Need some help here - I'm getting a little brass plaque engraved to go on a piece of wood with the golden trowel award, but not sure what to put on it...

I was thinking something like

I think that a cultural reality check might be in order, just to ensure that the damyankees don't think 'getting stuck in' is somehow rude or abusive! After all, we are burdened by strangely dissimilar brands of English at times (quoth the Scotsman!).

Good point - I'm sure an american forum member will comment if it's a bit of a faux pas of some sort.

I once made an american friend most confused when i used the phrase "he's gone to get some fags" - the meaning of course being that he'd gone to purchase cigarettes

Doug

I believe we should come up with something that encompasses as many of the achievements thus far as we can, and not just focus on one event and one rover.

How about something like

Keeping the Rovers imaging, brushing, grinding, and driving, driving, driving.

Hey - these things cost by the letter

I think just stating the 1000 sols mark says everything that needs to be said really

Doug

That's fine.

If we want to go the extra mile (as the rovers surely have) go down to your local Home Depot (Dollar store?) and get an actual trowel, spray paint it with gold coloured paint, and mount it on the plaque.

I already have Except being in the UK we dont have Home Depot, but I found a great trowel at Sainsburys that is currently drying off it's last coat of gold The handle is a black rubber, so paint would look rubbish, probably flake off, and generally ruin things, so I pullled that off, and will put it back on to the 'shovel' bit, before figuring out how to mount it all.

Pics to follow this week

Doug

Sorry Doug - didn't realise you were a Brit. As an ex-pat living in Canada, I tend to forget what a wealth of experienced people live in blighty. I come from Leicester and they have a great space centre there. That's not where you are based is it?

To re-edit the previous post...

"If we want to go the extra mile (as the rovers surely have) go down to your local Homebase (₤1 store) and get an actual trowel, spray paint it with gold coloured paint, and mount it on the plaque"

Leicester eh....

I live in Aylestone, and I'm currently at work, about 200 yards from Leicester Station.

I worked at the Space Centre here briefly as a pseudo placement/intern type student thing - but left to become a medical animator

I'm yet to mock the thing up properly, but once I've put the handle back on, I'll get out some card and size things up, but it might be a bit like this



Looking at that, I might be better going for a wider, shorter plaque bit on the backing wood.

Doug

As someone from the states... here's my 2 cents on the phrasing, since it was brought up in the first few replys...

Here. to persevere through a difficult time through to the end (i.e., not quitting)... we would say: "they stuck it out".... and just to be confusing, we'd also say "they stuck with it" or "they stuck in there". I guess the thing that sounds a bit strange to our ears is the inclusion of the word "got"... since here we don't say someone "got stuck in". (Edited... now that I think of it... "they stuck it out" must similarly seem a bit rude to your ears, too).

Its just one of those things. Like when we hear of someone going to hospital or something in future.... here, we'd always say "to the hospital" and "in the future".

Anyway, I suppose if it stated "they stuck it out"... there's sort of a double meaning / play on words, since by sticking it out... they got Oppertunity out from being stuck.

John

(Edited... another phrase here along these lines is "they dug in"... meaning to roll up one's sleeves, and start on a difficult task with determination. Thus, it could even say "they dug in, and stuck it out".. But as mancm mentioned above, maybe that's way too specific on getting Oppy unstuck, and not general enough.)

So.....She got stuck in, then they got stuck in, and now she can get stuck in again.

Oh, just one more thing....

Why it is dated July 2005... since I assume the 1000 sols is the Spirit+Oppy total count. That will occur in a few days, so shouldn't it be June 2005?

John

...which is almost as bad as making a mistake with a pencil, then asking to borrow someone's rubber

I agree with RedSky - "they dug in" is probably a better phrase for U.S. ears

"When Opportunity got stuck, they dug in"

hmm - doesnt quite sound right - I need a 'hook' of some sort if you know what I mean - something just to tie it together, but make the relavance of the trowel apparant

All suggestions welcome...it needs something, not sure what.

The July date was a typo - I mean June obviously.

Doug

How about...

"When Opportunity got stuck, they dug in, and dug it out"

Of course that's not really the mechanics of it... but it does tie in with the trowel metaphor. It also states the action and the happy outcome, whereas without the final "dug it out"... it leaves the end of the story uncertain.

"To The MER Team - They Always Knew Where Their Trowel Was"

42!

I really can't think of any pithy bon mots - these poor attempts I must blame on Monday-ism:

"4 wheels good, 6 wheels better."

"When in doubt, back it out."

"Autonav? We don't neeed no stinkin' autonav!!!"

or

"Extended mission? I thought you said extended layover!"

I apologize for the inconvenience.

To add another metaphor, perhaps...

"When Opportunity got stuck, they dug in and plowed on."
("...plowed forward"? - nahhh)

How about just....

"When Opportunity got stuck, they dug in and got it out"

or

"When Opportunity dug in, they dug in and got it out"

Not too clever, but maybe a combo with voracs above...

"When Opportunity dug in, they dug in and plowed on"

How about this:

"To the MER Team -- when Opportunity needed to be dug out, they dug in!"

-the other Doug

That is a picture of the actual trowel - but not quite finished - the handle needs a smidge more work The spade end looks fantastic, and actually - the handle does as well, but it's had another two coats since that pic. I've found somewhere that sells backing wood and will do the engraving as well

I think there may have to be a Golden Hammer award for the science team at some point

Doug

Looks great, Doug.

How about this for the tag line:

"No slope too steep, no dune too deep"

A bit of a groaner, but not too bad

"...and the unmannedspacecraft.com forum Doug in"?

Oh..oh...very droll

Doug(las) i.e. no spade on my head

I vote for odave's line:

"No slope too steep, no dune too deep"

Unless you want to leave Spirit out of this...

and I can't believe I missed "Doug in." It was right in front of us all along -good call ilbasso!

Doug - the spade looks mighty fine!

I figured Spirit's scrabble up Husband Hill is covered under the "slope" part.

Note that I do not favor either rover - just like my kids, I love each of them for who they are

"No slope too steep, no dune too deep"

Nice one odave - get's my vote too.

It gets a lot in a slick tag line without being sounding cheesy to me. Well not too cheesy but it's more than snappy enough to pull it off.

One minor nit pick - dunes generally aren't "deep" even though the probelm with this dune\drift was that it actually was deep. If you know what i mean. I'd still vote for this despite that though and it does cover both Spirit and Oppy's recent succes in extreme robotic geology.

And to echo Lyford's comment Very nice trowel work Doug.

'No slope too steep, no dune too deep'

Cracking.

Doug

I noticed it, but I was assiduously trying to avoid saying anything about it, having had to deal with that particular maligning of my own name for pretty much my whole life...



-the other Doug

Or, perhaps, even more succinctly,

"When Opportunity dug in, they dug her out."

I see little point in putting a plaque on a small shovel. It will only get lost among all the other gifts they receive, thus the odds of anyone reading it are infintesimal. Just give them the shovel, it will be more practical.

When archaeologists do find it one day, they won't care about its ceremonial purpose, either.