Veni, Vidi, Fodi

The Mars Phoenix lander is dead. After locating and sending back photos of extraterrestrial water ice, the little feller succumbed to the combination of the cold temperatures and diminishiing solar radiation of the Martian winter. That's perhaps a sobering thought for those of us in the Upper Midwest preparing to face our own winter.

Wired.com held a contest for the best obituary for the lander. The winning entry is the title for this blog entry ["I came, I saw, I dug"], apparently based on the old maxim 'Quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur' (anything said in Latin sounds profound). I like some of the others better:

So long and thanks for all the ice.

What do you mean "One way mission"?!

To the children who will one day visit me on their school outings and laugh at this puny metal albatross. Stand on my shoulders and do great things.

" Will I Dream ? "

I was a better use of your tax dollars than a bank bailout.

"Beauty, truth, and rarity. Grace in all simplicity, Here enclos'd in cinders lie. Death is now the phoenix' nest." - (Shakespeare)

I can has rescue mission?

I dug my own grave. And analyzed it.

If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of an alien world that is forever Earth.

Light! More Light! (Goethe)

Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm afraid...

So, where's that damned pink bunny when you REALLY need him?

One small scoop for a robot, one giant success for mankind.

(image credit to Gizmodo, where there are additional informative articles)

(Reposted from November 2008)