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OT.... WE DID IT! - Printable Version

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OT.... WE DID IT! - Redrum - 08-05-2012

Put a rover onto the surface of Mars.  and...IT WORKS!    We stayed up late, back here.  Reminded me of my childhood when my parents would roust us out of bed (in California) waaay too early to see satellite launches in the Florida dawn and then the Mercury launches.  Might have been more awake back then.    This was history and I don't know how much more I'll get to see in my lifetime.  Astounding to think of it .  Previous missions  basically put an overgrown nerfball containing a small rover somewhere generally on the Martian surface.  This time they flew the thing for 9 months, then put it within a couple of miles of the center of the target area.  What a great day for the idea of space exploration and for America.  Yay us!!

Re: OT.... WE DID IT! - JeffInCorvallis - 08-06-2012

To be fair, Spirit and Opportunity, originally designed to go a short distance and operate for about 90 Martian days, far exceeded expectations, surviving for more than 6 years and sending back tons of data on Mars, including evidence of water.  Curiosity, about the size of a minivan, is far more robust and capable and should be a workhorse on Mars for some time.  It sure was fun to watch as we tested out a new and innovative landing sequence that seems to have worked perfectly.

Re: OT.... WE DID IT! - Leftcoast - 08-06-2012

Go Curiousity!  I was at NASA Ames last night to watch the MSL project as live as possible.

Ames has recently made these things community events - with entry free and invites widely distributed.  There were two large screens up with the humongous (though now skeletal) Hangar 2 as a backdrop.  There was also a stage where various NASA folks spoke to explain the upcoming event including Wind Tunnel development, the critical phases of the "7 minutes of terror" (Descent through atmosphere), discussion of what markers they might see for life on Mars and a discussion of the parachute development and testing.  If you e-mailed in and got some of the special invites the labs themselves held open houses where various NASA folks were available. 

The screens switched to the live feed from JPL shortly before the descent.  Queue much partying when the final picture showing the wheels on the surface were shown. 

Nice to see NASA putting on a good show - Events like this are their best PR.