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OTD in Space – January 3: Spirit Rover Lands on Mars
On January 3, 2004, NASA's Spirit rover landed on Mars! [‘On This Day in Space’ Video Series on Space.com](https://www.space.com/39251-on-this-day-in-space.html) Also known as Mars Exploration Rover 2, this was the first of NASA's twin rovers to land on the Red Planet. The other was named Opportunity. These rovers were designed to last just 90 days on Mars, but Spirit lasted more than six years! It touched down at the Gusev crater, where scientists believed to be an old lake bed that was once filled with water. NASA named the landing site Columbia Memorial Station to honor the astronauts who were killed in the Columbia disaster less than a year earlier.
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OTD in Space – January 2: Stardust encounters Comet Wild 2
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p3orion

Dec 21, 2019
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10
1,535
Great article, but the planet' distance from its star is one-eighth the distance of Mercury from the sun, not "eight times closer." Constructions like "eight times closer," "three times less" and so forth is a relatively new form which has emerged only in the last few years, and which if you think about it actually makes no sense (eight times: eight multiplied by what?)

I've given up on advertisers and mainstream journalists understanding the difference (most of them can't do math anyway) but a technical writer can do better.
 
Chris Gautreau

Chris Gautreau

Feb 16, 2020
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Though the poster could have been a little more diplomatic, the comment does raise a valid point. As a former business writer and copy editor, and someone who is terrible at math, I know firsthand that care must be given to fractions, percentages and exponential figures. I offer one more tip: "Ever" is not necessary after "first." Something is either first or it's not. In any case, I urge the write to keep up the great work. It's not easy doing what you do.
 
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