Mars landing: Do-or-die time for Curiosity rover; it's on its own

Originally posted by FOXMULDER147
Just over 11 hours to go... Everything running smoothly so far...

Curiosity Closes in on its New 'Home'
Sun, 05 Aug 2012 12:20:24 AM GMT+0100

With Mars looming ever larger in front of it, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft and its Curiosity rover are in the final stages of preparing for entry, descent and landing on the Red Planet at 10:31 p.m. PDT Aug. 5 (1:31 a.m. EDT Aug. 6). Curiosity remains in good health with all systems operating as expected. Today, the flight team uplinked and confirmed commands to make minor corrections to the spacecraft's navigation reference point parameters.

This afternoon, as part of the onboard sequence of autonomous activities leading to the landing, catalyst bed heaters are being turned on to prepare the eight Mars Lander Engines that are part of MSL's descent propulsion system. As of 2:25 p.m. PDT (5:25 p.m. EDT), MSL was approximately 261,000 miles (420,039 kilometers) from Mars, closing in at a little more than 8,000 mph (about 3,600 meters per second).

only 250,000 miles to go. you could drive that in a well built car.
damn the rover is close.

There are many local events planned for the landing. If you're into groups and cheering (hopefully) there's plenty of time to head to one of them.
www.nasa.gov...

reply to post by Phage


Will be cheering from home.

Kid fell asleep with his NASA Cap, last night......

Originally posted by sonnny1
reply to post by Phage

 

Will be cheering from home.

Kid fell asleep with his NASA Cap, last night......

ill be watching with goosebumps when i should be sleeping because i work 4 hours after it lands. me being tired at work will be no issue. me wanting to get home and get updated on curiosity will be what bothers me while i am at work..

if it fails i will be sad , lets hope things go well.

reply to post by Erno86


Theres always one isn't there....

Originally posted by Erno86
The new Mars rover --- Curiosity --- is yet another example of a failed technological achievment that should not be allowed to explore any planet, including our own planet Earth. I'm talking about the obscene amount of plutonium dioxide [11 pounds] that is stored on the rover that generates heat, which is converted to electricty to recharge two lithium-ion batteries.

Whatever NASA is thinking...is not conducive for safe space travel --- and sets an example to other-worlder's --- that Earthling's do not care for the safe enviroment of other planets.

I believe... that full UFO disclosure by the United States government --- does not come to fruition --- because NASA wants the funds to keep coming for probes that try to discover extraterrestrial life; even though TPTB try to keep secret from the public: other-worlder visitations on our own planet.

edit on 5-8-2012 by Erno86 because: added a word

kind of like the probes nasa dumped on saturn & jupiter in 99 . i remember reading how much plutoniam they had on board when they hit the planets

Originally posted by Kryties
reply to post by Erno86

 

Theres always one isn't there....

yeah,and yet he post that from a computer which is full of toxins, probably drives a car which pollutes the planet we actually live on, and i highly doubt he recycles every single item possible that he crosses in his life. i could go on.

its not glamorous that we send such radioactive materials to other places in the solar system but we came out of our caves many years ago to make a dent in this universe. some bad but mostly good for our species.

are we there yet

All I have to say is NASA has some serious stones landing this the way they are! I'm assuming they have only done computer simulations with this?

Almost forgot about this landing. Thankfully I saw this thread in time. Just turned on NASA TV and I'm good to go!
Here's to a successful landing on MARS!

Originally posted by Evildead
Almost forgot about this landing. Thankfully I saw this thread in time. Just turned on NASA TV and I'm good to go!
Here's to a successful landing on MARS!

go to this thread mate.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

all the nerds are there.

NASA says it is there. success

Smooth flight! Made it and got pics right away. No aliens yet. Congrats NASA!

Hay what happen no sex, drugs and bullets.

Fantastic job NASA!!!!!

Yes!!!
It worked!

I can't wait to seee what they find.
This is awesome.