• CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social
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    1 year ago

    Their space program is generally regarded as fairly good to my understanding, they just operate on lower budgets.

    In any case, wasn’t this mission only designed to last a couple weeks on the surface anyway? I could’ve sworn I remember reading that the probe wasn’t designed to survive the temperatures the moon reaches at night, and their attempts to recontact it were more or less a “it’s done it’s mission already, but if it happens to survive anyway, it’s an added bonus, so might as well check” sorta deal.

    • jscummy@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      “Operating on lower budgets” is putting it lightly, this mission cost $74M. NASA’s next rover is projected at $433M