Mars is hard

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 1:40 am

The peanuts worked.

Enough · Post by **Enough** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 1:44 am

That was one of the coolest things I've watched in ages. What a great moment, hoping all the instruments are prime to go. (Edit: still watching for awhile I'm sure.)

ChrisGrenard · Post by **ChrisGrenard** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 1:50 am

That was pretty awesome. I can't believe that we invented something that cool and it actually worked.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 1:57 am

$2.5 billion well spent.

The Meal · Post by **The Meal** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:00 am

Freezer-TPF- wrote:Touchdown!

The nerds just won the Super Bowl.

Now let's redefine what it means to play the game and see if we have someone to apologize to for sending our stuff their way.

Sarkus · Post by **Sarkus** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:15 am

Very happy to see it all went well. Ever since the failed missions of the 90s (Mars Observer, Mars 96) I always get worried about Mars missions.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:24 am

The engineers set the scientists a hard act to follow.

Stefan Stirzaker · Post by **Stefan Stirzaker** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 5:16 am

Now that was a mind blowing experience. I'll put some pictures up shortly, but went out to the DSN tracking station, wasn't sure how many people would show up, canberra has 300,000 people in it. Dad and I turned up, packing was backed up for ages and there were by my estimate, about 300 people packed into the viewing room. Bit surreal knowing that the telemetry was going from Mars, through the relay, down to Canberra Australia, Over to Mission Control, back out onto the internet so we could watch it back where the signal first landed!

Lots of news people, lots of kids, a very wide demographic and most of those kids were picked up from school early so they could see it. Seeing that first 64x64 thumbnail come through, amazing. The second 256x256 image, mind blowing, the dust on the lens cap, the sharp shadow. Phew. Was very glad to be proved wrong and they did it!

Stefan Stirzaker · Post by **Stefan Stirzaker** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:15 am

Some photos for you, only phone cameras I'm afraid.

Tidbinbilla DSN - One of Many dishes by peldor_au, on Flickr

Xbox360 Mars Landing game by peldor_au, on Flickr

Waiting for landing by peldor_au, on Flickr

Close to landing by peldor_au, on Flickr

Celebration time!!! by peldor_au, on Flickr

IMG_20120806_153744 by peldor_au, on Flickr

FIRST IMAGE

FIRST IMAGE. Curiosity! by peldor_au, on Flickr

Full house, 1hr before by peldor_au, on Flickr

And finally, one of the dishes pointed at Mars...and my ugly mug in the photo

IMG_20120806_155454 by peldor_au, on Flickr

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:48 am

Terrific to wake up to this news!

Awesome to be back on Mars. Awesome that a new style of getting down there worked.

Odin · Post by **Odin** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 7:00 am

What an amazing technological triumph. I honestly had my doubts that what nearly amounted to a Rube Goldberg contraption could really work, but I'm impressed as hell that it did. Now I just hope there's SOMETHING to find there that's worth the $2.5 pricetag. I mean, c'mon, Mars, work with us here a little bit. Hows about a microbe??

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 7:01 am

Holman wrote:My wife has a high-school classmate who was involved in Spirit (or Opportunity) at JPL. He may be on this too. I don't know if she has Facebooked him, but I'll see if she can do it.

Yep, it turns out that Howard was centrally involved in Curiosity. His whole adult life has been about putting rovers on Mars. I looked at his page, and it's full of congratulations from proud friends and colleagues.

I hope they all feel great today. Definitely deserved!

raydude · Post by **raydude** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:47 am

Stefan Stirzaker wrote:Now that was a mind blowing experience. I'll put some pictures up shortly, but went out to the DSN tracking station, wasn't sure how many people would show up, canberra has 300,000 people in it. Dad and I turned up, packing was backed up for ages and there were by my estimate, about 300 people packed into the viewing room. Bit surreal knowing that the telemetry was going from Mars, through the relay, down to Canberra Australia, Over to Mission Control, back out onto the internet so we could watch it back where the signal first landed!

Lots of news people, lots of kids, a very wide demographic and most of those kids were picked up from school early so they could see it. Seeing that first 64x64 thumbnail come through, amazing. The second 256x256 image, mind blowing, the dust on the lens cap, the sharp shadow. Phew. Was very glad to be proved wrong and they did it!

And a big thank you to you guys down in Canberra! You were the prime tracking station for Curiosity's landing!

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 10:08 am

Odin wrote: Now I just hope there's SOMETHING to find there that's worth the $2.5 pricetag.

When you're comparing it to a bag of Doritos, I'm sure they can beat it.

raydude · Post by **raydude** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 10:25 am

stessier wrote:
Odin wrote: Now I just hope there's SOMETHING to find there that's worth the $2.5 pricetag.
When you're comparing it to a bag of Doritos, I'm sure they can beat it.

Finding evidence of life on Mars...priceless.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 10:30 am

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 11:12 am

Because it hasn't been done yet:

Curiosity first images moments after touchdown.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 11:14 am

For those that haven't read up on it, these are the images from the hazard avoidance cameras that are low rez and also have dust covers on them. The higher rez third shot is the haz cam with the dust cover having been removed.

In the coming hours, NASA will order curiosity to raise it's mast that has a high definition camera mounted on it. We will be receiving very high resolution shots soon.

Edit: Attached is an image of Curiosity in the lab with people standing next to it so that you can get an idea of scale when looking at the imagery....

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 11:37 am

Stefan's post reminds me of The Dish. Fun movie.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 11:42 am

PLW · Post by **PLW** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:01 pm

It's like The Giving Tree all over again!

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:03 pm

Kraken:

Any idea when they will receive and release the video of the landing? I've read that the craft was equipped with a video camera to capture the landing and give mankind the first video imagery of a craft landing on another planet.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:20 pm

From IO9:

To be clear: this is not a model, a simulation, or an artist's rendering. This is an actual photograph of the actual rover, descending on its actual freaking parachute, on a planet hundreds of millions of miles away. It was photographed from an entirely separate spacecraft that is currently orbiting Mars using HiRISE, the most powerful camera we've ever sent to another planet.

raydude · Post by **raydude** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:44 pm

I don't know if I can do any more work today, my mind is blown.

KKBlue · Post by **KKBlue** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 1:21 pm

Thanks for all the pictures and other stuff guys, very cool indeed!

Moat_Man · Post by **Moat_Man** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 1:30 pm

Smoove_B wrote:

Our greatest scientific achievement, paparazzi on Mars.

Enough · Post by **Enough** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 1:38 pm

msduncan wrote:For those that haven't read up on it, these are the images from the hazard avoidance cameras that are low rez and also have dust covers on them. The higher rez third shot is the haz cam with the dust cover having been removed.

In the coming hours, NASA will order curiosity to raise it's mast that has a high definition camera mounted on it. We will be receiving very high resolution shots soon.

In case folks want to read about the more high res cameras and see some pre-launch samples, click on over here.

Redfive · Post by **Redfive** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 1:56 pm

raydude wrote:I don't know if I can do any more work today, my mind is blown.

Yeah..everything it took to get this thing there..and oh by the way we worked it so another, unrelated satellite was in position to take a picture of it on entry..

Boggles.

Don't mind me..I'm just going to get back to struggling to remember how to show my daughter how to do her 5th grade math.

DragonKP · Post by **DragonKP** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:18 pm

Cool NASA video showing the landing in CG, meshed with real time reaction.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogal ... =149948191" target="_blank

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:26 pm

If HiRISE took the image one second before or one second after, we probably would be looking at an empty Martian landscape," said Sarah Milkovich, HiRISE investigation scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "When you consider that we have been working on this sequence since March and had to upload commands to the spacecraft about 72 hours prior to the image being taken, you begin to realize how challenging this picture was to obtain."

KKBlue · Post by **KKBlue** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:43 pm

DragonKP wrote:Cool NASA video showing the landing in CG, meshed with real time reaction.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogal ... =149948191" target="_blank

Actually am crying (really surprised myself). It was a great mix mesh vid, could feel the energy in the control room for sure!
Edit to add...Fkin, watched it again and waterworks, again. Very exciting.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:45 pm

DragonKP wrote:Cool NASA video showing the landing in CG, meshed with real time reaction.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogal ... =149948191" target="_blank

Very cool! Thanks for the link.

Man, I'm just so Mars-ed up today. It makes planning this weekend trip to Massachusetts feel like nothing.

Does anyone else think Curiosity looks more like WALL-E than the other rovers?

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 3:45 pm

msduncan wrote:Kraken:

Any idea when they will receive and release the video of the landing? I've read that the craft was equipped with a video camera to capture the landing and give mankind the first video imagery of a craft landing on another planet.

I had not heard of that.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 4:03 pm

Kraken wrote:
I had not heard of that.

Link to story, quote below

Scientists at the NASA mission center won't know for 14 minutes whether Curiosity lands safely as radio signals from Mars travel to Earth. If it succeeds, a video camera aboard the rover will have captured dramatic footage of the first landing on another planet.

I also saw this mentioned in a Huffington Post article. Why the hell I read anything from the Huffington Post, I have no idea, but there it is.

Edit: And this one is not worded as well as the Huffington. What he is trying to say is the first VIDEO of a landing on another planet.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 4:12 pm

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 4:24 pm

That would be awesome if it said "...rocket-powered hover crane ON MARS!"

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 5:39 pm

Corrected image to remove the fish-eye effect

Enough · Post by **Enough** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:28 pm

Google's doodle is awesome today, subtle.

Also liked this:

Stefan Stirzaker · Post by **Stefan Stirzaker** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:09 pm

First hi-res of Mount Doom! eerr Mount Sharp. Looks like a good climb if we were there!
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/m ... vents.html" target="_blank

Love the fun caption photos too. Keen for the first hi res colour photos later this week.

DragonKP · Post by **DragonKP** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:24 pm

msduncan wrote:Kraken:

Any idea when they will receive and release the video of the landing? I've read that the craft was equipped with a video camera to capture the landing and give mankind the first video imagery of a craft landing on another planet.

Here ya go

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGMDXy-Y1I" target="_blank