Mars is hard

The Meal · Post by **The Meal** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:52 pm

Now at 460 m/s. SUFR (Straighten Up and Fly Right) engaged. Parachute deployed.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:52 pm

Chute worked!

The Meal · Post by **The Meal** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:55 pm

"Tango Delta"

Lots of high-fives.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:56 pm

Mission Control applause *never* gets old!

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:56 pm

Fantastic news!

Lassr · Post by **Lassr** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:57 pm

Touchdown confirmed!

The Meal · Post by **The Meal** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:57 pm

Next up, the first photo. Should involve a shadow dominating the Mars landscape.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:58 pm

So crazy that worked. w00t!

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:58 pm

That seemed to go fast. Got there then down then landed. Did it not orbit some?

Had to keep reminding myself the lander was sitting on Mars at least 11 minutes before we found out it was sitting there lol. It was like "Hello? helloOo? This thing working? Im here"

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:00 pm

When i was a kid it always seemed like it was run by all old professional folks. Now Im older than them and it feels like its a bunch of college kids running it all lol.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:01 pm

Sweet success! I did a little happy dance.

Hyena · Post by **Hyena** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:01 pm

Damnit that was awesome to watch. Crazy how complicated that is and how smoothly it appears to function.

Congrats, NASA!

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:02 pm

Amazing.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:02 pm

I like it has it's wheel in the pic.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:03 pm

Love those pics of the surface with the shadow of Perseverance in the shot!

The Meal · Post by **The Meal** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:03 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:58 pmDid it not orbit some?

Nope. It switched from "let's aim for Mars" to "let's get a RADAR lock of the ground" about eight minutes before it was on the surface.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:04 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:00 pm When i was a kid it always seemed like it was run by all old professional folks. Now Im older than them and it feels like its a bunch of college kids running it all lol.

I imagine everyone in that room has at least one Ph.D.

The Meal · Post by **The Meal** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:06 pm

Now it gets to drive around an poop out 72 core samples for a future mission to scoop up and send back to earth.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:06 pm

Every time we pull this off it's mind bogglingly amazing. Congrats to the team at JPL!

Ralph-Wiggum · Post by **Ralph-Wiggum** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:08 pm

That was quick.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:08 pm

Will skycrane landing methods become standard for heavier loads, including manned ones?

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:10 pm

Holman wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:04 pm
Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:00 pm When i was a kid it always seemed like it was run by all old professional folks. Now Im older than them and it feels like its a bunch of college kids running it all lol.
I imagine everyone in that room has at least one Ph.D.

I'm guessing at least several. They are a room full of scientists and engineers, afterall.

raydude · Post by **raydude** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:10 pm

Saw the landing with kids. That was hella cool.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:10 pm

How far off did the skycrane go to crash?

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:24 pm

Can’t wait for Perseverance to gently deposit Ingenuity in a couple of days and hope to see a successful flight of the first copter on Mars.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:29 pm

$iljanus wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:24 pm Can’t wait for Perseverance to gently deposit Ingenuity in a couple of days and hope to see a successful flight of the first copter on Mars.

It's going to be a few weeks before they deploy the helicopter.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:40 pm

AWS260 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:29 pm
$iljanus wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:24 pm Can’t wait for Perseverance to gently deposit Ingenuity in a couple of days and hope to see a successful flight of the first copter on Mars.
It's going to be a few weeks before they deploy the helicopter.

Yeah, just couldn’t contain my excitement!

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:53 pm

Hope they get some good use out of it before its covered in too much dust to function.

First flight up "Hey whats that in the distance? Looks like ruined skyscrapers"

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 6:12 pm

Holman wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:08 pm Will skycrane landing methods become standard for heavier loads, including manned ones?

A crewed ship needs to be able to launch again. The sky crane is a one-way trip. Thanks to Mars having 1/4 earth gravity, Starship will be able to both land and take off again, assuming it can refuel on the ground.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 6:13 pm

One of the coolest things about the landing was that in case their favoured spot wasn't so great, the lander was programmed to automatically find a better place within the crater via the data it had collected when approaching the area.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 6:31 pm

Kraken wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 6:12 pm
Holman wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:08 pm Will skycrane landing methods become standard for heavier loads, including manned ones?
A crewed ship needs to be able to launch again. The sky crane is a one-way trip. Thanks to Mars having 1/4 earth gravity, Starship will be able to both land and take off again, assuming it can refuel on the ground.

But a crew doesn't have to leave on the same ship that brought it.

I was thinking of a scenario where a future Mars base is centered around a large return vessel but supplied and manned by crews that arrive via smaller/cheaper/frequent lander-only missions.

Of course that only works once there's a more or less permanent presence on the planet.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 7:29 pm

Holman wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 6:31 pm
Kraken wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 6:12 pm
Holman wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:08 pm Will skycrane landing methods become standard for heavier loads, including manned ones?
A crewed ship needs to be able to launch again. The sky crane is a one-way trip. Thanks to Mars having 1/4 earth gravity, Starship will be able to both land and take off again, assuming it can refuel on the ground.
But a crew doesn't have to leave on the same ship that brought it.

I was thinking of a scenario where a future Mars base is centered around a large return vessel but supplied and manned by crews that arrive via smaller/cheaper/frequent lander-only missions.

Of course that only works once there's a more or less permanent presence on the planet.

Sure, I can imagine a Mars Gateway for interplanetary craft with shuttles going up and down. That's similar to what NASA has in mind for the moon, although I think the Artemis lander will leave behind its landing platform the way Apollo did. Until you can refuel locally, it's hard to lug unneeded hardware back up the well. In the early stages of settling Mars, one-way trips will be useful -- the lander could stay behind as a habitat, for example, or be disassembled and repurposed. It still wouldn't be a sky crane, though.

For future rovers, sure, NASA's two for two and will surely keep doing that.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 7:38 pm

Dont know why they would bother. Cant even get a place like that on the moon for refuels and stuff.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 8:06 pm

2,260-pound Perseverance rover

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 8:24 pm

Any word on the rumor that Perseverance has landed, collected all the scrap on Mars including old rovers and made a robot army then sent terms asking for our surrender yet?

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Fri Feb 19, 2021 1:32 am

Don't bam me. This is a more convincing image than Ralph's.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Feb 19, 2021 2:32 pm

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Feb 19, 2021 3:46 pm

Ralph-Wiggum · Post by **Ralph-Wiggum** » Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:31 pm

This video is great:

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:48 pm

Martians be like "Now wtf are they doing?"