On my local PBS station, the series "What Went Right" is airing a program on the Rovers.

Short cut-and-paste and URL to my local PBS attached.

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What Went Right

Description
After landing in January 2004, Spirit and Opportunity, NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers, continued to operate on the Red Planet throughout 2005, much longer than their designers and builders had initially promised. WHAT WENT RIGHT goes behind the scenes to discover, through the stories of the men and women who made it happen, why one of the most challenging missions of the entire space age succeeded when so many other national endeavors have fallen short.
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http://www.aptv.org/Schedule/showinfo.asp?...1814&NOLA1=WWRI


--Bill

Any chance that you or someone else could capture the program?

Is this new? Or was this aired already?

Hi Bill,

thanks for the info.

But ,I cant find this program/series on the National PBS site or any of the local PBS stations in the NY-NJ-PA area

any further info?

ken

PS are you aware of the new IMAX Film premiering on Jan 27 ? since you havent responded to that thread

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/rovingmars/

I checked the PBS site and couldn't find that program series. I presume that it isn't national, but is carried only in some market areas. If you can find "What Went Right" in your local area, you have it, if not, you don't.

The promo seemed to show some decent graphics and effects. It shows on APTV Tuesday, 1/03/06 at 8:00pm.

The McWane Center, our local science emporium, has an IMAX theater and I'm sure that they will show the Rover film this year.

--Bill

OK Bill - so how was the PBS documentary????

Well, I saw it and it wasn't really what I was expecting. It focused on a lot of the engineering obstacles leading up to launch and landing, and the Flash ram trouble at the beginning of Spirit's mission, ending with the Opster's landing. It also focused on different project management styles, comparing what went right with MER to what went wrong with the Shuttle.

From all the American flags in the credits and the slow motion close ups with patriotic LockMart music, I was worried it was going to be a low budget corporate propaganda piece, to shill for good feelings and bigger contracts. Kind of like a JPL version of those horrible "Behind the Music" rockumentaries.... (I can just hear that announcer guy saying "And then the airbags failed....") But my fears were mostly unfounded.

A lot of it was just handheld camcorder interviews with team members - looked a little amateur to be honest - almost like leftover footage from the PBS NOVA specials. Felt very "in house", fly on the wall, with many scenes of team meetings, etc. Almost like home movies. So once you realized it wasn't going to be another "Welcome to Mars" it was fine. A very unique peek at the project compared to the more eye candy productions out there. Plus it didn't bog down with any of that "science" stuff.

It was worth seeing for a few gems, like an interview with Pete Theisinger as he is driving to JPL on Spirit's landing day... going through the security gate.... chugging a liter of diet coke early in the morning... trying to decide whether to open the chutes early or not...

What I did like is that you got to see a little more of the other faces besides usual interviewees involved with the project... especially good in the flash ram sequence. And I can't remember if it was here or on another board, but for those who had crushes on several of the crew members, there is some good face time for you as well. Less said the better.

So a mixed bag - kind of an odd little hour, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Lyford, thank you for the report and hopefully it will appear on other PBS stations around the country. Still can't find it on my local PBS stations.

Yes, Lyford, thanks for the review of this show. I'd not gotten around to posting on this program. I.E., I plumb forgot.

I agree with your review: it was not so much a dry techie photo-documentary as it was a 1:1 discussion by the people who are doing this of what problems came up and what they did to make the project a success. From visiting the JPL website, I recognized many of the 'team family' in the interviews. In a nutshell, it was a look at the human side and not the robotic side of this mission.

And worth re-visiting.

--Bill