Mars Curiosity - Great video on amazing landing sequence...

[Neil]

Seems like a landing only a scifi film would propose http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18933037

[wayzim]

today is the day ( or tomorrow, depending on which coast you live on - for those living in the US ) to see if NASA's gamble pays off. 10:30PM Pacific Time 8/5 - 1:30AM Eastern Standard 8/6 http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/ This is History, no matter how this turns out. Way Zim And the pre-landing show is going on right now. -- -------- Post added 06-Aug-2012 at 01:50 AM ---------- Previous post was 05-Aug-2012 at 11:36 PM ---------- today is the day ( or tomorrow, depending on which coast you live on - for those living in the US ) to see if NASA's gamble pays off. 10:30PM Pacific Time 8/5 - 1:30AM Eastern Standard 8/6 http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/ This is History, no matter how this turns out. Way Zim And the pre-landing show is going on right now. And Curiosity has landed! When NASA does something right, they really do it. This time, technology is a good. Way Zim

[krisvds]

Meanwhile:

[Tricky]

Its all very interesting, but what gets me is how the hell do they manage to beam all the info that it collects back to Earth from millions of miles away as well as controlling the thing, but if I go 2 miles down the road from my house I cant get a signal on my mobile phone?

[wayzim]

Its all very interesting, but what gets me is how the hell do they manage to beam all the info that it collects back to Earth from millions of miles away as well as controlling the thing, but if I go 2 miles down the road from my house I cant get a signal on my mobile phone? The short answer is they didn't control it, as there's a fourteen minute time lag between us and Mars. That's what made the landing so difficult and so amazing for this mission. The spacecraft had to initiate all these stages on it's own - from the first moment it entered the Martian atmosphere to discarding the heat shield - deploying the largest parachute ever used - hovering a platform that would lower the rover itself down to the surface on tethers - and then detact the platform which would jet safely away - is this all sounding insanely complex yet? And - unlike the old days of watching Jupiter Up All Night ( the Levy/Shoemaker Impact on PBS, this was a live feed ( with that pesky 14 minute delay, of course ) for the whole world to watch. The landing and then the first pictures which came through fairly promptly afterwards. Way Zim

[krisvds]

Its all very interesting, but what gets me is how the hell do they manage to beam all the info that it collects back to Earth from millions of miles away as well as controlling the thing, but if I go 2 miles down the road from my house I cant get a signal on my mobile phone? Perhaps it's all a conspiracy to lull the naieve people into further submission to their tirannical government ...

[Tricky]

But even as you say without them controlling it, what kind of comms system do they use to relay the images it takes all the way back to Earth from Mars? Even with a 14 minute delay its still impressive, unless of course radio signals travel very easily through space?

[wayzim]

But even as you say without them controlling it, what kind of comms system do they use to relay the images it takes all the way back to Earth from Mars? Even with a 14 minute delay its still impressive, unless of course radio signals travel very easily through space? http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission...tionwithearth/ Way Zim

[AcesandEights]

Perhaps it's all a conspiracy to lull the naieve people into further submission to their tirannical government ... Don't be silly. I can easily find out the answer for Tricky online. It is a conspiracy!

[Neil]

The short answer is they didn't control it, as there's a fourteen minute time lag between us and Mars. That's what made the landing so difficult and so amazing for this mission. The spacecraft had to initiate all these stages on it's own - from the first moment it entered the Martian atmosphere to discarding the heat shield - deploying the largest parachute ever used - hovering a platform that would lower the rover itself down to the surface on tethers - and then detact the platform which would jet safely away - is this all sounding insanely complex yet? And - unlike the old days of watching Jupiter Up All Night ( the Levy/Shoemaker Impact on PBS, this was a live feed ( with that pesky 14 minute delay, of course ) for the whole world to watch. The landing and then the first pictures which came through fairly promptly afterwards. Way Zim It's brilliant news! So all the engineering, hardware and code has all be proven now and can be utilised in future missions.

[Sammich]

Does that thing with the retro rockets do anything else after it drops off the rover?

[rongravy]

Does that thing with the retro rockets do anything else after it drops off the rover? Crash somewhere away from it? I think so...

[Tricky]

[rgc2005]

[ProfessorChaos]

you guys are doing it wrong: