Curiosity is on Mars!

[Raindance 25]

Me is a FSX user, I can handle lag. :lol:

 

Admit it, you want to drive that rover.

:LMAO:

 

It would be fun..

[HawkDsl 50]

Today they had pics of her under parachute (taken by the Mars Recon. Orbiter) on the way down... then a pic of the landing site with all the new earth trash all over the place (heat shield, giant parachute, and the suicide jet pack).

 

These things seem almost like magic to me still... I remember sitting on the living room floor in 1969, and thinking thats no big deal.. at least until they took the first "Dune Buggy" to the moon... then I was hooked!

 

Leave it to the USA... first thing they take off planet is the car. LOL (A GM/Chevy to be exact... which is even funnier).

[japascoe 98]

Awesome news for the future of exploration on Mars.

 

Hopefully they don't drive it into a crater!!

Too late, they already landed in one ;)

[Christopher Low 5,353]

The sun was once upon a time much stronger then it is right now. This is why on Mars we see traces of erosion, water and ancient canals. The sun has weakened over millions of years. therefore Mars has become uninhabitable due to the colder climate over time.

 

That is incorrect. The Sun is becoming more luminous as it grows older. However, it is also losing mass, which means that the planetary orbits are (very) slowly moving outward as time passes.

[Raindance 25]

Today they had pics of her under parachute (taken by the Mars Recon. Orbiter) on the way down... then a pic of the landing site with all the new earth trash all over the place (heat shield, giant parachute, and the suicide jet pack).

 

These things seem almost like magic to me still... I remember sitting on the living room floor in 1969, and thinking thats no big deal.. at least until they took the first "Dune Buggy" to the moon... then I was hooked!

 

Leave it to the USA... first thing they take off planet is the car. LOL (A GM/Chevy to be exact... which is even funnier).

LOL. Though it tends to be forgotten that the Russians put a robot vehicle (Lunokhod 2) on the moon back in the mid-seventies. It covered around 30 miles, sending data back, before it was accidentally disabled with a clogged radiator.

[HawkDsl 50]

LOL. Though it tends to be forgotten that the Russians put a robot vehicle (Lunokhod 2) on the moon back in the mid-seventies. It covered around 30 miles, sending data back, before it was accidentally disabled with a clogged radiator.

 

Not to go off topic, but I must admit to being very disappointed on how things went after the cold war was over. Growing up, I had always thought how wonderful it would be to have the Russians and Americans teaming up in space travel... Alas... besides both being broke, the "simple is better" Russian approach, and the American "Cutting edge, at twice the price" approach just didn't work out. They butt heads over the space station all the time.

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

 

 

Not to go off topic, but I must admit to being very disappointed on how things went after the cold war was over. Growing up, I had always thought how wonderful it would be to have the Russians and Americans teaming up in space travel... Alas... besides both being broke, the "simple is better" Russian approach, and the American "Cutting edge, at twice the price" approach just didn't work out. They butt heads over the space station all the time.

 

The Canadians and the Americans work well together. the APXS instrument in the rover is provided by the Canadian Space Agency.

 

This relationship goes back to the beginning of the space program, Canadarm on the Shuttle is another iconic piece of equipment. The IBM lab in Toronto took a key part in providing calculations to the Apollo 13 mission to try and bring those boys home. Many other contributions that I can't recall off hand.

 

Differences in Cultures will always be a bit of a barrier, same would go for a joint USA/China mission. You can spend too much time trying to work through those differences that it is not very productive anymore.

[HawkDsl 50]

.

The Canadians and the Americans work well together.

 

Absolutely they do, and as soon as the USA can get rid of that silly passport law, the boarder can return to normal (for those that don't know, Canadians and Americans used to be able to cross into each country freely, so long as you had a state issued ID, or drivers license).

 

Still, a world mission to Mars might get us there allot faster then a single Nation State could. It's all about the money though.. Hard times everywhere. Hugh projects like the Int. Space Station, and the LHC are sucking up the coins for now. I just hope we get feet on the ground before I keel over!