The Mars probe came to a screeching halt when NASA officials noticed a reflective object in the Martian soil.
http://news.yahoo.com/curiosity-rover-scoops-1st-mars-sample-finds-bright-155911794.html
In their defense, they think it’s probably a piece off of the rover itself, and they want to make sure it doesn’t contaminate their soil samples, or damage their instruments.
But, the thought of a multi-million dollar, high-tech space probe going “Oooh! Shiny!” is still pretty funny.
All of the parts falling off this rover are of the very finest American manufacture.
Has it happened before? I don’t remember Curiosity tweeting any other parts falling off.
The only other things that have fallen off were supposed to. So far as they know…
I suspect it is an aluminum beer can pull tab…circa 1976.
You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you! Damn you all to hell!
I zoomed in…
It looks a like lil martian geico lizard asking if the rover wants to save muny on auto insurance? 
There was the Soviet Venera 14 probe to Venus. After landing, the lens caps popped off the cameras. And there was a spring-loaded arm that was supposed to swing down and measure the compressibility of the soil. When the arm was let loose, it came down right on the lens cap.
Maybe they were just trying to spread the load…yeah, that’s the ticket.
(Actually, what I really wanted to do is somehow make a joke referencing Robot Arms responding to me, a Soviet Lander and this Futurama Clip, but I couldn’t find a way to make it all come together in a nice clever way without having the joke getting lost and it just being an insult… Come to think of it, IIRC, Futurama is where RA got his user name from. )
It may be my keys. I always find them in the strangest places.
Nope; predates Futurama, in fact. It actually traces back to Robert Heinlein.
Does this mean I just found Waldo?
“God damn it, Billy!” — President Carter
I unno, I’d think ‘oh, hey, something shiny! Wonder what it is…’ would be a perfectly valid reaction for someone exploring an alien environment.
:smack:
The sad thing? I wouldn’t have gotten that joke two days ago. 
Looks like the top of a fish hook, which of course would prove that there once was water on Mars.
If I cut you some slack on the spelling, yes.
How far has the rover traveled since touch down?
I am surprised there hasn’t been any apparent concern expressed by NASA that bits have flaked off the rover.
Is this the first time the scoop has been used? Did the scoop scratch itself, causing a small bit to flake off?
Well played.