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BOSE? Bose-Einstein condensate

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/2016/7/27/they-really-do-exist-nasas-ghostbusters/

In a team of professional ghost busters, Anita Sengupta would most certainly be the enthusiastic and multi-talented leader. She’s already taken on roles developing launch vehicles, the parachute that famously helped land the Mars rover Curiosity, and deep-space propulsion systems for missions to comets and asteroids.


Sengupta and other members of the entry, descent and landing team for NASA's Mars rover Curiosity discuss the nail-biting details of the August 2012 landing.

Most recently, she’s carved out a niche as the project manager for an atomic physics mission, called the Cold Atom Laboratory, or CAL.

Since the mission was proposed in 2012, Sengupta has been leading a team of engineers and atomic physicists in developing an instrument that can see the unseen. Their mission is to create an ultra-cold quantum gas called a Bose-Einstein condensate, which is a state of matter that forms only at just above absolute zero. At such low temperatures, matter takes on unique properties that seemingly defy the laws of thermodynamics.

Your video, Stephen Drives NASA's Mars Rover With Neil deGrasse Tyson, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Can already see this not working too well...the mars rovers wheels are already in SERIOUS trouble, just from traversing soft sand on mars.

You really think those thin sidewalls on that cube would last being thrown around like that, for very long?

>> ^saber2x:
There was a initial plan to have 3d cameras by James Cameron, but that was stopped due to a lack of time to test the cameras. http://www.space.com/11241-nasa-mars-rover-3d-camera-james-cameron.html
>> ^steroidg:
>> ^Deano:
C'mon NASA, 1080p, full screen!

1080p? Pffft, why stop there, let's get a IMAX 3D camera on board . Mars landing on giant screen ftw!!!



At least there are still some 3D images coming our way from NASA!

There was a initial plan to have 3d cameras by James Cameron, but that was stopped due to a lack of time to test the cameras. http://www.space.com/11241-nasa-mars-rover-3d-camera-james-cameron.html

>> ^steroidg:

>> ^Deano:
C'mon NASA, 1080p, full screen!

1080p? Pffft, why stop there, let's get a IMAX 3D camera on board . Mars landing on giant screen ftw!!!

So higgs and mars rover in the same year, let's give the keys to government to scientists and engineers please.

>> ^Fletch:

EDIT: Ugh... my meds must make me pretentious. Starting over...
Anyhoo, you weren't being a dick. Just blown away by the complexity of the landing, as was I. Just an "are you shitting me!?!?" moment after seeing "7 Minutes of Terror". I just didn't think the method they chose was ego-driven, and that it was about the only way it could have been done given the size of the rover and the thinness of the Mars atmosphere. I guess they could have just deployed some wings or something and glided it down. Sort of a "Wings To Fly Rover Onto Final Landing" system.
It was really cool to watch it live, though. Amazing that they are getting such accurate information from so far away. My landline freaks out if I run the microwave. And pictures just minutes after landing? Amazing.


Ditto! I loved that 64x64 pixels thumbnail they got.

@dag

Why wouldn't you try and improve on that method instead of going with a completely, untested extremely complicated new method? I suspect personalities and nerd egos are involved.

Are humans supposed to bounce across the surface in a balloon when/if we ever send a manned mission? Do you think that success or failure of this landing precludes learning anything from it? We don't get to send landers to Mars very often, so the opportunity for testing new procedures and techniques has to be taken when it can. Every little thing is done for a reason. If you think it's the result of "personalities and nerd egos", there are hundreds of books, TV specials, and documentaries out there that detail just about everything NASA has ever done, from inception to success or failure, as well as the people and personalities involved, that I think will change your mind. Here's a good place to start. Great book.

I understand that the sheer size of this rover (small car) makes it too big for a single bouncing-ball drop, but why not then, do two and let them come together and connect on landing?

Assuming you are serious...

The success rate of Mars missions is not good. On top of that are budget and launch window considerations. Are you really suggesting that TWO separate pieces be launched, have them both fly 150 million miles to Mars, enter orbit, BOTH successfully land (and land close enough they can find each other), find each other, and then connect somehow to make one rover just so they can use ballons? Really? Talk about complicated... It would take an incredibly huge nerd ego to even ATTEMPT to sell that idea. Even a single launch with two pieces on board would rely on the success of two completely separate and complicated landings and a meet-up before the rover mission could even begin. This also means the weight of each half of the rover would have to be reduced so two separate landing systems can be included. Less room for instruments. Less science. Anyhoo, this system is not so different from the previous rovers. They weren't just dropped from a parachute. The atmosphere is too thin for a parachute alone. RAD (rocket assisted descent) motors brought the rovers to a near dead stop about 50 feet above the surface and they were released. This landing also calls for more precision, as the landing zone is much more specific.

>> ^Jinx:

http://xkcd.com/695/
Poor Spirit : (


I Hate Humans! We can identify with ANYTHING!!! We give the little Rover HUMAN emotions just cause we wanna feel lonely! It's insanity!!!

>> ^longde:

What would be inconceivable about colonizing Mars? Maybe there are resources we could exploit.


Radiation, gravity, distance and atmosphere. Exploited resources at this range isn't really a boon to anything, unless they are of an extreme value. And miners there would have to do hard labor in relatively low gravity, which sounds like a plus except that low gravity is associated with bone loss and loss of heart muscle tissue. Not to mention that mining in a pressure suit is crazy hazardous, but it would also need to shield from radiation unless they do underground mining, which has its own perils. In that, though, I would be the first volunteer for such an operation

Seems like an unfocused project. So they cut some rocks apart. Probably just like earth rocks.
If Curiosity doesn't find life, that's news to nobody.

the last mars rovers were cute. This mars rover is just stupid.

from the wiki page
Determine whether Mars could ever have supported life
Study the climate of Mars
Study the geology of Mars
Plan for a human mission to Mars


I can tell you right now, mars could support life right now. The temperatures are in the polar range, there's water.
so the first objective is BS.
Mars climate. Why? In gods name why do we need to know the climate?
Geology of mars. Same as earth. Rocks are rocks.
Human mission to mars... Why? Astronauts land. Plant a flag, then leave.

What am i missing?

>> ^Yogi:

>> ^Payback:
>> ^eric3579:
Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity Rover) Mission Animation

Kinda worries me that the JPL people think there's sound in space...

Most of JPLs engineers were replaced by struggling CG artists.


Well once the Apollo "Moon Landing" was completed their entire cinematic department was looking for a gig.

Your video, NASA Launches HUGE Mars Rover "Curiousity", has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.