Enlightened Confusion

Every time NASA accomplishes something like the Phoenix landing, some neuron in my head fires off the memory of this slashdot post:

After the long journey out, it seems that little Beagle II, the lander of the Mars express mission has successfully separated. If all goes well, the lander should touch down on Christmas Day. Seems that NASA has actually lost the edge in robotic space exploration.

Please don’t take this as a dig at the ESA; they do good work, although, given the size of their collective economy, they could step it up and invest a little more. It’s more a reminder to the “we suck, we’re a failing empire, we cause all the problems and contribute nothing” crowd.