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[EarsOfASnake]

Some of those reporters were assholes this evening. They just want pictures, period. They don't care about anything else.

Take the landing animation for instance. Now this might be from my ignorance in the subject but I have never seen anything like that before and it was amazing to me. The crazy landing sequence they settled on actually worked and we got a video of it and higher res/more frames to follow. This didn't come from down the street, another country or the other side of the earth. It came from thousands of miles away on another planet via radio waves bounced from a satalite.

Like I said maybe its because this is somewhat new to me but I can't understand how someone can come out with a question along the lines of 'so when are you actually going to do something?!'. Show some respect for goodness sake.

 

[Randdalf]

 

[drizzle]

What is the main difference with this rover ? I mean there has been others before.

Does it has more equipment? or can climb higher places??

You should read some of that wikipedia:

Curiosity is about twice as long and five times as massive as the Spirit and Opportunity Mars exploration rovers,[15] and carries over ten times the mass of scientific instruments.[16] The MSL spacecraft that transported it to Mars successfully carried out a more accurate landing than previous rovers
It is designed to explore for at least 687 Earth days (1 Martian year) over a range of 5 by 20 km (3.1 by 12 mi).[20] A manager said in a JPL press conference on August 5 that since there are no components that need replenishing, he now believes that the rover will last up to the limit the parts were tested for, which is four years.

The general analysis strategy begins with high resolution cameras to look for features of interest. If a particular surface is of interest, Curiosity can vaporize a small portion of it with an infrared laser and examine the resulting spectra signature to query the rock's elemental composition. If that signature intrigues, the rover will use its long arm to swing over a microscope and an X-ray spectrometer to take a closer look. If the specimen warrants further analysis, Curiosity can drill into the boulder and deliver a powdered sample to the analytical laboratory (SAM) inside the rover.[58] The highly sensitive SAM analyser has a limit of 74 sample cups.[59][60]

No rover ever had the hability to remotely analyse a sample. No rover ever had the hability to drill down on a rock (Spirit and Curiosity would just shave of a small piece of the surface of said rock) to acquire better samples.

It's better at finding usable samples, it's better at analyzing them, it's better at taking pictures of it.

Lemme recapitulate and answer your question on a small phrase: IT SHOOTS LASERS AT ROCKS

 

[FACE]

Take the landing animation for instance. Now this might be from my ignorance in the subject but I have never seen anything like that before and it was amazing to me. The crazy landing sequence they settled on actually worked and we got a video of it and higher res/more frames to follow. This didn't come from down the street, another country or the other side of the earth. It came from thousands of miles away on another planet via radio waves bounced from a satalite.

Like I said maybe its because this is somewhat new to me but I can't understand how someone can come out with a question along the lines of 'so when are you actually going to do something?!'. Show some respect for goodness sake.

Hundreds of millions, actually.

Edit: Can someone answer me if NASA will publish their scientific results in papers like CERN does? I may not understand what's written there, but I sure as hell want to read them.

 

[owlbeak]

Take the landing animation for instance. Now this might be from my ignorance in the subject but I have never seen anything like that before and it was amazing to me. The crazy landing sequence they settled on actually worked and we got a video of it and higher res/more frames to follow. This didn't come from down the street, another country or the other side of the earth. It came from thousands of miles away on another planet via radio waves bounced from a satalite.

Like I said maybe its because this is somewhat new to me but I can't understand how someone can come out with a question along the lines of 'so when are you actually going to do something?!'. Show some respect for goodness sake.

Every time is more exciting to me. I've watched the Mars landings since Pathfinder, and it's always thrilling and exciting. Everything about it, especially the science.

I suspect a lot of these people get assigned to cover this and they couldn't give less of a damn about the subject.

 

[BlueSummers]

The shadow on the right looks like a robot. Optimus Prime on Mars?

 

[FACE]

Every time is more exciting to me. I've watched the Mars landings since Pathfinder, and it's always thrilling and exciting. Everything about it, especially the science.

I suspect a lot of these people get assigned to cover this and they couldn't give less of a damn about the subject.

The fact that this thing landed blows my mind every time I think about it and those guys were all "meh, were's my pictures?". SMH.

 

[EarsOfASnake]

Hundreds of millions, actually.

As I was writing it I thought to myself 'this is way too small a distance'. I was trying to keep my composure instead of saying 'so very fucking far away!'

Every time is more exciting to me. I've watched the Mars landings since Pathfinder, and it's always thrilling and exciting. Everything about it, especially the science.

I suspect a lot of these people get assigned to cover this and they couldn't give less of a damn about the subject.

This is the first time I have had more than a fleeting interest and even then it only picked up over the weekend. I just fail to understand how this doesn't blow people away even if they know very little. I guess it's an extreme example of the Louis ck bit about how everything is amazing and no one is happy.

 

[duderon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGMDXy-Y1I

Holy shit. Amazing!

 

[owlbeak]

People are spoiled, as well. On Earth we're used to instant everything. Unfortunately, that doesn't apply when you're dealing with low bandwidth communication, even at the speed of light, over millions of miles.

 

[DrForester]

Didn't he cut NASA's budget? Or wanted to?

Did, is, wants to.

 

[CFMOORE!]

The shadow on the right looks like a robot. Optimus Prime on Mars?

dude, that shadow is fucking awesome. no way they can hide what is really there.

 

[FACE]

You guys realize that's a 'shop, right?

I'm not very good at picking sarcasm on the internet.

 

[Quazar]

Here's Descent Video

 

[CFMOORE!]

You guys realize that's a 'shop, right?

I'm not very good at picking sarcasm on the internet.

boo. i've been back and forth from my desk all day at work and get to refresh this thread for like 5mins before having to work again. i took the pic at face value!

 

[FACE]

boo. i've been back and forth from my desk all day at work and get to refresh this thread for like 5mins before having to work again. i took the pic at face value!

Here's the proper pic.

 

[duderon]

Did, is, wants to.

This is bullshit. The country demanded budget cuts. Obama and Congress obliged. This is not one person's fault.

 

[owlbeak]

This is bullshit. The country demanded budget cuts. Obama and Congress obliged. This is not one person's fault.

He also cancelled Constellation, fwiw. I support Obama, and voted for the guy, but he's been atrocious in regards to NASA, and you can't argue that. I'm sorry. You don't see him out there making a case for NASA in front of Congress, either, so he shares the responsibility.

 

[Oozer3993]

That descent video is mind boggling amazing.

Got to think the military has/had developed some type of spaceplane. I mean, what have they been testing at Groom Lake since they finished with the F-117 in the early 80s?

They've been testing a spaceplane, the Boeing X-37. It just got back from over a year in orbit.

And a private company, Sierra Nevada Corporation, is making the Dream Chaser:

They just got over $200 million in seed funding from NASA. It could be ready for crewed flight as early as 2016

 

[Bowdz]

Obama has seriously been a terrible president as far as NASA goes.

What boggles my mind is that Obama is trying to cut the planetary science budget by $800 million despite the fact that NASA literally exemplifies EVERYTHING in his current campaign message:
- Demonstrates the importance of government investment by funding high capital/risk tasks which individuals can't do
- Keeps high tech, white collar engineering jobs in the US
- Keeps manufacturing in the US
- The COTS/CCiCap programs utilize the best (IMO) method for funding future programs with a truly competitive milestone based agreement. They are fantastic at bringing out the best in private industry
- Excites the youth in a way nothing else can and encourages them to pursue careers in STEM fields
- There is no greater source of national pride than NASA

Honestly, the two pieces of news from the US that got the most news/positive buzz from around the world were SpaceX's COTS2+ ISS mission in May and Curiosity's landing. Obama should be campaigning on funding NASA. Be bold Obama.

 

[akira28]

He also cancelled Constellation, fwiw.

I didn't even like Constellation. And I certainly don't blame Obama for it getting clipped. Imagine it like a single mom talks her kids up about Disney world, Mickey Mouse, Space Mountain, and all about how great it would be to go, even shows then videos, maps, etc. Then she drops them off at their father's house, and tells the kids to ask him to take them.

Bush showed up with these plans and it would have been marvelous if he had planned on securing funding for them. Then he leaves, the economic game breaks apart, and the next President is expected to keep pushing these old plans? And they weren't even really great plans? Just kind of, adequate? I completely support him making changes, as long as we still make forward progress with manned flight. Private industry kind of got sucked into the vacuum and they're doing well so far. I say, before we demonize Obama for ending NASA, maybe consider he could ber pruning a rosebush instead of cutting down an old tree.

Bring back the Delta Clipper.

Fuck you know how hard it was to get the DC-X up by google image searching NASA and Delta and Space Craft? I'm not kidding, half of the links were for Star Trek. It wasn't a popular failure. It wasn't even a total failure, just politically awkward and troublesome during testing.

 

[Mackenzie 92]

He also cancelled Constellation, fwiw. I support Obama, and voted for the guy, but he's been atrocious in regards to NASA, and you can't argue that. I'm sorry. You don't see him out there making a case for NASA in front of Congress, either, so he shares the responsibility.

Unfortunately he has to pick his battles and NASA has suffered, but what did they have to show for 10 billion spent on Constellation?

Also, had the dems not lost the majority in 2010, things would have been different. Getting anything pass the current congress is a futile effort.

 

[duderon]

He also cancelled Constellation, fwiw. I support Obama, and voted for the guy, but he's been atrocious in regards to NASA, and you can't argue that. I'm sorry. You don't see him out there making a case for NASA in front of Congress, either, so he shares the responsibility.

He's a pragmatist, he knows that the majority of the country doesn't give a shit what NASA does. They just want to know he is trying to reduce the country's debt and with that they want him to cut NASA's budget. I also never said Obama is not part of the problem. He is not the sole person responsible for NASA's budget issues, however. Which DrForester and Tom_Cody seem to be harping on.

 

[DrForester]

Unfortunately he has to pick his battles and NASA has suffered, but what did they have to show for 10 billion spent on Constellation?

Also, had the dems not lost the majority in 2010, things would have been different. Getting anything pass the current congress is a futile effort.

Constellation was on Obama's chopping block for a while.

As for what 10 billion got them. 6 years of R&D into a new generation of rockets, and a successful test launch of a rocket. Not to mention all the progress made on the Orion spacecraft.

 

[owlbeak]

He's a pragmatist, he knows that the majority of the country doesn't give a shit what NASA does. They just want to know he is trying to reduce the country's debt and with that they want him to cut NASA's budget. I also never said Obama is not part of the problem. He is not the sole person responsible for NASA's budget issues, however. Which DrForester and Tom_Cody seem to be harping on.

The responsible thing for him to do would be to explain how miniscule NASA's budget is and/or take a stand like a man and explain why we need NASA to drive innovation.

I won't give him, or congress, a pass for being a coward.

 

[Karma Kramer]

The responsible thing for him to do would be to explain how miniscule NASA's budget is and/or take a stand like a man and say we need this to drive innovation.

I won't give him, or congress, a pass for being a coward.

This is my problem with Obama, he is always playing the politics instead of being a driving force/leader. It's like if things were ideal, then Obama would be great, but if he's not even willing to stand up and fight for whats right then what's the point of being president in this political climate? The right and GOP sure have no problem screaming made up facts and backing up illogical concepts...

 

[DrForester]

This is my problem with Obama, he is always playing the politics instead of being a driving force/leader. It's like if things were ideal, then Obama would be great, but if he's not even willing to stand up and fight for whats right then what's the point of being president in this political climate? The right and GOP sure have no problem screaming made up facts and backing up illogical concepts...

NASA really isn't a partisan issue. There are people on both sides who are for more funding, and against more funding. NASA is also smart by having parts and components made in nearly every state so any cuts mean cuts on jobs.

 

[Mackenzie 92]

Constellation was on Obama's chopping block for a while.

As for what 10 billion got them. 6 years of R&D into a new generation of rockets, and a successful test launch of a rocket. Not to mention all the progress made on the Orion spacecraft.

That's not a lot to show for 10 billion.

The responsible thing for him to do would be to explain how miniscule NASA's budget is and/or take a stand like a man and explain why we need NASA to drive innovation.

I won't give him, or congress, a pass for being a coward.

It's cool that you're passionate about it, but that's just a silly thing to say.

 

[Rentahamster]

That's not a lot to show for 10 billion.

relative to what?

The entire shuttle program cost $196 billion, and the space station cost is $150 billion.

 

[luxarific]

Landing video if you missed the stream showing, like I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGMDXy-Y1I&feature=player_embedded

Great page about the camera that took the stills, MARDI.

Someone should the scary Inception music from the Seven Minutes of Terror vid.

 

[Log4Girlz]

Landing video if you missed the stream showing, like I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGMDXy-Y1I&feature=player_embedded

Great page about the camera that took the stills, MARDI.

Someone should the scary Inception music from the Seven Minutes of Terror vid.

So much win...so much win.

 

[owlbeak]

That's not a lot to show for 10 billion.




It's cool that you're passionate about it, but that's just a silly thing to say.

Well, we'll agree to disagree. I don't want to shit up this thread with politics and would rather focus on the awesome science rover sitting on Mars right now.

 

[everyday math]

Here's Descent Video

So awesome!!!

 

[Bowdz]

I've literally been watching the video for the past hour on repeat and I'm still in awe. Utterly UNBELIEVABLE to see the heat shield fall away from Curiosity. I swear to god, there just needs to be some sort of NASA tax that gets directly funneled to NASA's budget. I can only dream of seeing more landing videos like this in the future on different bodies.

 

[Log4Girlz]

I've literally been watching the video for the past hour on repeat and I'm still in awe. Utterly UNBELIEVABLE to see the heat shield fall away from Curiosity. I swear to god, there just needs to be some sort of NASA tax that gets directly funneled to NASA's budget. I can only dream of seeing more landing videos like this in the future on different bodies.

I have sad news for you regarding American priorities.

 

[Bowdz]

I have sad news for you regarding American priorities.

It is depressing to have Curiosity's landing happen a few weeks after a poll came out that 40% of our country believes in young earth creationism (not that it has any direct correlation to NASA, but it is a nice dichotomy of the various ends of the spectrum when it comes to science in the US).

 

[Slayer-33]

Here's another one just for fun. Braun in front of the Saturn V's engines.

That's just fucking insane.

I can't imagine standing next to that fucking rocket if it was in a launch position.

Madness

 

[Ramma2]

Landing video if you missed the stream showing, like I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGMDXy-Y1I&feature=player_embedded

Great page about the camera that took the stills, MARDI.

Someone should the scary Inception music from the Seven Minutes of Terror vid.

Arg I can't get the youtube video to load!

 

[mdphilli]

That's not a lot to show for 10 billion.

Is ten billion dollars supposed to automatically put a man on Mars? $10 billion is a drop in the bucket. What did you want them to show you? Massive projects like Constellation take a lot of money AND time. R&D pays off in the long-term, not the short-term.

 

[Rewrite]

Man that video is great! Amazing stuff.

 

[EatChildren]

*sigh* For my feet to touch the soil of another planet and my eyes to gaze across the horizons.

Perhaps my children's children will have this honour.

 

[Fusebox]

Did you miss Optimus?

 

[beast786]

You must have balls of steal to be the first man mission to mars.

Imagine night time in mars by yourself.

 

[EatChildren]

Did you miss Optimus?

I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to hang out with Transformers.

Spoiler

Yes .

 

[Log4Girlz]

*sigh* For my feet to touch the soil of another planet and my eyes to gaze across the horizons.

Perhaps my children's children will have this honour.

There is more than meets the eye in that picture.

 

[Fusebox]

Spoiler

Yes .

I thought that was a particularly straight reply to a funny pic.

 

[1stStrike]

I'm really excited about the prospects of this project and for the future. I've seen some hype for what we could potentially do on mars and the big one is colonization and/or simply manned trips.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that we'll never see colonization of mars on any real scale. What I can see us doing, however, is harvesting the resources of mars and bringing them back to earth (this is obviously a long ways out and not any time soon). Perhaps a space station orbiting mars with some mining in safe areas and small, hardened shelters for humans to live in when they're working on the surface.

Since mars has a thinner atmosphere than earth it's much more prone to all kinds of space debris crashing into the planet, which would be detrimental to any kind of structures we have on the surface (and that of human life). As Nasa stated in their video, there's just enough atmosphere to slow an object down, but it's just not enough - many will still get through, as evidenced by the surface of the planet.

Next, the weather patterns and storms. From what I can see there's some really nasty storms on the planet and there's no telling what kind of adverse affects they would have on people and objects if they're caught in them. With all that red sand flying about, it would be hard to keep it out of anything mechanical too and so a lot of things would probably break down without constant maintenance.

Just some random thoughts based on what I know of Mars. I'm of course not a scientist and I could potentially be wrong, but I just don't see us ever just up and moving to mars - compared to earth, it would be pretty much suicide for us to go there. If we fuck up this planet we're screwed.

 

[Log4Girlz]

I'm really excited about the prospects of this project and for the future. I've seen some hype for what we could potentially do on mars and the big one is colonization and/or simply manned trips.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that we'll never see colonization of mars on any real scale. What I can see us doing, however, is harvesting the resources of mars and bringing them back to earth (this is obviously a long ways out and not any time soon). Perhaps a space station orbiting mars with some mining in safe areas and small, hardened shelters for humans to live in when they're working on the surface.

Since mars has a thinner atmosphere than earth it's much more prone to all kinds of space debris crashing into the planet, which would be detrimental to any kind of structures we have on the surface (and that of human life). As Nasa stated in their video, there's just enough atmosphere to slow an object down, but it's just not enough - many will still get through, as evidenced by the surface of the planet.

Next, the weather patterns and storms. From what I can see there's some really nasty storms on the planet and there's no telling what kind of adverse affects they would have on people and objects if they're caught in them. With all that red sand flying about, it would be hard to keep it out of anything mechanical too and so a lot of things would probably break down without constant maintenance.

Just some random thoughts based on what I know of Mars. I'm of course not a scientist and I could potentially be wrong, but I just don't see us ever just up and moving to mars - compared to earth, it would be pretty much suicide for us to go there. If we fuck up this planet we're screwed.

Mars will be heavily colonized in 250 years. Along with all major rocky bodies with the exception of Venus, that one will take longer.

 

[Pimpwerx]

How can you blame Obama? Blame NASA and the American people. Tax cuts are more popular than the space program. NASA's done little to convince the populace of their importance. Even this new mission has a been there, done it twice feel to it.

"LOOK! Another rock hunt. Give us more money...we'll do something cool and interesting with it...we swear. I mean...LOOK...this rover's totally bigger than the others. The next one we send will be the size of a bus. Hey! Wake up."

Promise people percent tax cuts and they'll joygasm. People don't complain much when education gets put on the chopping blocks during budget cuts, so why expect them to care about NASA? I love science, and even I'm bored with Mars. PEACE.

 

[Oozer3993]

Mars will be heavily colonized in 250 years. Along with all major rocky bodies with the exception of Venus, that one will take longer.

And Europa. For some reason everyone at NASA gets all jumpy when you mention landing on Europa.