Oh, I know there's probably a chance there's science value in being where they are. I'm just imagining worst case where the thing decides it's done roving before they get up to the rim. The value in whatever they learn will not make up for the huge public relations hit they'll get by beings so close and not seeing that view. You can be assured that if Oppy dies before reaching that rim, the news accounts of the failure will be more prominent than any of the great news we devotees see every day.

I hate the reality that politics must be a component to space mission decisions but there is no getting around it. Without public support, funding for space is one of those targets that can't compete with other bottomless money holes.

I think NASA has done an OK job of public relations work in their history but have fallen down many times when they seemed to go into a depressive funk because of public apathy instead of stepping up their aggressive marketing.

So many people I know that are not space nuts like me are blown away when I show them some of the rover images. They rarely have the opportunity to be exposed to these amazing views in standard media outlets. The IMAX movie is an amazing thing if the public sees it but very few people think of IMAX as part of their standard movie going routine and the theaters are few and far between. Maybe NASA needs to think outside the box and create snippets of images in the form of movie trailers that get seen prior to major motion pictures.

Heck, the Soviets are inventive enough to sell off seats to the space station to wealthy tourists. Why can't NASA sell a shuttle mission access (at discounted rates) to Steven Spielberg and a movie cast?

Art