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NASA's Mars Science Laboratory |OT| 2,000 Pounds of Science!

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P

PjotrStroganov

Member
andylsun said:
It's not whited out in this image, strange

NRA_397681339EDR_F0020000AUT_04096M_.JPG
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I've seen it on pictures from earlier missions. It could be overexposure that gets filtered out by the camera.
 
R

R2D4

Banned
Does Curiosity have any microphones? Would it be possible to record sound from Mars. Like the wind blowing? That would blow my mind.
 
F

Fenderputty

Banned
Fine Ham Abounds said:
Personally, if we find life, I'm interested to see what the general consensus will be as to whether we can morally justify permanent human habitation on someone else's planet, even if they are billions of years removed from caring.
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We have no problem clearing rain forrests or habbiting any place we want on our own planet. What makes you think we won't have the same mentality to someone elses?
 
W

Winterblink

Member
birdcity said:
Yeap! They said in the press conference that there's apparently a layer of bedrock right below the surface layer of dust thanks to the thursters blowing all the dust off.
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Wow, that's actually an awesome opportunity (pun?) to study. Convenient too, no digging. :) I imagine they expected to fuss about where the engines blew away top layers anyway, still really neat to see it in these photos and with such clarity.
 
G

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
Salvor.Hardin said:
Can someone explain why this landing has been so widely lauded by the media and public? While I think it's fucking awesome, I don't recall the media and general public ever being so enthusiastic about anything related to mars. So it seems odd that everyone is singing praise this time.

Aside from the whole booster landing, is there a significant difference between this mission and previous rover missions that I've missed out on?
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We dropped a 2000 pound robotic science lab onto another planet via skycrane.... and that's only a tiny part of the landing sequence

It's by far the most ambitious and advanced deployment in NASA's history, the largest payload, and the most advanced robot.

Like, part of the problem with venturing out to explore other planets is getting stuff there without it getting destroyed in the process.

Getting off of Earth is easy, as is cruising through space (it's basically just letting the momentum from escaping earth's gravitational pull carry it towards its destination).

The more stuff you try to send to another celestial body, the greater the forces you have to overcome, the more precise your measurements have to be, the more complex and flawless your execution has to be.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Science_Laboratory


And yes, the landing sequence is part of the reason everyone is/was so excited.

It was a 7 minute long, completely automated sequence. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwinFP8_qIM&feature=fvwrel

If we are to deploy large rovers of masses that approach (or exceed) 1000 kilograms to exotic environments and a variety of solid and liquid surfaces (or even a gas giant), delivery systems as crazy as this one are going to be needed.
 
Rentahamster

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
Cromat said:
If there was life on Mars in the past it's very likely that there still is life somewhere in some exotic environment. It is unlikely however that a land rover such as Curiosity could ever encounter it directly though.
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That's what I mean :)

I really hope it happens, though, that would be sweet.


Although...you know, the upside to finding out that Mars truly is a sterile rock - we can then do whatever the hell we want without fear of cross contamination. Terraforming, ahoy!
 
O

owlbeak

Member
Anybody know the math to be able to figure out how much thrust needed to be generated by the skycrane to be able to lower a 2,000lbs rover to the ground while it hovered via propulsion (in the density of Mars' atmosphere)?
 
G

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
luoapp said:
F=mg?
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roughly, but you also need to account for center of gravity, loss of mass over time as the chemical compounds used to generate the thrust are converted into heat, speed/distance from the ground when the thrust is deployed (start it too late and you crash, start it too early and you need to stop and restart a lot more as you lower to the ground, using up more of your fuel...), the time needed to lower the rover, the change in the center of mass as the rover is lowered by the crane...)

But yeah, for simplicity, the mass of the rover + crane and the acceleration due to gravity on mars is sufficient. :)
 
O

owlbeak

Member
AstroNut325 said:
Not the complete answer but a starting point: Link
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Sorry, I should have clarified: can anyone else figure out that math? Hahaha. I couldn't ever do that :( It's like looking at an alien language. I wish so badly I could learn this type of stuff, but I struggled through Algebra II, that's as far as I got. I blame poor teachers.
 
F

Fine Ham Abounds

Member
Fenderputty said:
We have no problem clearing rain forrests or habbiting any place we want on our own planet. What makes you think we won't have the same mentality to someone elses?
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It's going to be a while before it's profitable to exploit Mars.

Mining the Moon will happen first. I'm wondering if the side of the Moon facing the Earth will be declared an (inter)national park so as to preserve it for future generations, or if it would be hundreds of years before we'd mine enough of it to even be visible to the naked eye at this distance.

PjotrStroganov said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_trilogy

Check these books out. Awesome realistic scifi about the colonization of Mars that, among others, covers your moral question.
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Much appreciated.
 
Rentahamster

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
AstroNut325 said:
Just cut off the air-conditioning for the US military for two days. There you go... 10 more Curiosity rovers.
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Yep...how depressing. I wonder what would have happened in an alternate universe where Bush said fuck the wars and after the space speech, increased NASA's budget by 10.
Insane Metal said:
Quoting because it's too important. I can't believe nobody actually cared about this! Come on guys.
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I would love to see this pan out. Most epic vindication ever.
 
F

FACE

Banned
Insane Metal said:
Relevant read:

Curiosity might prove we've already found life on Mars



Wow. That is really sad.
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I want to see his face if he's redeemed after 36 years.

birdcity said:
Sorry, I should have clarified: can anyone else figure out that math? Hahaha. I couldn't ever do that :( It's like looking at an alien language. I wish so badly I could learn this type of stuff, but I struggled through Algebra II, that's as far as I got. I blame poor teachers.
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I can try, but I'll be doing a fair bit of reading before attempting any calculations.

Edit: There are loads of variables involved and I don't think we have all that information. I gotta go deeper.
 
M

Manos: The Hans of Fate

Banned
AstroNut325 said:
http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/i-know-that-feel.jpg[/ig][/quote]
Yep

[quote]It still blows my mind. We sky-craned a 2000 lbs robot onto another planet. SKY-CRANE MAN... SKY-CRAAAAAANE![/QUOTE]

I know, there is something uniquely insane about pulling that off, and it fits well with the historical character of this country in trying crazy shit. :)

I'm just pissed due to work I haven't been able to follow it as much.


[quote="Rentahamster, post: 40780581"]Yep...how depressing. I wonder what would have happened in an alternate universe where Bush said fuck the wars and after the space speech, increased NASA's budget by 10.
[/QUOTE]
Or that Obama didn't cancel the plan.
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M

Manos: The Hans of Fate

Banned
T

Tom_Cody

Member
Quazar said:
Why haven't we went to the poles on Mars? I could of sworn that was our next target.
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A number of reasons.

When our crafts travel to Mars, their motion is in plane with the planet's rotation so it is more difficult (read: more expensive) for us to land crafts at higher lines of latitude.

Also, each mission is designed to fulfill a specific purpose. The current rover mission was designed for a landing in a region that had once held liquid water.

Besides, the Phoenix did already land relative close to Mars' north pole:

ybYLK.jpg
 
O

owlbeak

Member
Quazar said:
Why haven't we went to the poles on Mars? I could of sworn that was our next target.
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We sent the Mars Polar Lander in 1999 and lost communication with it prior to entry into the atmosphere of Mars.

On December 3, 1999, at 14:39:00 UTC, the last telemetry from Mars Polar Lander was sent, just prior to cruise stage separation and the subsequent atmospheric entry. No further signals were received from the spacecraft. Attempts were made by Mars Global Surveyor, to photograph the area the lander was believed to be. An object was visible and believed to possibly be the lander; however, subsequent imaging performed by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter resulted in the identified object being ruled out. Mars Polar Lander remains lost.[10][11]

The cause of the communication loss is not known. However, the Failure Review Board concluded that the most likely cause of the mishap was a software error that incorrectly identified vibrations, caused by the deployment of the stowed legs, as surface touchdown.[12] The resulting action by the spacecraft was the shutdown of the descent engines, while still likely 40 meters above the surface. Although it was known that leg deployment could create the false indication, the software's design instructions did not account for that eventuality.[13]
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The Phoenix lander was basically Polar Lander 2.0, as it carried refined versions of the instruments that were on the Polar Lander. Also, the name Phoenix was derived from the crash of the Polar Lander. :)
 
O

owlbeak

Member
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
Was that the billion dollar coding glitch or was than an ESA mission I'm thinking of?
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That was the $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter. Lockheed Martin engineering team used English units instead of Metric while NASA used metric for a very important spacecraft maneuver that would put the satellite in orbit. It missed. By a lot. :) Probably burned up in the atmosphere.
 
F

Fine Ham Abounds

Member
BruiserBear said:
Kind of cool to see the moment in this video where they show the actual heat shield during the construction of Curiosity, and then to see it in the high res pic during the descent through the atmosphere of Mars.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=d1coV7XqE1M#t=210s


http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=40769655&postcount=3365
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Iu9RL.jpg
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Even not having worked on this thing, my mind is totally blown contemplating these two images.
 
M

Manos: The Hans of Fate

Banned
birdcity said:
That was the $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter. Lockheed Martin engineering team used English units instead of Metric while NASA used metric for a very important spacecraft maneuver that would put the satellite in orbit. It missed. By a lot. :)
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Ah yes, I remember the conversion screw up now. On the bright side, it was kind of cheap... vs a space ship. .
 
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