Mars Curiosity. Anyone Else Excited!

[Brew-Happy]

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]

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]

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. :rockin:

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

 

[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.

 

[slomo]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[solbes]

I certainly don't think a manned mission to Mars would have to be of the "suicide" variety. Granted it makes immensely more complex and expensive to provide a rocket with fuel to return home. But there is no reason, besides cost and time that this hurdle could not be overcome. Its basically a Moon Shot with higher fuel/supplies requirements. Our first trip to the Moon was 43 years ago when the memory of a graphing calculator took up an enormous room. You could probably run what all of Nasa's mainframes did on an IPad.

 

[Brew-Happy]

I certainly don't think a manned mission to Mars would have to be of the "suicide" variety. Granted it makes immensely more complex and expensive to provide a rocket with fuel to return home. But there is no reason, besides cost and time that this hurdle could not be overcome. Its basically a Moon Shot with higher fuel/supplies requirements. Our first trip to the Moon was 43 years ago when the memory of a graphing calculator took up an enormous room. You could probably run what all of Nasa's mainframes did on an IPad.

I agree. Thankfully much of this tech design is in the hands of the private sector where ingenuity is encouraged.

I heard one time that a Furby has more computing power than the entire set of Apollo missions. lol

 

[landshark]

People still go into space? Whatever happened to the bottom of the oceans?

 

[Clifton]

I think they're still down there.

 

[mb82]

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

I watch it all the time. I had 4 years of science and 5 classes of it in high school since I was a science dork even back then I took AP Bio and Environment science senior year. With the amount of multimedia in classrooms now I think it would be easier for kids to see NASA's work. About the only thing I remember NASA wise was watching a Space Shuttle launch in 1990( IIRC maybe '91) other then that we were taught nothing about space, and very little about the Earth in general.

 

[TxBrew]

I certainly don't think a manned mission to Mars would have to be of the "suicide" variety. Granted it makes immensely more complex and expensive to provide a rocket with fuel to return home. But there is no reason, besides cost and time that this hurdle could not be overcome. Its basically a Moon Shot with higher fuel/supplies requirements. Our first trip to the Moon was 43 years ago when the memory of a graphing calculator took up an enormous room. You could probably run what all of Nasa's mainframes did on an IPad.

The issue ends up being that with current fuel sources you can't lift off with the load to get back.

I hope to be alive to see the first manned mars mission. Exciting times we live in.

 

[Brew-Happy]

The issue ends up being that with current fuel sources you can't lift off with the load to get back.

I hope to be alive to see the first manned mars mission. Exciting times we live in.

So leave the return load in orbit around Mars. Lift then would just be the rocket and people and samples on board. Of course I make rocket science sound sooooo easy. lol

 

[TxBrew]

Well you would have to get the return load up into space first. It would have to orbit Earth while everything else got up, then find a way to do the same on Mars.

I think the focus at this point should be alternate fuel sources. We're still basing out space program off of WW2 rocketry and it's time we advanced that.

Of course, alternative energy is, and will continue to be a hot button topic, but we all know why that is.

 

[Brew-Happy]

Well you would have to get the return load up into space first. It would have to orbit Earth while everything else got up, then find a way to do the same on Mars.

I think the focus at this point should be alternate fuel sources. We're still basing out space program off of WW2 rocketry and it's time we advanced that.

Of course, alternative energy is, and will continue to be a hot button topic, but we all know why that is.

Agreed. Academically, the technology is available. It's getting people to change that makes it difficult

 

[Brew-Happy]

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[solbes]

The issue ends up being that with current fuel sources you can't lift off with the load to get back.

I read a book after college called the Case for Mars by Robert Zubrin. The original concept was outlined in Mars Direct and refined in the book.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Direct

I'm sure it could improved upon, but the original concept had an Earth Return Vehicle (ERV), a chemical plant, and a nuke reactor launched to start making fuel for the return trip prior to the astronauts ever leaving. It would carry Hydrogen as well, which would be needed to create methane and O2. If they could find a reliable water source, the hydrogen would be unnecessary. Astronauts would not leave until it was confirmed that the chemical plant was operational and making fuel.

The risk is the astronauts miss the ERV landing site. The beauty of his plan was that a second ERV setup would follow just behind the astronauts. It could then be targeted to the site where the astronauts had landed. If all went to original plan, this second ERV would start making fuel for the next crew.

All seems like a far superior design to making a ship that carries the fuel to Mars thats needed for the return trip. Kind of like airplanes carrying a 1/3 of their fuel just to carry the fuel. With earth orbit launches, its even more pronounced.

 

[TzeentchPlayer]

I would love to be alive to see a manned mission to mars as well. I'd also like to be alive to see the first interstellar jump/warp/fold/whateveryoucallit. :fro:

 

[Hammy71]

I hope I live long enough to see my kids actually have the opportunity to get decent jobs like I did (they are both 12 so there's still time...lol). But, Mars exploration does interest me. Love the space stuff....

 

[DeafSmith]

I'm definitely interested in this. When I was a young engineer in '71-'72 I worked for Martin Marietta in Denver on the Viking mission to Mars (Martin was the contractor for the lander). I was in an electronics worst-case analysis group. All the subcontractors had to submit a detailed analysis and report of all the electronics in their piece of the project - my group went over these with a fine-tooth comb looking for things they had missed or bad designs (we weren't very popular with the subcontractors ). I remember thinking that the landing sequence was so complex that it would be a miracle if either of the two landers made it down in one piece, but both of them landed successfully in '76.

 

[Brew-Happy]

I would love to be alive to see a manned mission to mars as well. I'd also like to be alive to see the first interstellar jump/warp/fold/whateveryoucallit. :fro:

Granted im only guessing at what the government is researching, but I think we are a few generations away from hitting near/greater than light speed travel. Unless of course we get a visit to boost our technology....

 

[Brew-Happy]

I'm definitely interested in this. When I was a young engineer in '71-'72 I worked for Martin Marietta in Denver on the Viking mission to Mars (Martin was the contractor for the lander). I was in an electronics worst-case analysis group. All the subcontractors had to submit a detailed analysis and report of all the electronics in their piece of the project - my group went over these with a fine-tooth comb looking for things they had missed or bad designs (we weren't very popular with the subcontractors ). I remember thinking that the landing sequence was so complex that it would be a miracle if either of the two landers made it down in one piece, but both of them landed successfully in '76.

very jealous!

 

[Brew-Happy]

well less than one hour away! yeah the clock above is off.

 

[emjay]

Its first image has been received. Just awesome.

I certainly don't think a manned mission to Mars would have to be of the "suicide" variety. Granted it makes immensely more complex and expensive to provide a rocket with fuel to return home. But there is no reason, besides cost and time that this hurdle could not be overcome. Its basically a Moon Shot with higher fuel/supplies requirements. Our first trip to the Moon was 43 years ago when the memory of a graphing calculator took up an enormous room. You could probably run what all of Nasa's mainframes did on an IPad.

It's not even close to a moon trip. Escaping the gravity well of Mars is a hell of a lot more challenging than it is with the Moon.

So leave the return load in orbit around Mars. Lift then would just be the rocket and people and samples on board. Of course I make rocket science sound sooooo easy. lol

That's the only way it COULD happen, with anything resembling modern rocket technology.

 

[Brew-Happy]

multiple images and video feed of celebrating geeks!

Now they will spend some days checking the rover's systems i bet.

Whoop!

 

[bob1852]

multiple images and video feed of celebrating geeks!

Now they will spend some days checking the rover's systems i bet.

Whoop!

And sadly, this is largely being covered nowhere.