curiosity safe on mars

[ronacc]

recieving telemetry expecting pics soon

they only got thumbnails of the first 2 images down before the orbital relay moved out of range but that shows the vehicle is healty , they'll get more when the next orbital relay is overhead .

[lisati]

Thread moved to The Community Cafe.

[CharlesA]

Woot!

Go NASA!

[Erik1984]

I followed the live stream (had to get out of bed relatively early) and it was so awesome... Also quite cool to see Curiosity tweet the progress: https://twitter.com/MarsCuriosity

[KiwiNZ]

They better not let Wolowitz near :P

[AllRadioisDead]

They better not let Wolowitz near :P

We all know what happened last time...
http://l.yimg.com/l/tv/us/img/site/17/68/0000041768_20070731140131.jpg

[Paqman]

Nuclear-powered laser-armed robots FTW!

Gotta say, I was a little sceptical about the whole skycrane idea, seemed a bit overcomplicated, but it's done the job.

[PaulInBHC]

I watched it live and when they showed the screen with the pictures I wondered what operating system they use? The title bar on the window said xva IIRC.

[oldos2er]

There's some info about its software here (http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/159637/what-is-the-mars-curiosity-rovers-software-built-in)

It was exciting watching the landing.

[Swagman]

First pix in from "Curiosity" and they are... amazing

http://staffweb.stpatricks.tas.edu.au/~dwykes/curiosity.jpg

[CharlesA]

Awww no sign of Kuato. :(

[QIII]

I'm reminded of the "Do we need Algebra?" thread that is still going strong.

This makes it clear that we don't need to teach such difficult things to students in the US because it is really holding students back.

;)

Oh. As a public service announcement, I'd like to remind everyone that Thursday is International Dress Like Wolowitz Day. Every other day of the year, as usual, is Hate on Sheldon Day.

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

I worked at NASA in Houston 31 years ago when the first Shuttle launched and successfully landed. I think I have an idea how these people felt when the Curiosity landing actually worked. When you work at NASA you have a real understanding of the things that can go wrong. One difference is that with the shuttle human lives were also at risk. The main reason I enjoyed working at NASA was the feeling of contributing to human space exploration, I was a StarTrek fan before I worked there. I remeber the exileration of knowing that the NASA team succeded and the relief that it when well. I can imagine that there were some parties after work that we will never hear about. :)

[Toz]

Awww no sign of Kuato. :(
...yet.

In all seriousness, an amazing feat of technology. Congrats to all that were involved.

[Smilax]

we're of to see the wizard...

[Jakin]

I find it quite strange for a space endeavor, that nasa would build this rover with a nuclear battery in mind - nuclear is more reliable sure... and if something goes wrong (presumably) noone gets hurt, but does that mean solar cells are no longer efficient enough in space?

Im all for the exploration of mars, but they have had a rover there since what 97? This being the 4th or 5th... put a rover on neptune! haha..

[Paqman]

I find it quite strange for a space endeavor, that nasa would build this rover with a nuclear battery in mind - nuclear is more reliable sure... and if something goes wrong (presumably) noone gets hurt, but does that mean solar cells are no longer efficient enough in space?


The problem is keeping the panels clear of dust. Mars is windy and dusty, and if the rovers can't keep the panels clean they freeze to death in winter.

Plus of course, a nuclear heated and powered rover can work at night and through the winter.

Nothing can really go wrong with this type of nuclear device. It's powered by plutonium naturally decaying and releasing heat as it does. The same process is going on in the rocks of the Earth all the time. It's slow, safe, ultra-reliable and 100% natural. Decaying like this is just something plutonium does.

[Jakin]

Yeah it is true that dust would be a huge role, and i forgot all about the frigid temps; I should do some research on the setup of this plutonium battery, very interesting.

Answering my own question- such a setup would be the way to go, putting a rover on Neptune- if ever :)