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

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woke up like 5 hours earlier than usual to watch this... so awesome it worked, i can't believe it really. like holy shit.

good job NASA, good job. cannot wait for all Mars-related news in the coming years!

anyone know who else was involved with this project? i know the instrument on Curiosity that will be used to study the atmosphere was built here in Finland, but who else? Australia did something?
 
how do they steer this thing? do they have live images?

They survey the area from photos. Then from satellite images, the engineers from earth program the rover to go exactly where they want. The rover itself can autonomously deviate a little from the plan to avoid rocks and other hazards in the environment. So no, it's not done in real time.
 
No matter our differences on the subject, i think we can all agree a 1 ton machine on a planet so far away and it safely landed is a stunning achievement.
 
Watched live. Totally unreal how flawlessly that went off. Very emotional.

A great achievement for America and humanity.
 
how do they steer this thing? do they have live images?

Very carefully. There are no "live" images from Mars. Light lag time is anywhere from three to twenty-two minutes. They program movements based on what the various cameras can see, which is a big part of the reason it has stereoscopic cameras. They have a simulated environment where they test out optimal movements before sending the orders for movement.
 
If Obama gets a second term and does not fund these guys better
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They survey the area from photos. Then from satellite images, the engineers from earth program the rover to go exactly where they want. The rover itself can autonomously deviate a little from the plan to avoid rocks and other hazards in the environment. So no, it's not done in real time.
Can't be done in real time as it takes about 7 minutes for a signal from Earth to reach Mars.
 
The touchdown was a bulls-eye, but my god, the missed high fives. Honkey town usa. Whatever, when you can land a car on mars with a fucking skycrane, you can miss all the terrorist fist jabs you like.
 
thanks for all the responses. I will get to reading, oh man I can't wait until they find new minerals or god knows what. it's also a shame that none of the networks are covering this live, what a shame.
 
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