On the surface of the planet, the atmosphere is extremely dense carbon dioxide, the sulfuric acid that makes landing such a threat is pretty much non-existent at the surface. The wind is also much slower at the surface, the probes measures only 2-4kmh. The probes that landed typically fail due the the temperatures overwhelming the electronics. Most electronics we manufacture are only good up to around 100 Celsius, with specially designed stuff good to around 150c.

I’m no expert, but as the atmosphere is mostly inert at the surface and the wind speed is relatively slow I would attribute damage to the probes over time to temperature and pressure rather than corrosion/erosion. That said, it’s been a long time and even trace amounts of sulfuric acid at surface level could lead to corrosion over time but to what extent I’m not sure.

The temperature is well below the melting points of the metals I would assume they were made from such as titanium and steel. Aluminium however would be too weak under the pressure and temperature conditions and would be crushed, though it probably wouldn’t melt.

Barring any major volcanic eruptions nearby, under normal conditions I’d hazard a guess that the probes on the surface are still there, perhaps largely in tact.

If you have the room for it and don’t already, you should see if you can get a shock mount for the mic if you can’t put it on a boom. It would make a big difference for those vibrations!

I use a keychron at work and it’s very good for the price. Not a heap to choose from in the 100% range but all very reasonably priced. If you’re after serious quietness you probably want linear switches but these are often pretty polarising to people. There’s no tactile click at all when you’ve activated the key. You might be surprised what you can get away with on VC though, I use a condenser mic and a keyboard with blue keys and generally have no problems with people hearing it. Good mic positioning on a boom helps a lot, and some new noise cancelling technologies are pretty excellent at blocking clicks. With a headset mic it would be really unlikely to be heard.

Every other EV I know has instant boot up, Volvo/polestar, Hyundai, rivian etc. I was under the impression this was pretty Universal for EVs. A huge amount of current model year cars in a similar price range also have remote keyless control functionality, even ICE cars.