'Curiosity' - NASA Mars Rover - Due to land 5th Aug 2012

[mrmr96]

I only found out about this thing today, and it's INCREDIBLE. To land from several thousand MPH they first hit the atmosphere and use friction, then deploy a parachute, then... well then it gets CRAZY.

Check out this video before reading the thread, as you won't guess what they do next!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedd...

More info here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/27/nasa_curio...

[mrmr96]

rhinochopig said:

Can't help but think this is doomed to failure due to its complexity. I sincerely hope I'm wrong though.

+1

Still, good on them for having a crack at it.

PS - did you know this bad boy launched on November 26, 2011?
Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Science_Laborato...

[mrmr96]

The rope is only 21 feet long! That sky crane has some seriously clever hovering to do!

Also, imagine if you didn't know what it was but saw it make a landing on Earth... seeing this flaming ball suddenly fire a parachute, jetison the heat sheild and steer itself to a flat landing zone before launching a sky crane which hovers and lowers a 6 wheeled robot... you'd shat yourself!

[mrmr96]

Great post, thanks for the info!

[mrmr96]

FunkyNige said:

Poor Spirit

Did we leave markings on them, to let other intelligent life know where they came from? (Like we did with Voyager?) Possibly not required, since if the aliens found mars, then they'd surely find us on Earth too?! I guess we might all be extinct by the time the Aliens find Mars though?

[mrmr96]

Oakey said:

Is it still scheduled for a week today?

Slipped by 1 day: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/WhereIs...

[mrmr96]

BBC article on it today: "Mars Curiosity rover success depends on 'crazy' landing"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-1893...

And it's on TV tonight too!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01llnb2
9pm BBC2

[mrmr96]

on bbc2 RIGHT NOW chaps!

[mrmr96]

MiniMan64 said:

marksx said:

6.30 Monday morning.

Cheers

Yeah, the title of this thread reflects the landing time as predicted at the time. Since the thread was started the eta has slipped into 6th Aug.

[mrmr96]

RegMolehusband said:

Have you seen NASA's interactive computer simulation? Fascinating.

Do you have a link for that?

Also, does anyone have a decent live stream to be watching tomorrow morning?

[mrmr96]

Cheers.

[mrmr96]

Cheer Freddy. Although it will be a while before we get the images, I think the first comms from the rover on the surface will be a welcome relief for the crews. If I understood what he said correctly, I think there will be 3-5mins of coverage from the orbiter following touchdown - during which time the rover will talk to the orbiter which will relay the data to earth. So hopefully we'll know if it was successful reasonably quickly.

[mrmr96]

Quite exciting now, isn't it?
I plan to get up about 6am. If anyone finds more good streams etc can they please post them up?

Cheers

[mrmr96]

(Daft question) Which one is the NASA TV link?

[mrmr96]

Excellent - thanks

[mrmr96]

Don't forget to set your alarms chaps! Xbox stream starts in just over 6 hrs(!)

[mrmr96]

But there is a separate live streaming app available within "my video apps" or something. Called "xbox live events viewer" I think. That's currently playing a countdown timer and a trailer. You don't need kinect to watch that stream.

[mrmr96]

Yup - I'm here.

[mrmr96]

I'm using this stream: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
Same one as is playing on the xbox, but xbox is about 20sec+ behind watching it on laptop, which is itself about 15sec behind LIVE.

[mrmr96]

They're starting to look nervous - as you would! 2mins to entry!!