Your video, NASA Lands Car-Size Rover Beside Martian Mountain, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

I know the rover has the equipment to perform intercision, but they are still not sure if they can find any little Martian kids. >> ^hpqp:

I've just read the most excellent His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, so every time they say "Dust" it takes on a whole different meaning in my mind.

many thanks to you, you bovine of death.
In reply to this comment by deathcow:
*doublepromote YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Your video, Curiosity Rover TOUCHDOWN!!, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

This achievement has earned you your "Pop Star" Level 1 Badge!

President Barack Obama lauded the landing in a statement, calling it "an unprecedented feat of technology that will stand as a point of national pride far into the future." Obama went on to say, "If you've got a rover, you didnt build that..."

>> ^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.

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.

I know. It was scary! I thought it could fail since I don't trust computers and electronic (I do software testings). I am glad it was good! I watched it on http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/mars/curiosity_news3.html live at about 10:08 PM PDT. Awesome 64x64 images at first: https://twitter.com/NASA/status/232350219700932608/photo/1 ... I can't wait for more. I will go to sleep soon after I calm down!

Did anyone watch Spirit and Opportunity in 2004? I watched it live with one of the twin rovers back in 2004 on my 15" Apple PowerBook G4 1 Ghz with its wireless in RealPlayer in Mac OS X 10.2.x. I still have it in packed somewhere.

I chuckled when the control room was partying and not really working. [grin]

Dag: Can you send Siftbot to Mars in the future trips?

Doonesbury always has quotes on its website. Following are things heard a Rmoney fundraiser:

"Is there a V.I.P. entrance? We are V.I.P."
-- guest at a Romney event in the Hamptons

"Tell them who's on your yacht this weekend! Tell him!"
-- Carol Simmons, a guest at a Romney Hamptons fundraiser

"Obama's a socialist."
-- Ted Conklin, speaking from his gold Mercedes outside a Romney Hamptons fundraiser

"I don't think the common person is getting it. Nobody understands why Obama is hurting them."
-- guest at a Romeny Hamptons fundraiser, speaking from her Range Rover

>> ^ChaosEngine:

>> ^EvilDeathBee:
God the Cayenne's an ugly son of a bitch. The people that drive them obviously have more money than taste.

Yep, ugly ass car that is mediocre at everything. I once worked out that for the price of a top of the range cayenne, you could buy a decent spec BMW 5 series and a land rover defender. Hell you'd nearly have enough left over for an Ariel Atom. All of which kick the Cayennes ass.


If you wanna go offroad you get the defender, the BMW 5 is just sad.

>> ^EvilDeathBee:

God the Cayenne's an ugly son of a bitch. The people that drive them obviously have more money than taste.


Yep, ugly ass car that is mediocre at everything. I once worked out that for the price of a top of the range cayenne, you could buy a decent spec BMW 5 series and a land rover defender. Hell you'd nearly have enough left over for an Ariel Atom. All of which kick the Cayennes ass.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I definitely don't think the money is stupidly spent. Even if it fails I'm sure they will learn a lot. I just think it's got too many moving parts. Self-assembling nano-bots or the D.U.M.B. rovers FTW!



>> ^deathcow:

Anyone who thinks this money is stupidly spent should be keelhauled. Defense and petroleum sucks those kind of funds from Americans in hours.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Dual Unit Mars Balloons - that's gold. >> ^Fletch:

@dag

Thanks for the link - I've reviewed a lot of this stuff too though I appreciate more information even if it is delivered with a heavy dose of condescension.

Disagreement is not condescension. I don't think you're insane. I just think you're wrong.
[Here's a link for you. Be sure and attach your idea for Dual Unit Mars Balloons to your resumé. I'm sure they will be very interested in your ideas.]
^THAT'S condescension (just an example, of course).

Egos and personalities involved in science? Why would I ever think that - everything we do or say or write comes from a completely rational base right?

We are talking about NASA, not science in general, although I'm sure there are egos aplenty at NASA as well. But I find it very unlikely, ridiculous even, that a mission that has been purposely over-complicated just to satisfy said ego(s), in the face of budget constraints and time considerations, would even make it off the drawing board, much less all the way to Mars. That's just not the way missions are conceived, planned, and realized there.
As I mentioned, the only major difference between this landing and the previous rover landings is the winch instead of the balloon due to the size of Curiosity. I don't see the over-engineering. It's Mars. It's far away and it has little atmosphere for braking. If NASA could just hire some miners, retrofit the Shuttle with indestructable skin and gravity, and then send them to Mars with minimal training, they wouldn't need the winch.

@dag

Thanks for the link - I've reviewed a lot of this stuff too though I appreciate more information even if it is delivered with a heavy dose of condescension.

Disagreement is not condescension. I don't think you're insane. I just think you're wrong.

[Here's a link for you. Be sure and attach your idea for Dual Unit Mars Balloons to your resumé. I'm sure they will be very interested in your ideas.]

^THAT'S condescension (just an example, of course).

Egos and personalities involved in science? Why would I ever think that - everything we do or say or write comes from a completely rational base right?

We are talking about NASA, not science in general, although I'm sure there are egos aplenty at NASA as well. But I find it very unlikely, ridiculous even, that a mission that has been purposely over-complicated just to satisfy said ego(s), in the face of budget constraints and time considerations, would even make it off the drawing board, much less all the way to Mars. That's just not the way missions are conceived, planned, and realized there.

As I mentioned, the only major difference between this landing and the previous rover landings is the winch instead of the balloon due to the size of Curiosity. I don't see the over-engineering. It's Mars. It's far away and it has little atmosphere for braking. If NASA could just hire some miners, retrofit the Shuttle with indestructable skin and gravity, and then send them to Mars with minimal training, they wouldn't need the winch.