Updates Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity)

[Keatah]

In celebration I'm giving everyone a day off work tomorrow. Just made the phone calls.

 

[ADSWNJ]

what was the touchdown velocity? I missed it..

From the live NASA feed ...

Touchdown time 05-AUG-2012 22:14:39 PDT (06-AUG-2012 05:14:39 UTC)
TD Velocity vertical -0.607398 m/s
TD velocity horiz 0.044365 m/s
Expect fuel remaining at fly-away 140.6 kg
Offset Z axis and gravity vector 4.37 degrees
Navigated lat lon: -4.591817 deg lat 137.440247 deg long
Range to tgt 2.279 (units over-talked obscured on feed!!)

 

[statickid]

Curiosity, descendant of the almighty probe, HAIL

 

[Screamer7]

Does anybody have a status of the rover itself?

 

[Keatah]

its fine..

 

[werdna]

I'll bet a thousand dollars Curiosity will last 15 years. NASA seems to have a good track record when it comes to Mars rovers lasting much longer than their intended missions.

Of course, it doesn't change the fact that the Soviets made the first successful (secret) Mars landing in 1978. The landing site was at the highest point of Olympus Mons (chosen for a symbolic reason, obviously). Unfortunately, the collapse of the USSR forced the demise of the Soviet Manned Mars Exploration Program (SMMEP). They only landed on Mars 7 times between 1978 and 1989; after the last crew returned home the project was abandoned due to lack of necessary funding. A permanent base was planned- the hope was to colonize the planet before NASA knew what hit them.

 

[Codz]

Press conference started.

---------- Post added at 06:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:19 AM ----------

Of course, it doesn't change the fact that the Soviets made the first successful (secret) Mars landing in 1978. The landing site was at the highest point of Olympus Mons (chosen for a symbolic reason, obviously). Unfortunately, the collapse of the USSR forced the demise of the Soviet Manned Mars Exploration Program (SMMEP). They only landed on Mars 7 times between 1978 and 1989; after the last crew returned home the project was abandoned due to lack of necessary funding. A permanent base was planned- the hope was to colonize the planet before NASA knew what hit them.

I really hope you're joking.

 

[MattBaker]

Fun fact: Curiosity and Opportunity are around 8,375 kilometers away. On Earth that would be the distance from Cape Canaveral to Saint Petersburg, Russia.

 

[Urwumpe]

Here is a Google Mars image of the navigated landing site coordinates... of course, the real landing might be a few meters off.



Comparing this with the revising landing ellipse, it looks like it hit the bullseye.

 

[Loru]

Congratulations to everyone working on this project

 

[Keatah]

Too much dirt on the hazcam lenses.. skycrane kicked up more dust than expected.

 

[ADSWNJ]

Here is a Google Mars image of the navigated landing site coordinates... of course, the real landing might be a few meters off.

View attachment 10499

Comparing this with the revising landing ellipse, it looks like it hit the bullseye.

Hah - snap. Was doing the exact same thing myself. What an incredible place to land.

 

[Unstung]

Here's the guy everybody noticed:

 

[DaveS]

Too much dirt on the hazcam lenses.. skycrane kicked up more dust than expected.

Not the lenses but the covers. The HazCams have lens covers that protected the lenses from dust and debris kicked up during landing. The next set of images should be clearer.

 

[Keatah]

Ahh yes how could I have forgotten!

---------- Post added at 01:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:41 AM ----------

I'm glad that slurping old guy is done talking.

---------- Post added at 01:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:43 AM ----------

The press conference is getting boring now.

 

[fort]

Mount Sharp, Gale crater ( ESA )

http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMEV8TX55H_index_1.html

 

[Urwumpe]

Also, the Skycrane is means only 7.5 meter distance between rocket engines providing 4500N of thrust and the rover.

 

[Keatah]

Too much slurping and mouth clicking.

 

[Kyle]

Couldn't help but to be disappointing that I couldn't recreate the landing as we don't have a Curiosity addon. I wish I was more advanced at developing meshes + textures.. D:

 

[ADSWNJ]

Check this out ...

Expected landing ellipses (the darker one was the final revised one on the NASA site)...

The actual landing coordinates from the live stream, transposed onto Google Earth (which has a great Mars mode!!) ...

Still stunned that NASA can call it to that precision and land it remotely right on the ellipse.

Bigger pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/84337094@N02/7723525758/in/photostream