skybird137 wrote:We talking about half an hour between sending a signal to Mars and receiving a response. Plus they will have to wade through data on the self checks.
There is also limited contact time via the Orbiter, so reception of information will take time.
It's taken over seven months getting there, so taking a few weeks to make sure that the rover is 100% ready is not a problem.
Actually I knew all this already

but that doesn't mean I can't gripe about it anyway.

I'm an impatient cuss and want to learn what that probe has to discover! I'm full of... Curiosity!
Still, I wonder if a manned mission would have required all these checks. I sure hope not; they'd get nothing done before they'd have to leave again. At least Curiosity has all the time in the world (or, rather, on Mars) until it's power dies or something goes wrong with it (hopefully only after a very long and fruitful mission). No one expects to have it come back, just as no one would expect astronauts to stay until they died... making unmanned probes all the more sensible IMO. At least Death cannot become a factor in any disaster involving Curiosity.
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...