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Brew-Happy · 07-25-2012, 02:32 AM

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/

About 12 days and NASA will do their best not to splat millions of dollars on the surface of Mars. Anyone else willing to stay up and watching it??

A rover the size of a compact car making a "controlled" decent to the surface of another planet??? Sounds like homebrew to me.

Let the fun begin.

Aggie.

**b-boy** · 07-25-2012, 02:34 AM

I love this stuff. I remember the Gemini and Apollo missions as a kid. It was awesome!

I'm bummed that no one seems to care about this any more.

Brew-Happy · 07-25-2012, 02:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b-boy

I love this stuff. I remember the Gemini and Apollo missions as a kid. It was awesome!

I'm bummed that no one seems to care about this any more.

Keep an eye out. I'm hoping that NASA TV will be airing the decent and results.

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

gratus fermentatio · 07-25-2012, 11:41 AM

I'll be watching if I can. Till then, I'll hoist a pint (or 2) to Dr. Sally Ride, RIP.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/people/features/ride.html
She is currently exploring the true final frontier.
Regards, GF.

**slomo** · 07-25-2012, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gratus fermentatio

I'll be watching if I can. Till then, I'll hoist a pint (or 2) to Dr. Sally Ride, RIP.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/people/features/ride.html
She is currently exploring the true final frontier.
Regards, GF.

Yeah I was sad to hear about Dr. Ride's passing. With respect to the landing on Mars it seems pretty complicated, and sounds like a lot could go wrong. It will be awesome if NASA succeeds. Is the landing on 7/28?

Brew-Happy · 07-25-2012, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slomo

Yeah I was sad to hear about Dr. Ride's passing. With respect to the landing on Mars it seems pretty complicated, and sounds like a lot could go wrong. It will be awesome if NASA succeeds. Is the landing on 7/28?

My understanding is the rover is supposed to land on the night of Aug 5th depending on your location. I'm trying to post the countdown time now.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov The countdown timer is at the bottom of the page (IF someone that is good at html can post it in this thread, I would be greatful!)

hmmm i can't get the image to post like i wanted. The worst part will be the 7min decent where they have no communication. Pass/Fail kinda test.

solbes · 07-25-2012, 01:22 PM

I love reading about the space race in the 50's/60's. Really interesting stuff. Then watching the Space Shuttle missions as a kid was really captivating. Unfortunately I don't get that excited about these unmanned missions to Mars. I will still pay attention to some of it though.

Two concepts on how to do a manned mission to Mars. The earth orbit rocket build option had astronomical costs. The second option where Earth Return fuel is made on the surface of Mars had costs that were still very high, but more manageable. I would love to see us get back to manned missions, but the economy has no room for it now. If we ever did, it could spur on a lot of industry and technology innovations because of all the challenges it presents.

mb82 · 07-25-2012, 01:26 PM

I plan on watching. I love the work NASA does, it could get kids interested in science. Too bad schools don't teach anything about space besides the names of the planets.

Brew-Happy · 07-25-2012, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by solbes

I love reading about the space race in the 50's/60's. Really interesting stuff. Then watching the Space Shuttle missions as a kid was really captivating. Unfortunately I don't get that excited about these unmanned missions to Mars. I will still pay attention to some of it though.

Two concepts on how to do a manned mission to Mars. The earth orbit rocket build option had astronomical costs. The second option where Earth Return fuel is made on the surface of Mars had costs that were still very high, but more manageable. I would love to see us get back to manned missions, but the economy has no room for it now. If we ever did, it could spur on a lot of industry and technology innovations because of all the challenges it presents.

One huge hurdle right now for a manned mission is the people going likely won't come back. There have been several articles recently about this being a "suicide" mission. Terrible description, but they will likely be there to stay.

I have read some interesting stuff on how private industry is building up a ton of space tech. Just recently a private company docked a module to ISS!

Brew-Happy · 07-25-2012, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mb82

I plan on watching. I love the work NASA does, it could get kids interested in science. Too bad schools don't teach anything about space besides the names of the planets.

Ever watch this?: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Thankfully, here in Texas the high school students have to take 4yrs of science and one class can be Earth and Planetary Sciences. I hope to teach that class one day