Editing 2433: Mars Rovers
Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone.
Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision | Your text | ||
Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | + | {{incomplete|Created by a CUTE ROBOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | |
− | In this comic | + | In this comic [[Randall]]'s has made a scatter plot displaying 6 different Mars rovers on a cuteness versus capabilities chart. Only three items are shown in the main plot, as two types of rovers have had to almost identical rovers on Mars. And the last rover is displayed off the cuteness chart. |
He finds the ''{{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}}'' and ''{{w|Perseverance (rover)|Perseverance}}'' rovers to be very capable / useful, but not very cute. ''{{w|Spirit (rover)|Spirit}}'' and ''{{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity}}'' are cuter than the first two, but less capable. | He finds the ''{{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}}'' and ''{{w|Perseverance (rover)|Perseverance}}'' rovers to be very capable / useful, but not very cute. ''{{w|Spirit (rover)|Spirit}}'' and ''{{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity}}'' are cuter than the first two, but less capable. | ||
− | The recently launched ''Perseverance'' rover contains a drone helicopter, ''{{w|Ingenuity (helicopter)|Ingenuity}}'', which Randall finds | + | The recently launched ''Perseverance'' rover contains a drone helicopter, ''{{w|Ingenuity (helicopter)|Ingenuity}}'', which Randall finds very cute, but he is unsure how capable / useful it is. The way the error-range is indicated 'coincidentally' gives the Ingenuity image-plot a sense of movement in mid-air, especially the up and down motion which is the helicopter's (hopefully) most obvious dynamic once it is deployed and being tested. It could be discussed if a flying drone could be considered a Mars Rover, since a rover is usually something that drives over a surface. |
− | Finally, on the very right far off the cuteness chart is the ''{{w|Sojourner (rover)|Sojourner}}'' rover, launched in 1997. He considers this rover extremely cute, but ultimately not that capable. To indicate the extreme cuteness of | + | Finally, on the very right far off the cuteness chart, well outside the end of the X-axis, is the ''{{w|Sojourner (rover)|Sojourner}}'' rover, launched in 1997. He considers this rover extremely cute, but ultimately not that capable in terms of space exploration. To indicate the extreme cuteness of Sojourner, which has been mentioned before in [[1585: Similarities]], he has drawn it far outside the axis of the plot to indicate it falls of the chart. |
− | + | This is similar to the mention of coconuts in the similar [[:Category:Scatter plots|scatter plot]] [[:Category:Rankings|ranking]] of fruit in [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]]. Here the tastiness of fruits is compared to the ease at which you can eat them, and Grapefruit is not tasty and hard to eat according to Randall hence the title. Coconuts are mentioned in the title text, where it is explained that fitting it in the plot would press all the other fruits together on the ease to eat axis, as coconuts are so extremely hard to open. So it is not exactly as in this comic, where the chart could have included Sojourner, but the same point is made, that this item is far off the chart. | |
− | + | In the title text, Randall is disappointed that there aren't many people who have modified their {{w|Roomba}} vacuums to look like (or act like?) the ''Soujourner'' rover. Roombas are a [[:Category:Roomba|recuring theme]] on xkcd. Search results at the time of posting are mainly reports mentioning the {{w|iRobot}} company, since one of its founders worked on the Soujourner rover. | |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | + | {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} |