It's an incredible achievement (and the ultimate autoland). Skyhook & cables for the final approach -- I wonder how they could have tested that trick out under Earth gravity & atmosphere. Must have been entirely computer simulated. I suppose modeling every conceivable variable in the sim and running it over and over would give a pretty good idea of the likelihood of success, and what could go wrong.

Best Deal On Earth, Bar None.

 

U.S. Citizens will spend about;

 

50 Billion on cosmetics

41 Billion on Pets

10 Billion on plastic surgury

3 Billion for the Fourth Of July BBQ Alone.

 

Total NASA Budget: 17 Billion or ** .5% (HALF of ONE Percent) ** of the entire federal Budget.

 

What do you get for that?

 

A nation that leads the world in space exploration, Aviation Science, Earth Science, Life Science, Material research, Computer Science, Medical Science

Astronomy, Phisics, and... Smart.

 

Why do all this? Because the opposit is Dumb.

 

More and More, our international friends join in on these missions, including Curiosity. Space exploration is something planet earth can do, not just a few select nations. The survival of our entire planet will one day depend on it.

The best news this year as far as I am concerned. Well done to the Curiosity team at JPL. A truly outstanding achievement.

It's an incredible achievement (and the ultimate autoland). Skyhook & cables for the final approach -- I wonder how they could have tested that trick out under Earth gravity & atmosphere. Must have been entirely computer simulated. I suppose modeling every conceivable variable in the sim and running it over and over would give a pretty good idea of the likelihood of success, and what could go wrong.

 

Not sure if you saw the Horizon special in HD, it's available on BBC Iplayer and is a fantastic programme. It shows you in detail the way the module would begin it's decent, lower the lander by crane, release and then fly away, unbelievable. http://www.bbc.co.uk...ission_to_Mars/

The survival of our entire planet will one day depend on it.

 

She (Mother Earth) might survive a little better if we didn't over populate to poor old gal!

Not sure if you saw the Horizon special in HD, it's available on BBC Iplayer and is a fantastic programme. It shows you in detail the way the module would begin it's decent, lower the lander by crane, release and then fly away, unbelievable. http://www.bbc.co.uk...ission_to_Mars/

Sadly I missed that -- been very preoccupied with home improvement work. I will catch it on Iplayer though ;)

Awesome news for the future of exploration on Mars.

 

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

She (Mother Earth) might survive a little better if we didn't over populate to poor old gal!

Off topic really, but I think the problem is resource-hogging on the part of humanity, rather than sheer numbers.

 

(from http://answers.googl...dview?id=536123 )

 

According to Hölldobler and Wilson (1990), up to 1/3 (33%) of the

terrestrial animal biomass (NOTE: not including aquatic animal, or

terrestrial and aquatic flowering plants and microorganisms) was made

up of ants and termites. A study made in Finland produced a

terrestrial animal biomass of ants alone of 10%. In the Brazilian

rain forest the biomass of ants exceeds that of terrestrial

vertebrates by four times! Thus a figure for ants of 15% of all

terrestrial animal biomass is not out of line.

 

The ants are winning!

I see it this way....

 

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.

 

Earth became the next planet eventually that became inhabitable in our solar system. We mere mortals have only been around for an extremely short period of time and are too stupid and lost between issues like Religion and Science and Nationalism that we still can't see the bigger picture for the most part.

Mars is ancient, Earth is younger, we are stupid and just figuring it out. It will still take more time for this to become more apparent.

 

We won't find lost civilizations on Mars, but I think we may find former life forms in fossels that pre-date earth

 

Just my POV

 

Cheers

Martian gravity is somewhat over a third of the Earth's, so if it once had an atmosphere whose pressure allowed liquid water to exist on the surface (as it probably did), thermally-agitated gas molecules in the atmosphere would more easily have escaped into space and been lost (escape velocity is much lower on Mars). It isn't really necessary to consider possible changes in the temperature of the Sun to explain why it's so barren now on Mars. In fact, a hotter Sun in the past would have caused the atmosphere to be lost even more quickly. The problem is that it's just a much smaller planet than Earth.

 

Venus, on the other hand, should be rather like Earth (but warmer), except that its atmosphere is dense gaseous CO2 and the surface is red hot due to the greenhouse effect. Pity about that.. :(

Nice to have astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Dr. Michio Kaku in our ranks. Wasn't aware they are FS enthusiast.

Wouldn't have wanted to be a passenger on this one! Plus, I keep expecting the Martians send us a bill for littering, one day. :P

 

I wonder how they could make the project being more 'social network'. They could run all the planned missions and then look how much of the rover is left. Then set up a contest where people can pick what to explore next. I mean they always had some use for projects being planned for x days but actually running way longer. Take those probes and the other rovers (which made it) for example.

 

The list itself still comes from NASA, but you can pick and vote where to go (North, South, crater x, etc.). Raising interest in science and making it more popular is a way to raise funding and I think the Internet stream and information on this mission already shows that people like to know about it. Well, as long as it doesn't come in boring, but what on.. Mars could be boring about that mission?

 

And there's a need to show that those billions being spent not only work for hardcore scientist but for all the millions of interested armchair astronauts too. And interest in science always is interest in education.

 

Ok, the winner of the super contest then can drive 5 minutes all on his own. What? I'm nuts? You bet! :Silly: But I have a joystick.

Ok, the winner of the super contest then can drive 5 minutes all on his own. What? I'm nuts? You bet! :Silly: But I have a joystick.

 

..but you've got that 14 minute lag (each way) in transmission of your joystick signal and telemetry response from the rover. :Nerd:

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

 

Admit it, you want to drive that rover.