"No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment"
I hope that we do find some sort of life, or evidence that life once existed there.
Is there anywhere I can watch this now,? I've searched and can't find a thing.
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[url= http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/instruments-mars-rover/ ]Pretty good summary of the instruments from Wired[/url]
Here perhaps?
MARDI, DAN and RAD 😆
If they upload the vids to vimeo they'll get better HD quality than that ^^
;o)
It is staggering they sent that about of scientific equipment to another planet!
Here perhaps?
Nope
Interesting that this rocket powered steady descent from space thing hasn't even been done on earth, has it?
I think that is because of the earth's higher gravity and the amount of fuel it would take to decelerate a manned vehicle.
allthepies - MemberWhat is that on the horizon ?
Looks like the outside wall of the film studio. 🙂
Excellent! I was erring towards thinking it'd just crash and burn, very pleased to be proved wrong.
I watched a bit of the Q and A this morning . . . it was like non of them new anything about anything . .
What if it gets a flat tyre?
And that suspension is straight off an Orange 5 no?
This could be the best "what tyres for...?" thread eva.
The computer on board is considerably less powerful than my phoneMars Curiosity rover on-board computer specifications: 200MHz CPU, 256MB RAM, 2GB SSD drive. Runs VxWorks as operating system.
But does it do Flash?
I find this considerably more impressive than a man running ever so slightly faster than another man.
Maybe McDonalds should sponsor the next mission. 😀
Hear hear! Though I suspect if Maccy D sponsored the next mission excess launch weight may be a problem...
Don't get me wrong. I like the Olympics, but it is a sad statement that we, as a society, are more interested in [i]"man throw spear good"[/i] than [i]"many people build incredible vehicle, fly it millions of miles to another planet, land it safely, then get it to send back pictures!"[/i]
need a better camera - someone turned the colour setting off
.... 😆"man throw spear good"
need a better camera - someone turned the colour setting off
I think they used Instagram to appeal to the hipster crowd.
But so true. In the age of nuclear weapons and drones people are still still chucking javelins and discuses. Has no one told them that they've been eclipsed by technology?
I find this considerably more impressive than a man running ever so slightly faster than another man.Maybe McDonalds should sponsor the next mission.
I find it a shame that space exploration lacks funding. It's pretty amazing the stuff we've done so far, and to explore is a basic human instinct - it's the reason we've come as far as we have.
But McDonald's on Mars. I'm not sure where that sits on my moral compass 😕 Kids will be looking out at the skies at night, with their telescopes, confronted by big yellow Ms everywhere.
molgrips - MemberInteresting that this rocket powered steady descent from space thing hasn't even been done on earth, has it?
Even assuming the differences in gravity and atmosphere didn't scupper it, it'd be a daft way to land an object on earth... We've got runways to land on and seas to splash in, cities to crash into if you screw up... And also the requirement when we land stuff on Earth is just to get it down safe, we don't routinely send space probes to explore Camden Town or whatever. Though, perhaps we should.
Current live broadcast on NASA TV is going splendidly. How do these guys put a man on the moon when they can't even put a man on the telly? 
It still amazes me that them there scientist types can build something and fire it at a planet "one million" miles away and hit it..or rather land something on it, in the place they wanted it to land and yet some women can't park a car between two lines*.
How on “earth” do they work out the trajectory??
“is thinking it’s all magic and dragons and potions”
*there was going to be some caveat here but there isn't, cos it's true.
How on “earth” do they work out the trajectory??
It's not that hard! One of the very easiest things on the whole mission actually, Newton could probably have done it 400 years ago.
Figuring out how to hover the landing craft is far more difficult I think. Not to mention modelling the martian atmosphere...
One of the very easiest things on the whole mission actually,
Yeah, it's not rocket science.
Oh.
You could find out for yourself, of course.
http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/
Design your own rocket and send it to the, er, Mun.
It's not that hard! One of the very easiest things on the whole mission actually, Newton could probably have done it 400 years ago.
Getting a probe to Enceladus, on the other hand...
Yeah, it's not rocket science
No it's not, it's just calculus.
No it's not, it's just calculus.
Artistic licence, hush.
(-:
molgrips - MemberNewton could probably have done it 400 years ago.
Yep. What a slacker.
love the twitter feed...
[i]Guided entry is begun. Here I go![/i]
[i]Entering Mars' atmosphere. 7. Minutes. Of. Terror. Starts. NOW. [/i]
[i]Parachute deployed! Velocity 900 mph. Altitude 7 miles. 4 minutes to Mars![/i]
[i]Backshell separation. It's just you & me now, descent stage. Engage all retrorockets! [/i]
Newton..? The fella from Brighton that plays an acoustic?
Neat..
Though is he 400years ols?? Looks well on it.
That twitter feed is funny..
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Snapped during the landing.
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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/06/curiosity_mars_reconnaissance_orbiter/
I'm pretty worried now that amongst the assorted miseries of STW I seem to be the only one that thinks this is a massive, pointless waste of 3.6 billion dollars!
kerv: "[i]What's the space program every done for us, eh?[/i]"
....
Good question GrahamS, certainly not the roads, sanitation, irrigation etc etc. 🙂
Kerv, that's probably close to the amount of money the last government squandered on a useless IT system for the NHS that was recently cancelled having never ever worked, along with the regional emergency control centres that nobody wanted but were built anyway for a truly insane amount of money. The Taunton one is still empty, and costing millions to keep empty.
Still, what Prescott wanted, Prescott got... 🙄
Kerv, that's probably close to the amount of money the last government squandered on a useless IT system for the NHS
Yep. Complete waste. Might as well have blasted the lot into space.
Oh.. wait...
Space is ace. The only thing I would rather spend the money on is creating a woolly mammoth.
kerv - Member
I'm pretty worried now that amongst the assorted miseries of STW I seem to be the only one that thinks this is a massive, pointless waste of 3.6 billion dollars!
"The universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures which made the sensible economic decision that there’s no good reason to go into space—each discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the irrational decision."
— XKCD
[url] http://xkcd.com/893 [/url]
"The universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures which made the sensible economic decision that there’s no good reason to go into space—each discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the irrational decision."
— XKCD
Is this for or against spending the money?
