NASA's Mars Rover Curiosity

[Dr. Strangelove]

Someone on NASA TV yelled HOLY SHIT! I must concur.

[scr4]

Originally Posted by Covered_In_Bees!

Yeah science!

And engineering!

[Onomatopoeia]

No one had time to say "Pics, or it didn't happen" before there were pics!

[MEBuckner]

Originally Posted by Tangent

That is very cool! Damn, looking at that altitude number dropping really gives you an idea of how fast that thing is moving.

Oh, I know. It's AMAZING how fast it went from "Thousands of miles out in space, moving at 12,000 miles an hour" to "Touchdown!" (I think at one point they said it was pulling 11 or 12 gees.)


Congratulations, wolfstu, and IvoryTowerDenizen's colleague's husband and fachverwirrt's good friend and good friend's boyfriend, and all the rest of you guys.

We're a pretty cool species sometimes.

[cmyk]

Yeh, yeh, yeh... Years of hard work... Solving impossible problems of engineering and rocketry... Blah blah blah. We all know it's the peanuts.

[Askance]

The bloody probe twittered the news itself!

Curiosity Rover
✔
@MarsCuriosity
I'm safely on the surface of Mars. GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!! #MSL

[Shakes]

Originally Posted by Onomatopoeia

No one had time to say "Pics, or it didn't happen" before there were pics!

I'd like to see some pics. My computer at work doesn't allow java or adobe.

[voltaire]

So, being nuclear powered and all, what's the life-expectancy of this baby?

[Zebra]

Originally Posted by voltaire

So, being nuclear powered and all, what's the life-expectancy of this baby?

2 years

[D-bear]

Take that Martin Hyde!

[Covered_In_Bees!]

Originally Posted by Askance

The bloody probe twittered the news itself!

It's like a well-behaved child, letting us know when it got to its destination safely.

[MEBuckner]

Originally Posted by cmyk

Yeh, yeh, yeh... Years of hard work... Solving impossible problems of engineering and rocketry... Blah blah blah. We all know it's the peanuts.

At least they kept the part about the "lucky underwear (unwashed since 1964)" to themselves.

[Declan]

What was supposed to happen to the sky crane part, the animation says it was supposed to fly away from the rover, after it touched down. Did the rockets have enough juice to make orbit again, just to burn up.

Declan

[cmyk]

Originally Posted by Askance

The bloody probe twittered the news itself!

He's hip with the kids these days... Aaand, knows better than to tweet and land.

[scr4]

Originally Posted by Shakes

I'd like to see some pics. My computer at work doesn't allow java or adobe.

If you're on Facebook, "NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover" just posted it.

[squeegee]

Congrats, NASA. Thanks for making us proud.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Originally Posted by Declan

What was supposed to happen to the sky crane part, the animation says it was supposed to fly away from the rover, after it touched down. Did the rockets have enough juice to make orbit again, just to burn up.

Declan

No; it has just enough fuel to veer away to the side and not impact the rover itself. It'll crash land some distance away. Maybe the rover will visit the wreckage.

[Askance]

Originally Posted by Declan

What was supposed to happen to the sky crane part, the animation says it was supposed to fly away from the rover, after it touched down. Did the rockets have enough juice to make orbit again, just to burn up.

No, just enough to get out of the way. In any case, there's not nearly enough atmosphere on Mars to burn up anything that size.

[cmyk]

Originally Posted by MEBuckner

At least they kept the part about the "lucky underwear (unwashed since 1964)" to themselves.

**khaack**

[Zerc]

Originally Posted by Declan

What was supposed to happen to the sky crane part, the animation says it was supposed to fly away from the rover, after it touched down. Did the rockets have enough juice to make orbit again, just to burn up.

Declan

I believe it flies up and crashes down on the surface a short distance away, it does not go into orbit.

[cmyk]

Mmmm... Look at all those MacBooks...

[voltaire]

Originally Posted by Zebra

2 years

So, judging by how the other rovers exceeded their life-expectancies, can this one similarly exceed expectations? Or is it that it's too big and heavy for solar-power alone once it's nuclear power plant goes kaput?

[scr4]

Originally Posted by Declan

What was supposed to happen to the sky crane part, the animation says it was supposed to fly away from the rover, after it touched down. Did the rockets have enough juice to make orbit again, just to burn up.

I believe it's supposed to crash far enough away that it won't harm the rover.

[Declan]

I guess we can add the skycrane part to googles martian street view

Declan

[Onomatopoeia]

Originally Posted by cmyk

Mmmm... Look at all those MacBooks...

Yeah, the new Macbook Pro with the retina display.

[raventhief]

Woot! Go Curiosity!

[2gigch1]

Interesting - all the JPL laptops are Apples.

They just said all the NASA websites have crashed due to overload of requests

ETA Beat me to it

[cmyk]

Originally Posted by Zerc

I believe it flies up and crashes down on the surface a short distance away, it does not go into orbit.

I thought it flies away, crashes to the surface a good distance from Curiosity, then with fixed, cold eyes... sits... and waits...

[GuanoLad]

Isn't that amazing, the first pictures from a new Mars rover go through Facebook and Twitter first.

[Covered_In_Bees!]

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ustream.html

This one has been working just fine for me. Or does that not count as a NASA website somehow?

EDIT: This was in response to 2gigch1.

[Declan]

Is that peanut company paying any sponsorship money to the program

Declan

[cmyk]

Originally Posted by Onomatopoeia

Yeah, the new Macbook Pro with the retina display.

Want.

[TimeWinder]

I presume NBC's doing their footage for them? Everything from Mars is on an irritating 14-minute tape delay!

[Snowboarder Bo]

Originally Posted by cmyk

Mmmm... Look at all those MacBooks...

Aye! Nice ad for Apple, isn't it?

[scr4]

Originally Posted by voltaire

So, judging by how the other rovers exceeded their life-expectancies, can this one similarly exceed expectations? Or is it that it's too big and heavy for solar-power alone once it's nuclear power plant goes kaput?

It's powered by Plutonium-238 which has a half-life of 88 years, so the power supply is not the limiting factor. Many NASA missions start out with a 2-year planned life, and get extended for many more years if it's functioning properly and producing useful data. Of course each extension requires additional operating budget to be approved.

[cmyk]

Originally Posted by Declan

Is that peanut company paying any sponsorship money to the program

Declan

Yep. They're paid in peanuts.

[cmyk]

Originally Posted by Snowboarder Bo

Aye! Nice ad for Apple, isn't it?

Hell yeh! Thank god the mission wasn't a faillure.

I wondered if they used Mission Control or LaunchPad?

[Onomatopoeia]

Originally Posted by scr4

It's powered by Plutonium-238 which has a half-life of 88 years, so the power supply is not the limiting factor.

what, the Macbooks?

[Declan]

Another question, how good are those cameras on the rover supposed to be, or are they just glorified webcams.

Any chance they are Canon or Nikon

Declan

[cmyk]

Originally Posted by TimeWinder

I presume NBC's doing their footage for them? Everything from Mars is on an irritating 14-minute tape delay!

Even on Mars, the delay is only 14 mins; not 5 hours.

[2gigch1]

Originally Posted by Covered_In_Bees!

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ustream.html

This one has been working just fine for me. Or does that not count as a NASA website somehow?

EDIT: This was in response to 2gigch1.

That one crashed on me at about 10 mins before landing, it's back now. I had to scramble for an alternate source (UStream) to watch the landing.

I was just passing on the comment by the host on NASA JPL that the NASA regular site had crashed (but may be up now).

[GuanoLad]

Originally Posted by Declan

Another question, how good are those cameras on the rover supposed to be, or are they just glorified webcams.

I believe they are HD quality, whatever that means for stills. But I do wonder if they're capable of video...

[Declan]

Nasa just switched the feed to another room at JPL, looks like the battlestar galactica bridge

Declan

[MEBuckner]

I think a shout-out is also in order for the 2001 Mars Odyssey, the Mars orbiter they're using to relay the data from Curiosity. It's a real trouper as well--been going strong in orbit around Mars for over 10 years now.

[Declan]

Originally Posted by GuanoLad

I believe they are HD quality, whatever that means for stills. But I do wonder if they're capable of video...

Oh great, now we wont be able to shut up the cult of HDR photos

Declan

[Onomatopoeia]

News briefing in 10 minutes.

[Declan]

lol, mission is speechless

Declan

[Lancia]

Does anyone know if there was video or even pics taken during decent? Seems to me they would have cameras pointing both up and down and activated during descent, seeing as how the Sky Crane was such a novel approach to landing.

[wolfman]

Sorry if this seems Dickish, especially during the Olympics, and I know there is a lot of ugly things going on in the world,
but I wasn't around for the moon landing, and this honestly makes my eyes well with pride for the U.S and my tax dollars


and shit...

[scr4]

Originally Posted by GuanoLad

I believe they are HD quality, whatever that means for stills. But I do wonder if they're capable of video...

They are 1600x1200 and can operate up to 10 frames per second according to Wikipedia.

There's no chance such a major mission would use commercial cameras. I expect they are designed specifically for space applications - i.e. ruggedized, radiation-tolerant, vacuum compatible, all electronics conductively cooled, etc.