Question: Who did Spiderlegs belong too? Paul told Terry to put the E.L.F back on before NASA finds out. But then Terry claims they paid $450,000 for it and Paul says "Harry's masterpiece is a piece of junk." Was it owned by NASA? Did NASA build it for them?
Sierra1
10th Jun 2020
Answer: It is probably the same arrangement as the DANTE I and II robots that Spiderlegs was based on. The real robots were built and operated by Carnegie Mellon University for NASA, so NASA paid for them but they were used by CMU. Terry says that they (USGS) put $450,000 "into this beast" - he didn't say it was their money and he was probably referring to NASA's money which was why NASA had such a stake in the robot and would not be happy about a risky move like removing the ELF beacon.
Sierra1 ★