Members Bricks & Bones Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 I think it's just because he's a hottie mchotterson. According to his twitter bio he's "Flight director on the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity mission." That sounds pretty important. Rather Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members renula Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 Remington clipper sales go off the roof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members amp_surgeon Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 I thought it was incredible, mainly because of the vast number of things that could go wrong but didn't. That was the most complex landing ever attempted, and it had to be controlled entirely by onboard software. The round trip communications between Mars and earth takes twice as long as the entire landing sequence. There was nothing the guys at JPL could do but listen and sweat.If the guided descent system had failed then it could have flipped over and fried to a crisp. It didn't.If the supersonic chute (the largest of it's kind ever made) had failed then it would have slammed into the Martian surface at nearly mach 3. It didn't.If the descent craft had failed to deploy then it would have hit the ground at greater than mach 1. Same thing if all of the hydrazine rockets failed to ignite. If at least one rocket fired and at least one didn't then it would have tumbled out of control until it hit the surface. None of those things happened.If it had encountered any serious wind then the descent craft could have used up it's fuel before touchdown, and it would have fallen the rest of the way like a rock. If it managed to make touchdown and then run out of fuel then the descent craft could have fallen on the rover. Same would probably have happened if the sky crane didn't release.So many things had to happen perfectly. From all appearances, it looks like they did. It was a pretty amazing feat.I understand that the rover started taking video of the descent when the bottom hatched dropped off of the descent craft. It should be pretty amazing to see that video when it finally comes in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members turnip Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 So many things had to happen perfectly. From all appearances, it looks like they did. It was a pretty amazing feat. I understand that the rover started taking video of the descent when the bottom hatched dropped off of the descent craft. It should be pretty amazing to see that video when it finally comes in. It is things like this that make me proud to be a human. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cirrus Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 I thought it was incredible, mainly because of the vast number of things that could go wrong but didn't. One way you could look at it is that they did go wrong on all the previous failed attempts and this was the culmination of a lot of experience and trial+error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ToonHollow Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 So amazing. For a moment, I thought "damn, 2012 is a good year for science" but perhaps every year is a good for science. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Reaganomics! Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 I'm serious. They're that confident that their workmanship is THAT good to have it going for two years...? It seems like NASA gives the most conservative estimates possible on how long their missions can last. For example, the Opportunity rover on Mars was only supposed to last 3 months, and it's been operating for 8 years! The Voyager probes were launched in 1977, were only expected to do missions until 1989, and are STILL technically able to operate and send data back today! Barring any catastrophe or error, I'm sure Curiosity can withstand the 2 years they expect it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PKTrono Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 It seems like NASA gives the most conservative estimates possible on how long their missions can last. For example, the Opportunity rover on Mars was only supposed to last 3 months, and it's been operating for 8 years! The Voyager probes were launched in 1977, were only expected to do missions until 1989, and are STILL technically able to operate and send data back today!Barring any catastrophe or error, I'm sure Curiosity can withstand the 2 years they expect it to. +32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RadioSilence Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 So, now it's down safely, mission no. 1: find the wreckage of Beagle II Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hotmess Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 Still want my moon colony. GINGRICH 2012! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PKTrono Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 Still want my moon colony.GINGRICH 2012! space elevator on the moon for sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan. Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 I've never seen Australia make it to Mars... is it because they don't have guns? Probably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Reaganomics! Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 why would you go to mars if you know you can't shoot what you find there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thom Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 So...When do they start harvesting Helium-3 and shooting it to earth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan. Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 why would you go to mars if you know you can't shoot what you find there? you ask any red blooded american and they will tell you that shooting into the air is just fine and dandy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bkd Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 My dad's an engineer for the company that built the aeroshell and heat shield used during the "7 minutes of terror" while landing. He had nothing to do with the project but I'm freaking proud nonetheless. Such an incredible feat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cirrus Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 So, now it's down safely, mission no. 1: find the wreckage of Beagle II I agree man. And if possible, try to bring back any survivors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Reaganomics! Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 you ask any red blooded american and they will tell you that shooting into the air is just fine and dandy. word on the street is that when you shoot into the air on mars it goes way farther because there's less gravity n'{censored}. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boytbpc Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 I want more science. Anybody know of awesome websites/webseries for insatiable science geeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lefort_1 Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 word on the street is that when you shoot into the air on mars it goes way farther because there's less gravity n'{censored}. but cartridges on Mars will have to bring their own O2, cuz lack of free oxygen crisis. So maybe pressurized CO2 guns are the answer...spud launchers!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ToonHollow Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 I want more science. Anybody know of awesome websites/webseries for insatiable science geeks. Phys.org and of course Wikipedia Actually, if you want a really awesome and inspiring science book, read A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Quite possibly one of my favorite books ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hotmess Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 but cartridges on Mars will have to bring their own O2, cuz lack of free oxygen crisis.So maybe pressurized CO2 guns are the answer...spud launchers!!!! Gun powder contains its own oxidizers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hotmess Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 I want more science. Anybody know of awesome websites/webseries for insatiable science geeks. Watch QI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmEH8cPvrUU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RadioSilence Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 I want more science. Anybody know of awesome websites/webseries for insatiable science geeks. io9.com if you also like science fiction. It's a good mix of the two.http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/this blog is mostly astronomy (as the name implies) but some more general stuff too.http://boingboing.net/tag/science/ BoingBoing is a mix of tech/politics/science/culture/geekiness. That link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RadioSilence Posted August 6, 2012 Members Share Posted August 6, 2012 Totally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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