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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
 Posted - 07/31/2012 : 10:43:02
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t minus 5 days
The most sophisticated piece of technology ever sent to another planet is about to land on Mars on the 5th of August at 06.31 BST
Well I've got a bit of a boner over this. Who cares about the Schmolympics, we are about to see new hi res pictures from a new part of the surface of another planet, and do all kinds of experiments. This thing has a laser that fires at rocks and some kind of built in spectrometer to measure the molecular content of the debris that is burned off.
I really hope for all the engineers involved, and for the scientific knowledge that will be gained that everything goes to plan.
Horizon did a special on it the other day which you can view here, but only in the UK I think unfortunately.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01llnb2/Horizon_20122013_Mission_to_Mars/ |
Edited by - pot on 08/08/2012 12:46:23 |
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hammerhands
* Dog in the Sand *
Canada
1594 Posts |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2012 : 12:33:09
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| 2/3 of missions have ended in failure, Mars is known as the bermuda triangle of the solar system. All the engineering technology they can throw at this can't deal with every eventuality. They don't know what the weather will be like, or how flat the surface they land on is. If it lands on the edge of a boulder then the whole thing is fucked, then we have a fully functioning upside down rover + the thing being more complex than ever before could fail in some unpredictable way. |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2012 : 12:50:54
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quote:
Originally posted by hammerhands
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html
Lots of nice pics from earlier missions on there, I had a browse through some of them recently. They are outworldly. Not really expecting much else from the new pics if it works out, but it's still pretty exciting stuff. Who knows, with the new rover we might find fossils of early primitive life. This thing also has a drill that can penetrate into rock.
I think it's pretty much a forgone conclusion now that life could have developed on other planets in the universe, but the most likely candidates in our solar system other than ourselves are some of the moons of Saturn. They reckon inside some of the caves in Mars there could be life existing though, they have found some microbes or something that can survive in ice on earth so who knows, unlikely but possible.
This thing is going to descend into the atmosphere and maintain it's direction of approach using rotational inertia. The same force that resists a change in angle when you spin a bicycle wheel.
In theory it should all work, I think the engineers who designed this know what they are doing, they have tested this thing and know how it works in theory. Good luck them. I will share their disappointment if it all goes tits up. |
Edited by - pot on 07/31/2012 12:54:43 |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2012 : 13:16:47
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I think this clip needs to be posted in anticipation of both the new mars rover landing and a possible new Pixies album.
Head on/Bird dream of Olympus Mons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHD7OZMnIUY
Curiosity dream of the Mars Gale Crater (doesn't quite have the same ring to it...) |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 08/03/2012 : 12:10:29
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You can view an interactive simulation of the real time position of Curiosity as it approaches Mars here-
http://eyes.nasa.gov/exit.html |
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hammerhands
* Dog in the Sand *
Canada
1594 Posts |
Posted - 08/05/2012 : 16:19:05
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| 'And, to paraphrase Dr. Evil, "it's got a frickin' laser" on it.' [someone on another forum] |
Edited by - hammerhands on 08/05/2012 16:19:44 |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 08/06/2012 : 02:15:44
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| I wanted to stay up for this last night, but was too tired. Great to hear they landed safely, what an amazing feat of engineering, looking forward to see how this mission unfolds, and some nice pictures. |
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Cult_Of_Frank
= Black Noise Maker =
Canada
11690 Posts |
Posted - 08/06/2012 : 08:31:02
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Agreed, very much looking forward to this too.
 "If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate." |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
Posted - 08/07/2012 : 14:55:28
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I don't remember much about the previous missions when they happened and that, but this one. I keep replaying the sound of the voice coming over the terminal at NASA saying 'touchdown confirmed' in my mind and I share the relief and excitement with the ream there when they heard it, it gives me goosebumps. This thing would just fit into my living room if I moved all the furniture, and we have just landed it on another planet millions of miles away. The engineering and skill that must have gone into this is just mindblowing. I'm still amazed.
Anyway, still waiting for some hires panos from the landing scene which I'm sure will come, the thing appears to be functioning and they have three separate communication channels to rely on, one directly and two others via satellite. In the meantime I have found a link to a weird lowres video of life appearing to emerge from the foothills of Aeolis Mons on Mars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHhox4_SeHQ
I worked for the team who tested the electronics for the spirit and opportunity rovers back in 2001 for three days, before I got fed up having to get up at 5am everyday and having to wear a space suit every time I went into the lab and I jacked it in and fucked off to India. Kind of regret that in a way.
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Edited by - pot on 08/07/2012 19:32:22 |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
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hammerhands
* Dog in the Sand *
Canada
1594 Posts |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
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pot
> Teenager of the Year <
Iceland
3910 Posts |
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Mars Curiosity rover lands on Mars!
