NASA Rovers Draw Giant Penis on Mars; Program Claims It Was an Accident

A picture surfaced this week on NASA's flight projects site that caused quite a few laughs and high fives around the Web. The photo is a view of trails left in 2003 by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers on the surface of Mars that, to the "surprise" of spokespeople at...

By Claire Lawton

April 24, 2013

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A picture surfaced this week on NASA's flight projects site that caused quite a few laughs and high fives around the Web.

The photo is a view of trails left in 2003 by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers on the surface of Mars that, to the "surprise" of spokespeople at NASA, looks like a giant penis.

Spirit and Opportunity were launched almost a decade ago to look for signs of potential life on Mars and have covered more than 10 kilometers with the help of Earth-based astronauts. The rovers were joined by Curiosity, which collected samples proving the potential of ancient life on Mars in 2013.

The photo hit social media site Reddit, whose readers (not surprisingly) flooded the NASA page to get a look at the picture and temporarily crashed the website.

According to NASA, the illustration left by the paths of Spirit and Opportunity was accidental -- even if it gave the organization some big-time cool points.

"While much of the work done in robotics at JPL is research, the ultimate value of the technology is in its ability to enable and enhance our exploration of the solar system," according to the Flight Projects site.

As summed up by Reddit's blazix, "That's pretty ballsy."

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