed in a different area on Mars, bringing with it a whole new pack of research tools.  ''Curiosity'', too, is busily researching and sending back data and pictures. Due to the engineering difficulties involved, none of these probes are intended to ever return to their planet of origin.
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Pat Rawlings, who has done many "artist's conception" images of missions to Mars, created an evocative image of this anthro-''Spirit'''s dream: a [http://www.patrawlings.com/detail.cfm?id=1173 spacesuited human bending over a long-lost probe] (actually {{w|Sojourner (rover)|''Sojourner''}}) and gently brushing away dust from it, as if welcoming back a pet.
  
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:[''Spirit'' rests in the middle of a vast Martian landscape.]
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The "never come back home" stories may become reality for humans joining projects such as {{w|Mars One}} or {{w|Mars to Stay}}. However, the one-way nature of the trip to Mars would be made clear to travelers at the outset.
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
[[Category:Comics with color]]
 
[[Category:Comics with color]]
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[[Category:Mars rovers]]
 
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[[Category:Science]]
 
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[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]
 

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