Reply to: Curiosity

[darrenb]

Even more incredible, if you can take any more, is that there is very recent speculation that liquid water is flowing on Mars to this very day.

We have plenty of that already. You need to show there's liquid oil or at least liquid whiskey flowing on Mars, or people are not going to want to go.

And you have to show real photos of it, and not the cartoons I keep seeing.

[SimonMac]

[Spacecadet]

They did it!

Another frontier of human exploration has begun, I wonder how long before a wheel gets stuck?

I'm sure opportunity was stuck and after 6 weeks they got it free.
It took that long as the engineers on Earth first created a mockup and experimented with that before sending command signals to the rover.

[NickFitz]

Amazing photo from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of Curiosity's descent:

And 4fps stop-motion video from the beast itself, looking down to the Martian surface as it landed:

You can see Zeity just near top right at the 21s mark

[gingerjedi]

Mars Rover Rocker-Bogie Differential

Great explanation, I'm tempted to get a lego technic set.

[Pondlife]

I had a rover once. It wouldn't make it to Swansea nevermind Mars.

[MarillionFan]

First images of Curiosity at it's landing spot.

Google Maps

[BolshieBastard]

They did it!

Another frontier of human exploration has begun, I wonder how long before a wheel gets stuck?

Unlike the other rovers, Curio's primary mission is slated for a minimum 2 years while its plutonium power source should be able to keep its experiments going for upto 10 years.

Spirit & Opportunity's primary mission was only for 90 days in comparison and bother wildly exceeded expectations. One would pressume they learnt something from how quickly the wheels and motors lasted in those two and, incorporated some improvements for Curiosity.

I think one such thing is bigger wheels and better encasement of bearings.

[Gentile]

I must say, I'm surprised. I didn't think they had a hope in hell. So, well done NASA.

[sbakoola]

The landing reminded me of the marines drop ship in movie Aliens. does this mean we are secretly creating a space military ?

[gingerjedi]

They did it!

Another frontier of human exploration has begun, I wonder how long before a wheel gets stuck?

[TimberWolf]

"Mars is hard," said Nye, pointing out that Russia, despite all its firsts in the realm of space exploration, is "0 for 21 on Mars. Europe is 0 for 1. NASA is a little over 50 percent."
NASA braces for 'terror' in Mars landing | NDTV.com

And here is a list of Russian attempts with associated outcomes: Russia's unmanned missions to Mars. Though some of those looks like successes, even when they didn't communicate.

No one does space like the Yanks.

[kingcook]

Geek pr0n:

NASA's Next Mars Rover Lands on Xbox Kinect | GeekDad | Wired.com

[TimberWolf]

BBC2 part 2 of 6, currently showing. I missed part 1.

Counting down the days to Mars' latest and badest nuclear powered explorer.

[centurian]

One has to dispose of nuclear waste somehow.

Hope the Martians don't send it back shaped like a warhead.

Also Pu-238 has a short half life - at least when compared to other Pu isotopes