I love this sort of thing. I hope I get to watch some of it live, but the odds are not good due to the pigroast and leaving for the cabin for a couple days right after. Hopefully there will be plenty of info sources later.
http://www.weather.com/news/nasa-mars-rover-20120731
I will look forward to it and pray for its success. Looks "touch and go"
Thanks for the heads up.
That's the kind of "news" that I find fascinating. To be honest, I find myself watching more of the weather channel than regular TV, because they also have excellent coverage of the drought and follow up on storm damage.
I'll be tuning in! :)
I didn't realize it was this weekend. Thanks for the heads up, Jeff!
8.5 months seems like a relatively short time to reach Mars. I too pray for success. I remember watching Carl Sagan talk about Mars landing. Cool stuff Jeff, thanks.
I got mixed up, thought I was watching a live feed from mars, but it was live from the pig roast. :D :D
I can think of nothing more nerve-racking than what those guys are going to experience tonight!
And to think the Spirit and Opportunity Mars land rovers lasted so much longer than expected on Mars. Hoped for 90 days but Spirit went for 6 years and Opportunity is still going. Apparently even acting as a helper in communicating with Curiosity landing. A bit of a stretch of the old gray matter to think of the electronics that must be involved. Look forward to hearing good news on Curiosity tonight.
Landing just about two hours from now. According to this link, can watch it on NASA TV, or looks like Facebook maybe.
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/
.. and I don't even have to stay up as late as you guys to know if the landing is successful :) :).
Watching live now. Entry into Mars atmo in 30 seconds.
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/nasatv/
Touchdown. :) Now I want to see some pictures.
See they got two low res pictures before it went out of contact, I assume until Mars rotates, but it's right side up and on it's wheels, so it's doing better than average so far :D
Yup! They got one higher res pic from the craft that lowered Curiosity onto the surface. The lens had a bunch of dust on it but you could see one of the wheels and the horizon.
smiley_thumbsup
Didn't have any way to watch it, but I had NASA's countdown clock running on their web page. About two minutes after it landed (exactly on time!) the following message popped up:
Curiosity Lands on Mars
Sun, 05 Aug 2012 10:32:54 PM PDT
NASA's Curiosity rover has landed on Mars! Its descent-stage retrorockets fired, guiding it to the surface. Nylon cords lowered the rover to the ground in the "sky crane" maneuver. When the spacecraft sensed touchdown, the connecting cords were severed, and the descent stage flew out of the way. The time of day at the landing site is mid-afternoon -- about 3 p.m. local Mars time at Gale Crater. The time at JPL's mission control is about 10:31 p.m. Aug. 5 PDT (early morning EDT).
Here's the link http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html)
I had to chuckle at all the rocket scientists sitting in mission control pretending to do something.
The probe was on autopilot as it's 11 mins for a radio signal to reach it. So if something went wrong, it would have gone splat before a command could reach it.
The only guy doing anything remotely useful was one reading the progress off the screen. :D
They could have all gone to the pub and watched it on their iphones, and had a head start on the celebration or commiseration, depending on what happened ;)
Ian
I stayed up late and got this picture from the new lander....
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10427/Marvin_the_Martian.jpg)
:D
That's cool stuff!
Let's hope Wolowitz doesn't put this rover in a ditch like he did the previous one. :D
Quote from: Norm on August 06, 2012, 07:35:17 AM
I stayed up late and got this picture from the new lander....
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10427/Marvin_the_Martian.jpg)
Pretty good Norm, :D :D :D :D
:D :D :D. I love it!
Quote from: Norm on August 06, 2012, 07:35:17 AM
I stayed up late and got this picture from the new lander....
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10427/Marvin_the_Martian.jpg)
I knew it, I just knew it, Daffy Duck was sent to Mars on a secret mission. Thanks Norm for the conformation.
I think Norm is talking about "MARVIN".
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/24625/marvin.gif)
Billionaire, Dennis Tito, said he's putting up a large chunk of change to build a vehicle to take a 2 man crew on a 500 day mission to Mars in 2018. That's not far away. ;D
Just Google it, it's all over the web.
Maybe they will bring Marvin and the Pooch back.
I'd like to be one of the two guys that goes first. :)
When he was asked if he wanted to go to, he said he wasn't qualified. :D ;)
We were at sea, underway on the USS ROOSEVELT in 2001-2002 for 159 days straight. I could not imagine 500 days with only one other person.
They are looking for a married couple to make the 500 day journey in a capsule not-much-bigger than a minivan :-X :-*
Will the divorce lawyer(s) be at command central 24/7? :D
Quote from: Sprucegum on February 27, 2013, 10:56:02 PM
They are looking for a married couple to make the 500 day journey in a capsule not-much-bigger than a minivan :-X :-*
What happens if a baby enters the picture en route? ;D
Like my mother would say, don't keep mixed company in close quarters. Unless you like surprises. ;D
They are supposed to be past child bearing age. Still ::)
That's what they thought in that movie, "Jurassic Park", too. Look how that ended! :D :D :D
On a long trip I would tell my kids "Behave or I will leave you here on the side of the road!"
17 cubic metres = 600 cubic feet. Or 7-1/2' x 8' x 10'. I don't think baked beans or chile should be on the menu.