🚀 go-pugleaf

First of all, I wish to thank Glenn Chapman for his *very* valuable
postings.  They alone are reason enough to subscribe to this
newsgroup. 

Still, I can't resist replying to his editorial:
>
>   One comment here, the researchers at the Soviet IKI institute,
>   which were in charge of the probe, have been pushing the line
>   that unmanned systems are cheaper and more reliable than manned
>   ones.  They have been strongly suggesting that robots would be
>   better to explore Mars rather than a manned mission.
>   After this high profile mission failure they could find their
>   case substantially harder to present in the USSR.  

Well, it is certainly true that all manned Mars missions to date were
100% successful and cost practically nothing.  I am even willing to
believe that this will remain true for many, many years to come.  

Unfortunately, those missions haven't return much useful data, have
they...  

                ;-) Jorge Stolfi

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      ``I mean it is not enough to launch a projectile and give it no
    further thought.  We must follow it throughout its course, until
    the moment it hits the target.'' 
      ``Well!'' exclamed the general and the major, a bit taken aback by
    the idea.  
      ``Absolutely,'' Barbicane spoke with self-assurance. ``Absolutely.
    Otherwise the experiment would be pointless.''
        --Verne, _From the Earth to the Moon_ (1865)
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DISCLAIMER: The above opinions are just opinions.