Nailed it!

Curiosity has landed!!!

Watched it live at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, very close to JPL, which had a huge part in all of it obviously. I am never going to forget this night, and I am amazed and proud at the geniuses that designed, built, controlled and monitored Curiosity. Great success for all mankind.

Is this thread about the Kardashians?

I love everything about Space and this is a good step into the future for humans. :2thumbsup:

Somehow it was very exciting to watch even though all you could see was people sitting in front of computers saying a bunch of numbers and then cheering...

I just heard about this thing for the first time earlier today. What are their biggest hopes for it now that it's landed safely?

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html

The Fact Sheet on the linked page lists the scientific payload. More than just pretty pictures this time :)

Man Im excited. Not even mad that they arent landing on the moon anymore.

Friend on mine works for NASA, did a bit of work on the lander. I will have to congratulate him for littering on Mars again!

I read a pile of stuff about this mission before the landing; I knew Curiosity was well equipped: a drill for soil samples, a lab to test them, a laser and spectrometer to analyze rocks; more cameras than I could hope to own...etc. What I missed was the purpose of all this gear.

All this, for the search for evidence of organic compounds or their remnants. The site is an impact crater with a 5km mountain in the middle; ready made for examining the geological history/layers of Mars.

Am I excited!? Yes! Yes I am!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sasaki Kojiro

I just heard about this thing for the first time earlier today. What are their biggest hopes for it now that it's landed safely?

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They are trying to establish whether life on Earth could be due to Panspermia, and that we might all be evolved from Martian organics. As Mars likely was able to support life a very long time ago.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by drone

I will have to congratulate him for littering on Mars again!

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Since we have a running joke about NASA polluting the universe, I asked him how big of a crater did the skycrane make after Curiosity was delivered. He said, "Not that big, but it had about 140 kg of highly toxic jet fuel left over." ~D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by drone

Since we have a running joke about NASA polluting the universe, I asked him how big of a crater did the skycrane make after Curiosity was delivered. He said, "Not that big, but it had about 140 kg of highly toxic jet fuel left over." ~D

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Don't tell that to the Greens...err...Red party.

Attachment 6489


ohhh ****!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by drone

Since we have a running joke about NASA polluting the universe, I asked him how big of a crater did the skycrane make after Curiosity was delivered. He said, "Not that big, but it had about 140 kg of highly toxic jet fuel left over." ~D

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Headlines:

NASA Mars Mars
Curiosity Killed The Martians

http://postimage.org/image/yzup7btjv/

Litter from Curiosity; expect a call from the EPA!

Attachment 6497

Nice beach, but where is the water?

Excellent question. What are these NASA geeks wasting our money on?

Bah! 3 days of re-programming...how could they be soo negligent! I believe I have a right to continuous entertainment!!!

Ohohoh you landed a robot, we are a little bit more ambitious than that here in Dutchiestan in 2023 we are going clog that bot http://mars-one.com/en/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gelatinous Cube

lol.. Clog...

:creep:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Dutchclogs.jpg

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It's all tears if you get one of those in your face

Attachment 6512

A small segment from the panorama taken by the MastCam; the full version (10MB) was rejected by the .org uploader.

I imagine the full version would be "dial-up" :furious3:

Link to day 4 mission update:http://www.cbc.ca/video/watch/News/T.../ID=2265476908

Summary of landing success
http://youtu.be/BArApRIjdTI

Update on brain transplant and what is next:
http://youtu.be/YyodK2g6aok

Roadmap:

Attachment 6557

Glenelg gives a short trip to make sure everything is working, and sets the rover at the intersection of 3 apparently different rock textures. I believe they will test the drill at this site.

and for those who missed it:
http://youtu.be/QFvNhsWMU0c

Apparently they have unlimbered the laser; Rock N165 complains: "It used to be so peaceful here".

http://www.pcworld.com/article/26108...explained.html

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HopAlongBunny

...Rock N165 complains: "It used to be so peaceful here".

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:laugh4:

The Ugly American - not just for Earth anymore.

Laser, first shot

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia16075.html

Unlimbering more mayhem on the Martian surface:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia15692.html

Attachment 6571

Attachment 6572

Curiosity gets moving; baby steps.
Looking for a youtube of the press session; the UStream feed was choppy...but that might be because I'm re-d/l'ing Shogun2 :)

Initial results for laser:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia16089.html

NASA goes gaga over geology:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...c-mars-mission

Pffft!

Just a flesh wound!

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia16091.html

NASA recap of the week that was:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/video...a_id=151009731