NASA's 'Curiosity' ("The Eagle has Landed"), has landed on Mars!!!

[The Count of Merkur Cristo]

The Eagle has Landed!!!

"After eight years of planning and eight months of interplanetary travel, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory pulled off a touchdown of Super Bowl proportions, all by itself. It even sent pictures from the goal line".

The spacecraft plunged through Mars' atmosphere, fired up a rocket-powered platform and lowered the car-sized, 1-ton Curiosity rover to its landing spot in 96-mile-wide (154-kilometer-wide) Gale Crater. Then the platform flew off to its own crash landing, while Curiosity sent out a text message basically saying, "I made it!"

"And I think it's gonna be a long long time
Till touch down brings me round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh no no no I'm a rocket man
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone".

Read More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48511087/ns/technology_and_science-space/

"It’s far better to dare mighty things even though there is a risk of failure". President Theodore Roosevelt

 

[Intrigued]

I stayed up to watch the coverage of it. I'm so glad it landed safely! Now if it just follows Opportunity's lead and keeps going and going.....

 

[oc_in_fw]

I stayed up to watch the coverage of it. I'm so glad it landed safely! Now if it just follows Opportunity's lead and keeps going and going.....

Those rovers are the energizer bunnies.

 

[Face&Head]

 

[Nick Danger]

I watched the landing along with 750 other folks at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. They stayed open until 2am for the event. I was actually amazed to see how many people were there after midnight on a Sunday.

Nick

 

[JRobinhood]

Very exciting times we live in, I can't wait to see what comes out of a mission like this.

I stayed up to watch the coverage of it. I'm so glad it landed safely! Now if it just follows Opportunity's lead and keeps going and going.....

Sadly this rover will not be able to go and go like Opportunity, Curiosity isn't solar powered like Opportunity is so once the nuclear fuel is depleted then the rover will die.

 

[AllenG]

Very exciting times we live in, I can't wait to see what comes out of a mission like this.




Sadly this rover will not be able to go and go like Opportunity, Curiosity isn't solar powered like Opportunity is so once the nuclear fuel is depleted then the rover will die.

The power supply has a projected 14 year lifespan however.

 

[the beav]

I remember the old argument that if we didn't have a space program designed to go to the Moon, then Tang would never have been invented. How's that for bang for your buck?

 

[HoosierTrooper]

I remember the old argument that if we didn't have a space program designed to go to the Moon, then Tang would never have been invented. How's that for bang for your buck?

Maybe for the 2.5 billion this cost we'll get sugar free Tang...

 

[AllenG]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spin-off_technologies
More than Tang has come from NASA.

 

[the beav]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spin-off_technologies
More than Tang has come from NASA.

LOL--according to this wiki page, Tang was not invented due to NASA. Which means that me and everyone in my third-grade class was misinformed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_(drink)

 

[Pat.G.Boisvert]

I remember being in classes 12 years ago (in aerospace engineering) and being asked, design a rough delivery and rover concept for a mars landing. Now it's no longer just a concept... how amazing.

 

[Miles]

So cool that they are getting high-resolution color images back from Curiosity. I'll be checking in regularly with the NASA website for updates.

 

[oc_in_fw]

on edit: even though what I said was aimed at the business world world-wide, some may construe it as political, and it just isn't worth the headache.

 

[oc_in_fw]

So cool that they are getting high-resolution color images back from Curiosity. I'll be checking in regularly with the NASA website for updates.

So will I, one I get home.

 

[OldSaw]

So if they can land a NUCLEAR POWERED car on Mars, why are we still driving gasoline fueled vehicles?

 

[oc_in_fw]

So if they can land a NUCLEAR POWERED car on Mars, why are we still driving gasoline fueled vehicles?

Just imagine how awesome car explosions in movies would be, then

Seriously, when is the last time a car blew up in an accident? Judging by the movies, it happens every time.

 

[Slash McCoy]

So if they can land a NUCLEAR POWERED car on Mars, why are we still driving gasoline fueled vehicles?

Cause they are cheaper?

 

[AllenG]

Cause they are cheaper?

A little bit, yes.
http://www.nbl.doe.gov/htm/lists/plutonium_certified_reference_materials_price_list.htm
^^^
Looks like Pu is going for just under $11k a gram.
You need about 6kg to have a fissile mass, or $66,000,000.00 to tank up.

 

[JRobinhood]

The power supply has a projected 14 year lifespan however.

I've heard it's closer to two years, where did they say it will last for 14 years?