The Mars Curiosity thread

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Re: The Mars Curiosity thread

Post by FBM » Sun Aug 05, 2012 8:58 am

True, we outsourced the paint job and fuzzy dice to Mexico, the carpet to France...
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Re: The Mars Curiosity thread

Post by JimC » Sun Aug 05, 2012 8:59 am

I hope the rover makes it to the surface, but the convoluted technological steps involve seem a little risky...

However, I guess, after all, it is rocket science...
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Re: The Mars Curiosity thread

Post by Tyrannical » Sun Aug 05, 2012 11:12 am

Pensioner wrote:
Tyrannical wrote:
Rum wrote:Anyone else excited by this? Human beings can do such astonishing things!
http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/
I'm excited by it. US scientist and engineers are quite amazing, and a cut above the rest of the world. No other country could pull something off like this.
After reading this crap I did some research and discovered that Curiosity Rover is a multi national endeavor, mainly American but never the less multi national.


http://msl-scicorner.jpl.nasa.gov/Instruments/REMS/
Uh oh, they better not have tried to slip in any metric numbers to try to sabotage it :{D
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Re: The Mars Curiosity thread

Post by Thinking Aloud » Sun Aug 05, 2012 11:52 am

Can anybody hear me?

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Re: The Mars Curiosity thread

Post by mistermack » Sun Aug 05, 2012 12:12 pm

Atheist-Lite wrote:
Rum wrote:Vain hope I know, but it would' be fantastic if this thread could stay on topi...

Oh forget it. :bored:

:hehe:
It's just another mars rover....this could have easily been put down safely with airbags. I'm pretty good with engineering. They chose the difficult way because they wanted funding. I don't see it landing in one piece but then that wasn't it's point.
It seems to me that airbags at minus 100 deg c might not work as well as airbags at 20 deg.
Those flexible materials behave very differently at super-cold temperatures.

Airbags might be possible, but I don't think it would be as straightforward as you think.

Anyway, I really hope it goes well. They deserve a good result for the effort and ambition put in.
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Re: The Mars Curiosity thread

Post by FBM » Sun Aug 05, 2012 12:21 pm

I read yesterday that this one is quite a bit bigger than the others. Too heavy for airbags.
"A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it." ~ H. L. Mencken

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Re: The Mars Curiosity thread

Post by Rum » Sun Aug 05, 2012 12:22 pm

mistermack wrote:
Atheist-Lite wrote:
Rum wrote:Vain hope I know, but it would' be fantastic if this thread could stay on topi...

Oh forget it. :bored:

:hehe:
It's just another mars rover....this could have easily been put down safely with airbags. I'm pretty good with engineering. They chose the difficult way because they wanted funding. I don't see it landing in one piece but then that wasn't it's point.
It seems to me that airbags at minus 100 deg c might not work as well as airbags at 20 deg.
Those flexible materials behave very differently at super-cold temperatures.

Airbags might be possible, but I don't think it would be as straightforward as you think.

Anyway, I really hope it goes well. They deserve a good result for the effort and ambition put in.
Listen to Crumple! He's an expert engineer! :hehe:

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Re: The Mars Curiosity thread

Post by Atheist-Lite » Sun Aug 05, 2012 12:25 pm

mistermack wrote:
Atheist-Lite wrote:
Rum wrote:Vain hope I know, but it would' be fantastic if this thread could stay on topi...

Oh forget it. :bored:

:hehe:
It's just another mars rover....this could have easily been put down safely with airbags. I'm pretty good with engineering. They chose the difficult way because they wanted funding. I don't see it landing in one piece but then that wasn't it's point.
It seems to me that airbags at minus 100 deg c might not work as well as airbags at 20 deg.
Those flexible materials behave very differently at super-cold temperatures.

Airbags might be possible, but I don't think it would be as straightforward as you think.

Anyway, I really hope it goes well. They deserve a good result for the effort and ambition put in.
Worked a few years ago. Just double up on airbags. Tried and tested innovation so soon forgotten? What's changed other than job security for some highly intelligent NASA engineers? is there a black box recorder for if things go wrong? :tup:
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Re: The Mars Curiosity thread

Post by Pensioner » Sun Aug 05, 2012 6:48 pm

FBM wrote:True, we outsourced the paint job and fuzzy dice to Mexico, the carpet to France...
:biggrin:
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Re: The Mars Curiosity thread

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Sun Aug 05, 2012 8:14 pm

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Re: The Mars Curiosity thread

Post by borealis » Sun Aug 05, 2012 8:37 pm

FBM wrote:I read yesterday that this one is quite a bit bigger than the others. Too heavy for airbags.
Yep, 900kg (vs. Spirit and Opportunity that were 185kg). Airbags wouldn't work, but let's hope that rockets do their job well and ensure safe landing. The last 7 minutes will be critical. Tomorrow we'll know :dance:

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Re: The Mars Curiosity thread

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Sun Aug 05, 2012 8:42 pm

You Libertarians can't watch, you don't own any of that bird.
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Re: The Mars Curiosity thread

Post by FBM » Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:13 am

Just a little over 3 hrs and they say everything is in perfect order....but I'll be in class...I'm gonna have a word with NASA about their timing. :sulk:
"A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it." ~ H. L. Mencken

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Re: The Mars Curiosity thread

Post by Ayaan » Mon Aug 06, 2012 3:55 am

Some places to watch it:

http://www.nasa.gov/mars
http://www.ustream.tv/NASAJPL
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/nasatv/

If you're in the US and have Dish Network, you can watch it on the NASA channel on channel 286.
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Re: The Mars Curiosity thread

Post by Ayaan » Mon Aug 06, 2012 3:55 am

Finally something good from my arthritis - I'll be home to watch Curiosity land!
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