• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Mr Swine

Banned
Branduil said:
What's with this picture?

iHJjv6OQ7cj0H.jpg
Click to expand...

"Look honey, I just found a giant Martian space poop!"

"let's take it home and digest it! For sience!"
 
L

Lovely Salsa

Banned
do we have the tech to send a machine to Europa and search for life in its ocean?

If we do, why don't we start saving money for that project? Mars is so boring
 
M

maquiladora

Member
Lovely Salsa said:
do we have the tech to send a machine to Europa and search for life in its ocean?

If we do, why don't we start saving money for that project? Mars is so boring
Click to expand...

At least this is something, just 21 years to go...

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

For Europa, the focus is on the chemistry essential to life, including organic molecules, and on understanding the formation of surface features and the composition of the non water-ice material. Furthermore, JUICE will provide the first subsurface sounding of the moon, including the first determination of the minimal thickness of the icy crust over the most recently active regions.
Click to expand...
 
G

Grym

Member
ShinHayase said:
I don't really understand.

Last week we got this awesome 360 picture we could move around and check out. On this picture you could clearly see tracks.

Now it is being testdriven for the first time?



Was the panorama a test on earth? What am I missing?
Click to expand...

The 360 panorama where you could see the sky and sun which had not yet been photographed and the horizon was missing the giant mountain? I don't remember tracks on it but wouldn't be surprised...a bunch of it was completely faked...holes in the images NASA hasn't downloaded yet were filled in with who knows what
 
L

Leeroy3101

Banned
The only disappointing, in a sense, part of this mission is how relaxed the first few weeks will be. I'm pretty sure that's why this topic has been Space |OT2| for the past few pages.

Hopefully things pickup by the middle of September.
 
P

PjotrStroganov

Member
Leeroy3101 said:
The only disappointing, in a sense, part of this mission is how relaxed the first few weeks will be. I'm pretty sure that's why this topic has been Space |OT2| for the past few pages.

Hopefully things pickup by the middle of September.
Click to expand...

It's quite a bit slower than previous missions yes. I can remember the problems they had when the sojourners airbag did't correctly deflate. Instant tension that lasted for a few days!
 
P

PantherLotus

Professional Schmuck
Didn't see this posted yet.

The definitive version of Curiosity's first color panorama:

mars_msl_Sols3_13_Mastcam34_m_postcard_bouic.jpg
Click to expand...

Curiosity's first color panoramic view of her landing site cut off the top of Gale's central mountain. It was taken on sol 3, the third full day of the mission, while the rover was still mostly executing pre-canned commands. On sol 13 (August 19), they shot several images to fill in the missing bits of the mountain, and yesterday the full-resolution versions of those images were finally returned to Earth.

Damien Bouic assembled them into a panorama, but I still found the jagged black upper border distracting. I asked him to fill in the sky to make the panoramic view more pleasing. Although part of the sky is artificial, I like this version a lot better. For me, this will be the definitive version of this mosaic, the one worth printing.
Click to expand...
 
N

noah111

Still Alive
PantherLotus said:
Didn't see this posted yet.

The definitive version of Curiosity's first color panorama:
Click to expand...
Mesmerizing. Looking at that barren terrain is like looking up at clouds; start to see all sorts of things. :lol It's hard to get an accurate sense of scale, though.

Wish someone would shop in 3d human figures, in a sort of row/single file line stretching all the way back.
 
M

Maklershed

Member
PantherLotus said:
Didn't see this posted yet.

The definitive version of Curiosity's first color panorama:
Click to expand...

Neat. BTW how awesome would that be if about 30 meters away from the camera you could see bleached bones on the ground. Like maybe what would look like mastodon bones. I wonder what would happen. Would we accelerate manned missions to Mars?
 
E

ElectricBlue187

Member
Maklershed said:
Neat. BTW how awesome would that be if about 30 meters away from the camera you could see bleached bones on the ground. Like maybe what would look like mastodon bones. I wonder what would happen. Would we accelerate manned missions to Mars?
Click to expand...

No. Finding 10 trillion gallons of sweet crude under the regolith, however...
 
P

PantherLotus

Professional Schmuck
Also, finding oil on Mars wouldn't do much for us here, and while I know you guys are being cynical, it would also mean we'd have a significant power source that would double as a potential atmosphere builder. It would mean we could accelerate our plans to go.
 
R

raiot

Member
PantherLotus said:
Also, finding oil on Mars wouldn't do much for us here, and while I know you guys are being cynical, it would also mean we'd have a significant power source that would double as a potential atmosphere builder. It would mean we could accelerate our plans to go.
Click to expand...

Finding oil on mars would mean that there was once an enormous amount of plants and animals on mars :p
 
M

Manos: The Hans of Fate

Banned
Insane Metal said:
3 days without any news... this is sad.
Click to expand...

News Conference Today
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20120824.html

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA will hold a televised news conference at 2 p.m. PDT (5 p.m.EDT), Monday, Aug. 27, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., about the activities of its Curiosity rover mission on Mars. The event will feature new images, an update of the rover's progress, and a special greeting by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

Televised news conferences are broadcast live on NASA TV and online at: http://www.nasa.gov/ and http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl

The Mars Curiosity team is operating on Mars time. The Martian day is about 40 minutes longer than an Earth day. Media events are scheduled based on team availability and are subject to change. Updates of event times will be posted at: http://go.nasa.gov/curiositytelecon

For information about NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, including the Curiosity rover, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl
Click to expand...
 
P

Parch

Member
It looks like the area is fairly free from hazards, at least until they get to the hills. Just small rocks and no big sand dunes to get caught in. They should be able to make good time if they want to get to the layered areas of the crater. I hope they're not planning on stopping at every damn rock along the way.
 
S

SquiddyCracker

Banned
Hm, does anyone know how many times the rover can analyse stones?
It utilizes a spectrometer when zapping stuff I think, but doesn't it also have a chemical lab on-board for ground samples?
I can't imagine they can test an infinite number of samples if they use various chemical processes on-board.
 
P

Partial Gamification

Banned
Manos: The Hans of Fate said:
It's magnicefent, why can't we fund NASA more. :( I want my daughter to live to see humans on Mars, even if I don't, thanks Barack!
Click to expand...
I agree that more funding would be welcome; however, to place the blame on one person is ridiculous. The Country is hurting for engineers, and for a lawyer to blame another lawyer that we don't have plans for a manned mission to Mars is unfair. Maybe the President could have done more but in light of the past four years, it would have done more harm to his Administration than good (and it hurts me to say it). McDonald Douglas will be retiring more engineers in the next few years than all the engineering schools in the Country can graduate. The reasons, plural, why we don't have a planned manned mission to Mars is also due to the overabunance of lawyers (i.e. "talented" individuals choosing a service path that produces nothing*), and not a plethora of both scientists and engineers.

*hyperbole intended (no offense)
 
M

Manos: The Hans of Fate

Banned
Partial Gamification said:
I agree that more funding would be welcome; however, to place the blame on one person is ridiculous. The Country is hurting for engineers, and for a lawyer to blame another lawyer that we don't have plans for a manned mission to Mars is unfair. Maybe the President could have done more but in light of the past four years, it would have done more harm to his Administration than good (and it hurts me to say it). McDonald Douglas will be retiring more engineers in the next few years than all the engineering schools in the Country can graduate. The reasons, plural, why we don't have a planned manned mission to Mars is also due to the overabunance of lawyers (i.e. "talented" individuals choosing a service path that produces nothing*), and not a plethora of both scientists and engineers.

*hyperbole intended (no offense)
Click to expand...
Trust me I wish I had been better at math, it's one thing I want to make sure my daughter can excel in of she wants to be an engineer or scientists. I'd be thrilled if she does.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Diverse organic matter found on Mars by NASA rover
News
26
3K
Melon Husk replied
[The Verge] Sending a probe to Uranus labeled as top priority by space science community
News Science
9
2K
dr_octagon replied
Scientists Believe These Photos Show Mushrooms on Mars—and Proof of Life [Popular Mechanics]
35
4K
Tams replied
NASA Perseverance Rover heads to Mars -- Houston, we have a helicopter
2 3
114
10K
The Hamburglar replied
NASA Calls For Space Toilet That Can Handle “500g of Diarrhea”
32
3K
Foamy replied
Top Bottom