Editing 2433: Mars Rovers

{{comic
| number    = 2433
| date      = March 5, 2021
| title     = Mars Rovers
| image     = mars_rovers.png
| titletext = I just Googled 'roomba sojourner mod' and was sorely disappointed. Be the change, I guess!
}}

==Explanation==

In this comic, [[Randall]] has made a scatter plot displaying 6 different Mars rovers on a cuteness versus capabilities chart. Only three rover pictures are shown in the main plot, as two of the four rovers are near identical to other rovers sent to 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. 

The recently launched ''Perseverance'' rover contains a drone helicopter, ''{{w|Ingenuity (helicopter)|Ingenuity}}'', which Randall finds pretty cute, but is unsure how exactly to grade for capability. The error bars make ''Ingenuity'' look like it's bobbing up and down, as helicopters sometimes do. It's debatable if a flying drone can be considered a Mars Rover, since a rover is usually something that drives over a surface, but the anticipated flight plan for ''Ingenuity'' is to cover some distance (by air) and then land on the ground again.

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 ''Sojourner'' (previously mentioned in [[1585: Similarities]]), he has drawn it far outside the axis of the plot to indicate it falls 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 ''Sojourner'' rover. Roombas are a [[:Category:Roomba|recurring theme]] on xkcd. Search results at the time of posting are mainly reports mentioning the {{w|iRobot}} company, makers of the Roomba line, since one of its founders worked on the Sojourner rover.

The end of the title text, "be the change," is a truncated form of the expression "be the change you want to see in the world"; basically, if there's something you want to see happen, be the one who makes it happen. This implies that Randall will be modifying his Roomba to look/act like ''Sojourner''.

==Transcript==
:[A scatter plot is shown with two labeled axis, each with 5 ticks and ending in an arrow. Two types of Mars rovers are drawn in the top left part, at the top tick and the next highest tick. Each rover type has a label with two names. A third smaller drone is drawn in the lower right part close to the third tick on the Y-axis, with a single name label. It has two arrows pointing up and down to question marks, and two small lines of either side of the rotor blades, indicate movement. Far to the right, about twice the length of the drawn X-axis from the origin of the chart, and at the height of the lowest tick on the Y-axis, is a third type of rover, also with a single name label. The entire chart also has a label:]
:Mars Rovers
:Y-Axis: Capabilities 
:X-Axis: Cuteness 
:Curiosity & Perseverance
:Spirit & Opportunity 
:Ingenuity
:Sojourner

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Scatter plots]]
[[Category:Rankings]]
[[Category:Mars rovers]]
[[Category:Roomba]]