View Full Version : Curiousity Mars Probe
Tonight Curiousity will enter Mars atmosphere and attempt to lower it's rover to the ground using a "sky crane" from about 60 feet. It's a clever way to solve the problem of trying to land a 2000 pound rover but it all has to be done automatically since it takes 14 minutes for signals to get from the Mars to Earth. By the time they get word that the spacecraft has entered the atmosphere it will be either landed successfully or... not.
http://getcurious.com/
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Hoping like heck this doesn't end up like Mars Observer.
-Kevin
Hoping like heck this doesn't end up like Mars Observer.
-Kevin
Indeed. There is nothing else in the pipeline. Last Mars visit for a while.
Opportunity is still on duty, hopefully Curiosity will have similar good fortune. :thumbup:
datachicane
08-05-12, 09:18 PM
DirecTV sucks. As of last Friday the NASA channel, while still standard-def, is now only available with HD programming packages. Nice timing. Guess it's time for my annual threaten-to-quit discount extortion routine anyway.
DirecTV sucks. As of last Friday the NASA channel, while still standard-def, is now only available with HD programming packages. Nice timing. Guess it's time for my annual threaten-to-quit discount extortion routine anyway.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
:)
-Kevin
The nuclear-powered Curiosity, the size of a small car, is packed with scientific tools, cameras and a weather station. It sports a robotic arm with a power drill, a laser that can zap distant rocks, a chemistry lab to sniff for the chemical building blocks of life and a detector to measure dangerous radiation on the surface.
100% Badass. :D
http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/1179/aliensapc.jpg
"Touchdown confirmed. We're safe on Mars"
chop456
08-06-12, 02:48 AM
Self-congratulatory presser on NASA TV now.
Website seems swamped.
Little too much hugging and high fiving for my taste. My NASA heroes of the 60s and 70s would have had some cheers, a round of applause, emptied the ashtrays, lit up another cigarette, and then got back to their slide rules.
Little too much hugging and high fiving for my taste. My NASA heroes of the 60s and 70s would have had some cheers, a round of applause, emptied the ashtrays, lit up another cigarette, and then got back to their slide rules.
Quote needs coffee in it too. :p
Congrats to NASA and JPL. :thumbup:
emo engineers with mohawks. :rofl:
Still, I would rather have the nerd drama than a smoking impact crater.
They done good.
Curiousity Cam (http://www.ustream.tv/NASAJPL)
Photo of the rover parachuting in... :eek::eek:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/06/tech/mars-rover-curiosity/index.html
http://i49.tinypic.com/1zp5mr7.jpg
Don Quixote
08-06-12, 02:57 PM
Photo of the rover parachuting in... :eek::eek:
No way. Filmed in the Nevada desert, just like the moon landing. :gomer:
No way. Filmed in the Nevada desert, just like the moon landing. :gomer:
Mr. Gorsky knows the landing really happened. :p
Related, in an off-topic way, my son needs to do a short report on his favorite Astronaut for Scouts. I showed him Buzz Aldrin's exchange with the landing-doubter. :laugh:
(google "good luck mr. gorsky" and youtube "buzz aldrin punch")
Today's Google Doodle has been updated a little. :D
Curiousity Cam (http://www.ustream.tv/NASAJPL)
They've been holding a press conference at that link for the past 25 minutes.
If you use Twitter, Curiosity is 'tweeting' at @MarsCuriosity
Opposite Lock
08-06-12, 08:23 PM
Today's Google Doodle has been updated a little. :D
Thanks for pointing that out. :thumbup: :cool:
Photo of the rover parachuting in... :eek::eek:
I wondered if they'd be able use one of the birds circling Mars to see it landing considering they've spotted Viking 2 from orbit. :thumbup:
-Kevin
Today's Google Doodle has been updated a little. :D
OK, I had to take a second, third and fourth look to spot that. :saywhat: :D
-Kevin
cameraman
08-06-12, 10:59 PM
That one is a keeper:laugh:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/Cynops/javelin-2012-hp-1.jpg
Today's Google Doodle has been updated a little. :D
I thought you meant the Kennedy Space Center tour that was underneath.
:shakehead to me.
Stop-motion of the descent (http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c1#/video/topvideos/2012/08/07/nasa-rover-drop-video.cnn)
I watched a special on the landing last night. What a Rube Goldberg landing operation.
First we enter using our heat shield, then we use a supersonic rated parachute as big as a football field. Cut the parachute and use the retro-rockets to come in slow and hover. Next the sky crane lowers the lander to the surface and the crane assembly rockets away.
:eek::laugh::saywhat::thumbup:
I watched a special on the landing last night. What a Rube Goldberg landing operation.
First we enter using our heat shield, then we use a supersonic rated parachute as big as a football field. Cut the parachute and use the retro-rockets to come in slow and hover. Next the sky crane lowers the lander to the surface and the crane assembly rockets away.
:eek::laugh::saywhat::thumbup:
I did some reading up last night on the Vikings, and it's amazing how much of this tech actually originated with the Viking landers in '76.
-Kevin
cameraman
08-17-12, 09:38 PM
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Napoleon
08-31-12, 03:45 PM
Location of parts of Mar's Science Lab and possible debrie kicked up on impact
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/images/Mars-curiosity-rover-overhead.jpg
cameraman
08-31-12, 06:20 PM
So when one of those huge windstorm kicks up I hope that parachute/backshell pair gets blown away from the rover:eek:
Napoleon
09-14-12, 02:18 PM
Ultra HD video has been released of landing.
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Beware of Jawas little droid.
Andrew Longman
09-14-12, 03:48 PM
I was surprised to hear sound. I didn't know Mars even had enough atmosphere (mostly CO2 I think) for sound.
Very cool. We've come a long way from the grainy b&w TV we got back from the moon.
I can't find a link but there was a cool WaPo article last week about the people who "drive" the rover... which isn't really driven. They write tons of code and ship it off as command which the rover of course gets hours later after they have left work to pick up kids at day care and the like. As impressive as it the rover mission is it is also healthy to remember that behind it there are a lot of ordinary people doing mundane things just like us.
Napoleon
09-14-12, 04:51 PM
I was surprised to hear sound. I didn't know Mars even had enough atmosphere (mostly CO2 I think) for sound.
Wiki says it is about 0.6% of Earths by pressure.
Napoleon
11-20-12, 05:44 PM
So on NPR this morning they has a piece where the scientist they were talking to about some soil analysis that has been done said that results they have gotten have been really exciting. They quoted him as saying "this data is gonna be one for the history books. It's looking really good" .
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/20/165513016/big-news-from-mars-rover-scientists-mum-for-now
I wonder what it maybe.
Insomniac
11-20-12, 08:38 PM
NOVA Special: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/ultimate-mars-challenge.html
Ultimate Mars Challenge
In its search for life beyond Earth, NASA employs a "sky crane" maneuver to land the Curiosity rover on Mars.
Program Description
Why go back to Mars? Far from dead, Mars holds untold potential. Nearly half a century of Mars exploration has yielded tantalizing clues that Mars may once have harbored life—and may harbor it still. The extraordinary landing of a revolutionary rover named Curiosity—which successfully touched down inside the Gale Crater—means we have wheels down on the planet once again, in the form of the most sophisticated robot ever to rove the Mars surface. Will NASA's bold mission and this marvel of technology answer some of our biggest questions and usher in a new golden age of exploration? NOVA goes behind the scenes on NASA’s quest to solve the riddles of the red planet.
Curiosity takes a vacation.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57578077-76/nasa-puts-mars-rover-on-a-month-long-hiatus/
-Kevin
Solar eclipse from Mars:
http://youtu.be/OyZoD7BRTtg
How cool is that? :thumbup:
Robots are an excellent way to explore the universe.
A linky Elmo sent a few few weeks ago.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/frame.html
And then this, which pisses me off to no end:
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/aug/21/nasa-sells-shuttle-launch-platforms
I've been digging NASA stuff the past few weeks prepping for my KSC visit in November. My counselor saw Endeavor in LaLa a few weeks ago and says the exhibit is very :cool:.
And then this, which pisses me off to no end:
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/aug/21/nasa-sells-shuttle-launch-platforms
If it helps any, I did read somewhere that NASA is hanging on to the actual crawlers.
If it helps any, I did read somewhere that NASA is hanging on to the actual crawlers.
Yes, I'm sure one will make it's way to Houston for a museum since y'all didn't get a shuttle. :saywhat:
Perhaps the future of 'our' space exploration.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/10288058/Japans-Kirobo-robot-takes-one-small-step.html
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