Mars Curiosity Rover... to land 10:31 pm 8/5/2012 - Page 5

M'Sharak · August 6 2012, 06:41 AM

And Mars Odyssey is now out of contact, so that's all we get for now. It's good enough.

Edit:

Thumbnail pics:

https://twitter.com/JPMajor/status/2...755008/photo/1

YellowSubmarine · August 6 2012, 06:49 AM

M'Sharak wrote:

And Mars Odyssey is now out of contact, so that's all we get for now. It's good enough.

Those Martians ought to learn from us Earthlings and place their communication satellites in geostationary orbit the next time. I think we should sue them for placing our communications relay in a trajectory that leads to unstable communications. And why did they provide only one? That's not a way to greet our ambassador.

Good thing they're correcting this by purchasing a new one from India.

HopefulRomantic · August 6 2012, 06:50 AM

I was able to see it live on NASA TV. Tremendous watching the roomful of nervous blue-shirted techs hanging on every word from the play-by-play guy as he ticked off every stage -- all the same steps I went through when I played with the Eyes on the Solar System simulation today. And then the room erupting at touchdown. And the first images coming through within a couple of minutes! Amazing.

Ar-Pharazon · August 6 2012, 06:56 AM

Beautiful pics! Glad to see the belly-cam is looking at the ground and not the sky

Here's hoping Curiosity lasts as long as it's predecessors.

Psion · August 6 2012, 06:59 AM

YellowSubmarine wrote:

Psion wrote:

I don't freaking believe it! Well done to the engineers who made that amazingly complicated landing sequence work!

I told you this crazy complicated thing had no chance of landing.

I showed the original Seven Minutes of Terror video to my wife and friends telling them how proud I was of NASA personnel for being so bold in their latest effort to put a new crater on Mars.

Now I have to eat crow, but I'm happy about it anyway.

YellowSubmarine · August 6 2012, 07:19 AM

Psion wrote:

I showed the original Seven Minutes of Terror video to my wife and friends telling them how proud I was of NASA personnel for being so bold in their latest effort to put a new crater on Mars.

I think that sentiment was a bit exaggerated. Sure, the more complicated you get the bigger the chance of failure because of a faulty component or a manufacturing mistake, but with the superb engineering and testing these things get through, the probability was very close to certain. That doesn't make it any less amazing, though. It's incredible that humanity is pulling such thing off. Astounding.

And, quite frankly, landing on Mars itself, regardless of the method, is a task that's incredibly more difficult than what the complexity that's apparent when watching this video. I still find it difficult to fully comprehend and appreciate how it happens at all.

By the way, for some reason, right after they said that the chute opened, I was sure that the spacecraft has landed safely and was already transmitting from the ground at that point.

Chris3123 · August 6 2012, 07:20 AM

News conference just started.

Albertese · August 6 2012, 07:27 AM

YellowSubmarine wrote:

Wheaton does a much better job at this. Shatner is terrible.

Really? I liked Wheaton's reading, but I thought Shatner's was waaaaay better. You can see his 50 years acting experience. It was interesting to see their different approaches to the same script.

Awesome that this thing landed and seems to be working. I'm looking forward to the results of the next couple years mission.

--Alex

Trekker4747 · August 6 2012, 07:34 AM

Congratulations to NASA and we all look forward to the secrets Curiosity will unlock!

Data Holmes · August 6 2012, 07:36 AM

HopefulRomantic wrote:

I was able to see it live on NASA TV. Tremendous watching the roomful of nervous blue-shirted techs hanging on every word from the play-by-play guy as he ticked off every stage -- all the same steps I went through when I played with the Eyes on the Solar System simulation today. And then the room erupting at touchdown. And the first images coming through within a couple of minutes! Amazing.

If you watched the feed closely, there was one blueshirt who fistpumped about a second or two before everyone erupted. He had to have been watching some data feed and knew it was a success just ever so slightly before the rest heard the confirmation.

Trekker4747 · August 6 2012, 07:39 AM

Data Holmes wrote:

HopefulRomantic wrote:

I was able to see it live on NASA TV. Tremendous watching the roomful of nervous blue-shirted techs hanging on every word from the play-by-play guy as he ticked off every stage -- all the same steps I went through when I played with the Eyes on the Solar System simulation today. And then the room erupting at touchdown. And the first images coming through within a couple of minutes! Amazing.

If you watched the feed closely, there was one blueshirt who fistpumped about a second or two before everyone erupted. He had to have been watching some data feed and knew it was a success just ever so slightly before the rest heard the confirmation.

Sort of like that extra in Generations.

Psion · August 6 2012, 07:43 AM

YellowSubmarine wrote:

Psion wrote:

I showed the original Seven Minutes of Terror video to my wife and friends telling them how proud I was of NASA personnel for being so bold in their latest effort to put a new crater on Mars.

I think that sentiment was a bit exaggerated ... but with the superb engineering and testing these things get through, the probability was very close to certain.

About that superb engineering and testing ...

People make mistakes. Machines fail. This machine didn't and I'm enormously happy and proud that it didn't. But that didn't stop me from wincing every time the landing sequence was described and this was nothing close to a certain outcome.

Data Holmes · August 6 2012, 07:44 AM

Anyone else think of this The West Wing clip tonight?

J. Allen · August 6 2012, 07:45 AM

Yeah, I remember reading the landing sequence and my first thought was "they're going to do what?"

So when it was down to the last seconds, I think I forgot to breathe. Fortunately, everything worked out, and I'm just ecstatic!

Congratulations to NASA and may this be a giant leap forward in humanity's mission to find life elsewhere in the universe.

Data Holmes · August 6 2012, 07:58 AM

J. Allen wrote:

Yeah, I remember reading the landing sequence and my first thought was "they're going to do what?"

Ok, J. I totally read the "they're going to do what" of your post in the delivery of Tim Robbins as Merlin in Top Gun when, during the final dogfight, Maverick tells him he's bringing the MiG in closer.

You will know what I'm laughing at if you know the scene I'm talking about.

August 6 2012, 06:41 AM	#61
M'Sharak Definitely Herbert. Maybe. Location: Terra Inlandia	Re: Mars Curiosity Rover... to land 10:31 pm 8/5/2012 And Mars Odyssey is now out of contact, so that's all we get for now. It's good enough. Edit: Thumbnail pics: https://twitter.com/JPMajor/status/2...755008/photo/1 __________________ I have long felt that any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel or a play or a poem is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae or a banana split. — Kurt Vonnegut Last edited by M'Sharak; August 6 2012 at 06:50 AM. Reason: pics

August 6 2012, 06:50 AM	#63
HopefulRomantic Phloxist Moderator Location: celebrating Tohoshinki's 8th anniversary	Re: Mars Curiosity Rover... to land 10:31 pm 8/5/2012 I was able to see it live on NASA TV. Tremendous watching the roomful of nervous blue-shirted techs hanging on every word from the play-by-play guy as he ticked off every stage -- all the same steps I went through when I played with the Eyes on the Solar System simulation today. And then the room erupting at touchdown. And the first images coming through within a couple of minutes! Amazing. __________________ 2013 Enterprise Calendars! Rainbow Bridge ~ Now I am eleven cats old Strange New Worlds 10: "The Dream"

August 6 2012, 06:56 AM	#64
Ar-Pharazon Admiral of the Rear	Re: Mars Curiosity Rover... to land 10:31 pm 8/5/2012 Beautiful pics! Glad to see the belly-cam is looking at the ground and not the sky Here's hoping Curiosity lasts as long as it's predecessors. __________________ Rimmer, on what period of history to live in- “Well, It’d be the 19th century for me, one of Napoleon’s marshals. The chance to march across Europe with the greatest general of all time and kill Belgians” - (White Hole).

August 6 2012, 07:20 AM	#67
Chris3123 Vice Admiral Location: Pensacola, Florida	Re: Mars Curiosity Rover... to land 10:31 pm 8/5/2012 News conference just started. __________________ "I can't tell the future, I just work there."

August 6 2012, 07:34 AM	#69
Trekker4747 To boldly go... Location: Kansas City	Re: Mars Curiosity Rover... to land 10:31 pm 8/5/2012 Congratulations to NASA and we all look forward to the secrets Curiosity will unlock! __________________ Just because it's futuristic doesn't mean it's practical.

STAR TREK

CSI

ABOUT US

August 6 2012, 07:44 AM	#73
Data Holmes Admiral Location: Elitist Social Darwinist	Re: Mars Curiosity Rover... to land 10:31 pm 8/5/2012 Anyone else think of this The West Wing clip tonight? __________________ Only solitary men know the full joys of friendship. Others have their family; but to a solitary and an exile his friends are everything. -Willa Cather SHADOWS ON THE ROCK

August 6 2012, 07:45 AM	#74
J. Allen Probably Satan™ Location: A Quantum State	Re: Mars Curiosity Rover... to land 10:31 pm 8/5/2012 Yeah, I remember reading the landing sequence and my first thought was "they're going to do what?" So when it was down to the last seconds, I think I forgot to breathe. Fortunately, everything worked out, and I'm just ecstatic! Congratulations to NASA and may this be a giant leap forward in humanity's mission to find life elsewhere in the universe. __________________ “In all of the time forward, and backward, throughout the universe, we have all been alive and dead, and all at the same time.”