Join Fraser, Pamela and Phil of the astronomy cast for 4 hours of non-stop coverage leading up to the landing, with special guest, and on location reporting at JPL.
Sun Aug 5th, 8 pm pacific time, 11pm eastern, 3 am universal.
Join them on Google+ or Youtube.com/universetoday
It's 4 Days to Mars – and NASA's Curiosity Mars Science Lab (MSL) spacecraft is now flying under the control of the crafts autonomous entry, descent and landing timeline and picking up speed as she plunges ever faster to the Red Planet and her Rendezvous with Destiny.
"Timeline activated. Bleep-bop. I'm running entry, descent & landing flight software all on my own. Countdown to Mars: 5 days," Curiosity tweeted Tuesday night.
the excitement is building rapidly for NASA's biggest, boldest mission ever to the Red Planet as the flight team continues to monitor Curiosity's onboard systems and flight trajectory. Yesterday, the flight team successfully carried out a memory test on the software for the mechanical assembly that controls MSL's descent motor, configured the spacecraft for its transition to entry, descent and landing approach mode, and they enabled the spacecraft's hardware pyrotechnic devices
Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/96556/4-days-to-mars-curiosity-activates-entry-descent-and-landing-timeline-edl-infographic/#ixzz22Ldna3Bv (http://www.universetoday.com/96556/4-days-to-mars-curiosity-activates-entry-descent-and-landing-timeline-edl-infographic/#ixzz22Ldna3Bv)
very exciting! :) hang on, we're going to mars, baby! :)
The eve of NASA's MSL 'Curiosity' landing is a good time to open Google Earth and in the toolbar switch to Google Mars!
On the left side layers panel under 'Mars Gallery' are two guided tours.
'An introduction to Mars' by Ira Flatow, and 'Mars Exploration' by Bill Nye.
With only hours to go now - Good luck Curiosity!
Not only will the space capsule be aerobraking like previous landings, this time it will be 'flying' to it's destination by changing it's center of mass and using the heat shields lift capability during hypersonic flight like a wing.
Four minutes of surfing and it re-centers it's mass, pops the chute at mach 2, then gently lowers the one ton nuclear powered rover with a rocket sky crane
Wile E. Coyote couldn't have come up with a better plan.
I watched their landing plan and thought "these guys are insane".
Congratulations to NASA for a successful landing.
I had the NASA live feed, Universe-today and the NASA 'Eyes On The Solar System' running in real time.
Pretty cool to see the first photos on the ground come in so fast. Didn't expect that.
Big congratulations - what a moral boost. :)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/9454930/Nasa-Mars-Landing-live-blog.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/9454930/Nasa-Mars-Landing-live-blog.html)
So frakking cool!
First pictures from Mars rover Curiosity (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCyMcQSzzks#)
Such amazing news. 2 weeks until all the diagnostics are completed, and they actually starting doing stuff. :)
What an amazing feat of engineering that landing was!
I loved it! Stayed up till the early morning just to watch the press conference and savor the moments. It really is amazing how this was all done. Way, way cool.
Another great photo, this time from the orbiter,
According to Sarah Milkovich, science systems engineer for Curiosity & MRO HiRISE, "this image was taken 6 minutes after MSL entered the atmosphere":
"You can see the lines on the parachute, you can see the hole in the top there," explains Milkovich. The inset image in the picture featured here "has been stretched differently so that you can see the parachute clearly without saturation... HiRISE has taken over 120 pictures of Gale [in preparation for Curiosity's arrival] but I really think this is the coolest one."
I saw that over on JPL's web site, so cool! Can't wait for more images and video of the actual descent!
I'm really looking forward to that Bryan!
I know these are a bit blurry, but wow! Worth the trip to see these images from Mars! :biggrin
Ta da!
http://youtu.be/UcGMDXy-Y1I (http://youtu.be/UcGMDXy-Y1I)
AWESOME!!!
Some more pictures came back yesterday, amazing!
Some cool new video footage received now too!
FAKE Mars Rover Footage From Nasa ! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd31JUjeOwM#)
Hehe
This just in...
Oops!
That's hilarious. I'm just doing a B5 re-watch now too.
Quote from: davekill on August 07, 2012, 08:12:59 PM
This just in...
Oops!
Yeah, that's all we need now. Someone get me Wil Smith.
On Wednesday, JPL engineers will begin checking Curiosity's scientific instruments to see if they are functioning properly. The rover also will begin collecting images for its first panoramic photo.
Later this week, the rover will be reprogrammed. It currently contains flight software and needs to be switched over to ground software.
"It's like doing a brain transplant on the rover," JPL media representative Gaye Hill said.
----
NASA only "goes with what it knows" and just packs whats needed for these long trips
The Curiosity rover's on-board computer is a pretty low-power system. In fact, the iPhone 4S is four times more powerful.
Specs Curiosity - iPhone
CPU 200 MHz 800MHz
RAM 256 MB 512 MB
SSD 2GB 64 GB
Yeah, the thing with these systems is they have to be rugged and 100% reliable. You can't swap out a crashed hard drive or bad memory stick with the computer on Mars. The more complexity you add to a system, the more chance of breakdowns.
No doubt it's running a custom flavour of Linux or Unix.
Quote from: davekill on August 08, 2012, 09:13:24 AM
On Wednesday, JPL engineers will begin checking Curiosity's scientific instruments to see if they are functioning properly. The rover also will begin collecting images for its first panoramic photo.
Later this week, the rover will be reprogrammed. It currently contains flight software and needs to be switched over to ground software.
"It's like doing a brain transplant on the rover," JPL media representative Gaye Hill said.
----
NASA only "goes with what it knows" and just packs whats needed for these long trips
The Curiosity rover's on-board computer is a pretty low-power system. In fact, the iPhone 4S is four times more powerful.
Specs Curiosity - iPhone
CPU 200 MHz 800MHz
RAM 256 MB 512 MB
SSD 2GB 64 GB
As long as NASA doesn't have AT&T for Curiosity, they should be just fine! :)
Looks like there already is a littering problem on Mars.
Quote from: Rico on August 08, 2012, 04:19:46 PM
Looks like there already is a littering problem on Mars.
Starbucks is already there?! Where do they not exist?!
hehe
Maybe not life as we know it - Kro-Bar and Lattis celebrate a successful rover landing!
I love these guys, both were featured in a previous podcast.
NASA released the first color panorama of Mars. Doesn't look as...alien as I thought it would!
Still, very, very awesome!
Amazing!
Looks like oklahoma
I was thinking more like Utah...
Quote from: KingIsaacLinksr on August 08, 2012, 04:38:50 PM
Quote from: Rico on August 08, 2012, 04:19:46 PM
Looks like there already is a littering problem on Mars.
Starbucks is already there?! Where do they not exist?!
hehe
Well, up til about 2 months ago I'd have said Disneyland...BUT...there's now a LARGE Starbucks inside Disney California Adventure! :)
In one of the local strip malls, there's a Starbucks in the grocery store, a Starbucks in the bookstore, and I think there's even a Starbucks in the back of the stand-alone Starbucks store...
Quote from: Jobydrone on August 07, 2012, 06:14:26 AM
Some more pictures came back yesterday, amazing!
very geek funny, I saw it on Goggle+
Quote from: Rico on August 08, 2012, 04:19:46 PM
Looks like there already is a littering problem on Mars.
I saw that on G+ also. I didnt knwo we have starbuck on Mars, in the case I want a small pike place with cream and sugger.
A strange cloud on Mars seen by NASA's Curiosity rover just after it landed on the Martian surface this week set the Internet buzzing over what it might be. Was it a dust storm? Part of the rover? Martians?
The Martian mystery cloud that was first spotted by Curiosity just 40 seconds after it landed late Sunday night (Aug. 5 PDT).
The cloud was captured on camera by the rover's rear-facing hazard avoidance cameras (called Hazcams). In images from the same camera taken 45 minutes later revealed "The cloud was gone as if the dust had settled, it just isn't there anymore."
Early speculation by some mission scientists suggested that the cloud could have been dust in the distance, or dust on the clear cover that protected Curiosity's cameras during landing. Now that this mystery has been put to bed, no one seemed to notice the large monolith shaped rock left standing in it's place.
that's just odd...
A nice round up of real images at the link below:
http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-205_162-10013260.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody (http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-205_162-10013260.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody)
Quote from: QuadShot on August 10, 2012, 07:45:44 AM
Quote from: KingIsaacLinksr on August 08, 2012, 04:38:50 PM
Quote from: Rico on August 08, 2012, 04:19:46 PM
Looks like there already is a littering problem on Mars.
Starbucks is already there?! Where do they not exist?!
hehe
Well, up til about 2 months ago I'd have said Disneyland...BUT...there's now a LARGE Starbucks inside Disney California Adventure! :)
Geez, I'm just waiting for the evil Starbucks empire to start up at this point... ;)
Quote from: Rico on August 13, 2012, 08:33:50 AM
A nice round up of real images at the link below:
This is so wonderful, I could look at a thousand pictures from Mars.
it is so darn cool.
'Brain and brain, what is brain!'
In case you've been wondering, The Mars Curiosity Rover has completed its brain transplant, upgrading its operating system and apps.
The process lasted a few days and I'm sure the engineers in charge have cheered when the upgrade was finished successfully. Upgrading the software of a computer sitting millions of miles from your desk is not an easy task.
According to NASA, the rover is now "optimized for surface operation", which means that it would be able to start rolling through Mars and use its scientific instruments as soon as it finishes checking its hardware.
http://gizmodo.com/5934801/mars-curiosity-brain-transplant-complete (http://gizmodo.com/5934801/mars-curiosity-brain-transplant-complete)
Quote from: davekill on August 14, 2012, 05:55:46 PM
'Brain and brain, what is brain!'
In case you've been wondering, The Mars Curiosity Rover has completed its brain transplant, upgrading its operating system and apps.
The process lasted a few days and I'm sure the engineers in charge have cheered when the upgrade was finished successfully. Upgrading the software of a computer sitting millions of miles from your desk is not an easy task.
According to NASA, the rover is now "optimized for surface operation", which means that it would be able to start rolling through Mars and use its scientific instruments as soon as it finishes checking its hardware.
http://gizmodo.com/5934801/mars-curiosity-brain-transplant-complete (http://gizmodo.com/5934801/mars-curiosity-brain-transplant-complete)
I hope they got their iTunes password right the first time!
This is pretty awesome. Get a panoramic view of Mars on your iPad!
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-57493888-233/take-a-virtual-tour-of-mars-on-your-iphone-or-ipad/ (http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-57493888-233/take-a-virtual-tour-of-mars-on-your-iphone-or-ipad/)
Direct link to it:
http://www.360cities.net/image/curiosity-rover-martian-solar-day-2 (http://www.360cities.net/image/curiosity-rover-martian-solar-day-2)
Another cool picture --- from Mars!
http://spacefellowship.com/news/art30850/curiosity-team-switches-back-to-earth-time.html (http://spacefellowship.com/news/art30850/curiosity-team-switches-back-to-earth-time.html)