Mars Unmanned Lab, Curiosity

[p6867]

Why aren't people excited about this? These are motherfucking pictures from the surface of mars! Think about that! We're putting shit on other planets.
This picture was just beamed to us from motherfucking mars.
We lowered a good size science lab, which we're operating from across space, onto another goddamn planet and somehow that plays second fiddle to 6 people getting shot on every goddamn news site?
We launched a 1 ton nuclear powered mobile science lab hundreds of millions of miles to land on a speck.

Nothing else of note could have possibly happened today.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8721A920120806

[Haiti's Space Agency]

There wasn't a game thread last night while it was happening? Get your shit together zoklet.

[roasted]

I was reading about that last night. Its pretty awesome. Everything about that rover is amazing complicated. I'm actually surprised it worked.

The two most amazing things (in my opinion) are:

1. The delievery method (the "Sky Crane")





2. The size of the rover (~2,000lbs)


(Patherfinder Rover circa 1997, Spirit/Opportunity ~2004, and Curiosity)

[TheRascalKing]

It ain't shit until we get a guy up there.

[roasted]

Originally Posted by p6867

This picture was just beamed to us from motherfucking mars.

Just wait until Curiosity starts sending back 720p video and high-res photos...

[Rust]

A shot from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of the parachute deployed:





http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/releases/msl-descent.php

[mexico]

Originally Posted by TheRascalKing

It ain't shit until we get a guy up there.

What so he can stand around doing nothing? Maybe stick a fucking flag up? Please.

[Haiti's Space Agency]

Originally Posted by Rust

A shot from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of the parachute deployed:





http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/releases/msl-descent.php

are those shots from oddysey or that other satellite passing by>

[Rust]

Originally Posted by Haiti's Space Agency

are those shots from oddysey or that other satellite passing by>

From the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It's been orbiting Mars for years, taking pictures to map the surface.

[Vizier]

Can't wait for this to happen as well:

http://mars-one.com/

[Number13]

Thread made me angry, I was like "GTFO my lawn">:-[

[butane99]

Originally Posted by Vizier

Can't wait for this to happen as well:

http://mars-one.com/

That will never happen. Never. There is no way in hell a private company can fund a Martian settlement.

[Haiti's Space Agency]

[The Pat-Man]

fuck yea man, no matter how often i hear it "theres a goddamn robot sending us pics from another planet" still amazes me. kinda like when you start thinking about how big the universe is youre just like whoa.

[ThunderDownUnder]

Originally Posted by The Pat-Man

fuck yea man, no matter how often i hear it "theres a goddamn robot sending us pics from another planet" still amazes me. kinda like when you start thinking about how big the universe is youre just like whoa.

And then to think about the universe constantly expanding, it goes from 'woah' to 'WOAH'

[tomjohens]

This is pretty awesome. The future is now.

-Tom

[Sir Cornwell]

Luna first.

Mars second.

Then the third colony on Mercury.

For the serious sun worshiping astrophysicists, engineers, techs, miners and retail entrepreneurs. "I went to Mercury and all I got was this T-shirt and 3rd degree burns".

[The Pat-Man]

pfft third degree burns your ass would be vaporized.

[General Butt.Naked]

Yeah i marvelled to my friend that I was watching a live feeds from a rover 352 million miles away...on an ipad in my backyard.

He said "Yeah thats cool I guess".


I need new friends.

[Vizier]

Originally Posted by General Butt.Naked

Yeah i marvelled to my friend that I was watching a live feeds from a rover 352 million miles away...on an ipad in my backyard.

He said "Yeah thats cool I guess".


I need new friends.

While ipads are cool and way too fucking expensive for just a brand name, it's things like these that make me smile when people go "lol you have too much faith in technology, technology is shit"

[Yggdrasil]

The first color picture taken by the rover was released earlier today by NASA. You see that? That's a fucking cliff face on MARS



Apparently the lens is clouded by some dust at the moment, which accounts for the quality. Can't wait for the stream of pictures to come.

[Haiti's Space Agency]

Originally Posted by General Butt.Naked

Yeah i marvelled to my friend that I was watching a live feeds from a rover 352 million miles away...on an ipad in my backyard.

He said "Yeah thats cool I guess".


I need new friends.

there are live feeds of viddeo from it??? where

[Haiti's Space Agency]

Originally Posted by Yggdrasil

The first color picture taken by the rover was released earlier today by NASA. You see that? That's a fucking cliff face on MARS



Apparently the lens is clouded by some dust at the moment, which accounts for the quality. Can't wait for the stream of pictures to come.

cant wait for dat video

[Zombie Food]

Fuuuuck.

In a few months the whole mass effect storyline starts.

C'mon prothean ruins!

[The Pat-Man]

Originally Posted by General Butt.Naked

Yeah i marvelled to my friend that I was watching a live feeds from a rover 352 million miles away...on an ipad in my backyard.

He said "Yeah thats cool I guess".


I need new friends.

it is basically just binary signals like we been usin 4eva tho

[Haiti's Space Agency]

Mass Effect - Galaxy Map Music Full - YouTube

Mass Effect - Galaxy Map Music Full - YouTube
Video: click to display

listening to this wihle nasa was figuring all that shit out

[Vigilante]

They need to get some trees up there..

[crazzyass]

Originally Posted by roasted

Just wait until Curiosity starts sending back 720p video and high-res photos...

This. I couldn't help but think "$2.5 billion project and we can only afford black and white pictures?" If we get lucky and there are some clear days we could get beautiful pictures. There are canyons there that will make the Grand Canyon look like a cheap ditch.

[crazzyass]

Originally Posted by Vigilante

They need to get some trees up there..

Some have suggested taking all of the carbon dioxide from our emissions and transporting it to Mars. Make the climate change happen there instead of here.

[The Pat-Man]

how would you gather the emissions? just put emission tanks on mufflers and power plant stacks?

[crazzyass]

Originally Posted by The Pat-Man

how would you gather the emissions? just put emission tanks on mufflers and power plant stacks?

Something like that, as well as carbon sinks to collect currently dispersed CO2 in the atmosphere.

It'd be prohibitively expensive, of course. But if climate change continues unabated we might not care as much about the cost. We'll need it off-planet or locked down; so fuck it, launch it to Mars.

[Zombie Food]

Giant hose to the sun seems apprpriate

[Yggdrasil]

Originally Posted by crazzyass

Something like that, as well as carbon sinks to collect currently dispersed CO2 in the atmosphere.

It'd be prohibitively expensive, of course. But if climate change continues unabated we might not care as much about the cost. We'll need it off-planet or locked down; so fuck it, launch it to Mars.

Gonna want a space elevator, son

[General Butt.Naked]

I was kinda wondering about that the other day. I have only the most rudimentary knowledge of most things...so for those more scientifically inclined....

How plausible would it be to "terra-form" mars? Like if theres only a bit of water there, but the atmosphere or something contains a bunch of hydrogen, can we bring in certain elements to create water? How would we go about the oxygen problem? Because from what Ive read, it seems like the endgame for this mars exploration is to see if it is habitable. Would we plausibly ever be able to inhabit mars like we do earth? Or would we have to be in little bubble cities with artificial oxygen, etc? Im just curious as to how this would work.

[Malcolm Equis]

It isn't so easy to criticize those who don't care about it.

So tell me why should I care about this?

I expect a list of things that are simply technological improvements or perhaps advancements in science. These things are materialistic and only provide real benefit to those who took a part in making them happen. The emotional and spiritual aspect is the only one that really matters.

[roasted]

Originally Posted by crazzyass

This. I couldn't help but think "$2.5 billion project and we can only afford black and white pictures?" If we get lucky and there are some clear days we could get beautiful pictures. There are canyons there that will make the Grand Canyon look like a cheap ditch.

The pics will be cool for nerds to look at, but we wont learn very much just from pictures. We've had high resolution satellites circling Mars for a while now. The HD Cameras will help us find stuff to explore with the other instruments.


On a side note:
I was kinda disappointed to learn that the rover cant recharge its batteries (and its life span is limited). I'm sure the rover uses too much power to rely on solar, but it'd be sweet if they build a solar powered recharging station or sent extra batteries that the rover could swap itself (kinda like a Roomba vacuum).

Our last rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, far exceeded their projected lifespan because they were so well built and we could park them in the sun to recharge the batteries. It sounds like Curiosity wont have this luxury

[Pee Vee Proots, M.D.]

Originally Posted by General Butt.Naked

I was kinda wondering about that the other day. I have only the most rudimentary knowledge of most things...so for those more scientifically inclined....

How plausible would it be to "terra-form" mars? Like if theres only a bit of water there, but the atmosphere or something contains a bunch of hydrogen, can we bring in certain elements to create water? How would we go about the oxygen problem? Because from what Ive read, it seems like the endgame for this mars exploration is to see if it is habitable. Would we plausibly ever be able to inhabit mars like we do earth? Or would we have to be in little bubble cities with artificial oxygen, etc? Im just curious as to how this would work.

At the moment bubble cities would the only viable option on Mars, and that's assuming we can actually get humans and supplies there at all... let alone in sufficient quantities to make it work.

The martian atmosphere is many times thinner than Earth's (to the point where your insides would want to go outside of you if you weren't in a pressurized suit) and it's mostly CO2. However if terraforming is ever going to be a reality, it'll probably be done on Mars. It just probably won't even begin within our lifetime (outside of maybe beginning to populat the planet with ecodomes/bubble cities). There are a lot of problems to overcome, but there's a whole wiki page on the viability of martian terraforming if you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_terraforming

[Yggdrasil]

Originally Posted by roasted

On a side note:
I was kinda disappointed to learn that the rover cant recharge its batteries (and its life span is limited). I'm sure the rover uses too much power to rely on solar, but it'd be sweet if they build a solar powered recharging station or sent extra batteries that the rover could swap itself (kinda like a Roomba vacuum).

Our last rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, far exceeded their projected lifespan because they were so well built and we could park them in the sun to recharge the batteries. It sounds like Curiosity wont have this luxury

It's powered by a nuclear reactor, lol. The mechanical parts of the rover are going to fall apart long before it runs out of power.

[Zombie Food]

Originally Posted by Malcolm Equis

It isn't so easy to criticize those who don't care about it.

So tell me why should I care about this?

I expect a list of things that are simply technological improvements or perhaps advancements in science. These things are materialistic and only provide real benefit to those who took a part in making them happen. The emotional and spiritual aspect is the only one that really matters.

You should be excited to live in a time where we can stream live video from mars. To live in a world where we can send a fucking unmanned research station into the stars, and accurately land it on a pebble. You should be excited about all the new stuff this thing will teach us.

Curiosity is really a great achievment to all mankind. And we should all be thrilled to live in such an age.

It's honestly mindblowing to me.

Anyone know exactly what this thing is capable of researching?

[roasted]

Originally Posted by Malcolm Equis

It isn't so easy to criticize those who don't care about it.

So tell me why should I care about this?

I expect a list of things that are simply technological improvements or perhaps advancements in science. These things are materialistic and only provide real benefit to those who took a part in making them happen. The emotional and spiritual aspect is the only one that really matters.

It is easy to criticize those who dont care. They should be criticized for being short-sighted and not caring about future generations.

You should care about this because it represents the advancement of the human race. One day we'll have to leave earth to survive (we'll use up all the resources, or an asteroid will hit us, etc). Currently, our knowledge and understanding of the universe is too primitive to live outside for more than a few months.

Space exploration is the greatest contribution we can make to future generations. All of us will probably be dead before we realize the fruits of this labor, but these are important baby steps for humanity.


(inb4: "we should focus on world peace"...the world is more peaceful and prosperous now than ever before. We will continue evolving into a more peaceful and cooperative race as time goes on. There will be no point in attaining world peace if 2 weeks later an asteroid wipes out the planet)