Discussion Board

Curiosity has landed on Mars!

I've always been a space exploration enthusiast. I got up at 4 am to watch the first shuttle launch in 1981. I was riveted to NASA TV when the Galileo space craft entered orbit around Jupiter in 1995. And last night, I was there for the "seven minutes of terror" as the largest rover ever safely landed on Mars.

Here's a very cool montage, using some 3d animation cut in with control room footage of the landing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9hXqzkH7YA

That gives me goose bumps.

The end of the shuttle era was such a sad moment, to me. To see this amazingly ambitious technology succeed is such a shot in the arm for American space exploration.

Thanks for posting - I'm fascinated by this too.

Here's an image that blows my mind.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia ... ageID=4242

It's Curiosity hanging under it's parachute captured from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that just happened to be overhead as Curiosity was descending. That's not CGI or animation. That's an actual photo of one space craft reaching Mars captured by another already in orbit there. 154 million miles away!

I've found the JPL twitter feed "from the rover" to be worthwhile -- @MarsCuriosity

It lets me know when there is something new to check out: images, press conferences, etc.

The feed alerted me to look at today's clever Google Doodle --
Read the caption. Look at the small image just above the capitol "G."

I've really enjoyed watching the progress of SpaceX -- Falcon 1, Falcon 9, Dragon, etc. They have done a pretty good job in keeping the general public informed via twitter, live video, etc.

It is wonderful to see America going back to space, especially with private industry in the lead. Last week's funding of Boeing, SpaceX and others is real progress. NASA/JPL is great for science missions like Curiosity, but space trucks/buses should be done by vendors.

I visited the Rockwell shuttle assembly areas back in the late 70s. I'm glad to see it retired. Reminded me of a camel -- a horse designed by a committee. It never came close to meeting any of the design goals, whether safety, turnaround time, costs, military payloads, etc.

It is vital to lower the cost of getting payloads to orbit, but the pork-laden NASA process can't do that. Elon Musk & SpaceX seem to understand how to do it.
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Another interesting tweet "from" Curiosity --

Yeah, sadly it was becoming a dinosaur. I remember early on someone in the space program commenting that the shuttle was like the Chevy El Camino - not really a car, not really a truck. But still... so amazing to see it do it's thing. Every launch and landing was exciting, to me.

I think tourism will eventually have a lot to do with advancements in space travel. Richard Branson's support of Space Port America will hopefully help to usher in that reality.

Absolutely.

Virgin/Scaled Composites winning the X-prize for the first privately funded human space flight was a very impressive thing. When you get geniuses like Rutan and Branson working together, big things happen. Kind of like the old Skunk Works.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaled_Composites_SpaceShipOne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunk_works

The press conference said that Curiosity only got 90 watts from its RTG (nuclear) power source, so it had to rely on solar cells and a battery to store up enough power to move, which takes 130 watts. One reason for the "wimpy" computer is to keep power consumption low.

The computer is roughly as powerful as an Apple iBook G3 from 13 years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBook
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Edit: added following
Extreme nerdiness warning!!!

"Inside NASA’s Curiosity: It’s an Apple Airport Extreme… with wheels"
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/134041-inside-nasas-curiosity-its-an-apple-airport-extreme-with-wheels

Mars Panorama - Curiosity rover: Martian solar day 2. Click & drag to view the image. Zoom in & out w/ control on upper left. Click the "X" in upper right of label box to remove box.

http://www.360cities.net/image/curiosity-rover-martian-solar-day-2#60.13,30.46,110.0

Amazing!

Thank you.

That Panoramic view blew my socks off when I saw it on the news.

Yes, I confuse - I'm a space nerd, working in the Space, Science and Technology field. I've been in the space field for over 20 yrs. Wish I could say I was a rocket scientist, but just an admirer of them.

I became a space buff early in my years, like 1st grade, I believe, with the start of our space program and using humans. We would stop everything in school to watch.

Some of the dreams and thoughts of industry out there today is great.

FYI: Article -- "NASA Coverage Set For Oct. 7 SpaceX Launch To Space Station"
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/28/4864028/nasa-coverage-set-for-oct-7-spacex.html#storylink=cpy

I've enjoyed watching SpaceX launches, orbital activity, and reentry coverage on NASA TV streaming video via Ustream (also on some satellite and cable systems). The SpaceX twitter feed can be useful, too. They put edited packages on youtube after their live streams.

Curiosity has sent back pictures of sunset on Mars...VERY cool.

One of the coolest things I've ever seen was Saturn through a telescope. Now, the pictures that Voyager took were wonderful. I think Saturn is one of God's greatest inventions and close-up, color pictures of it are wonderful to behold, but when I peered into the eyepiece one night, out in the flatlands west of SLC, and they had this little white dot with bulging sides lined up in the lens...and i was looking at THE planet Saturn, right then and there...

THAT was cool. Just black, with a white dot. Cooler than all the close-up color pictures ever.