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Challenges of Getting to Mars: Curiosity's Seven Minutes of Terror (Upcoming Mars landing)
NASA JPL ^ | 6-22-12 | NASA JPL News

Posted on 07/13/2012 5:53:33 PM PDT by bigbob

Team members at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory share the challenges of the Curiosity Mars rover's final minutes to landing on the surface of Mars.

Video with interviews with the designers and excellent computer animations can be viewed at the link:

"DARE MIGHTY THINGS"


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: curiosity; mars; marslanding; marsrover; nasa
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The video really explains what will happen as Curiosity nears Mars, and the amazing sequence of events that must happen like clockwork for a successful landing to occur.

Touchdown of the Curiosity lander on the surface of Mars will occur at 10:31PM on August 5, 2012. It will take 7 minutes for the radio signals to make it back to Earth, hence the title.

I hope you find this to be a beacon of light in the darkness of politics and corruption here on Old Home Terra.

We are capable of mighty things.

1 posted on 07/13/2012 5:53:40 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: bigbob

This is an exciting one. Trying to put an SUV on the surface of mars.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html


2 posted on 07/13/2012 6:04:15 PM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: bigbob

Holy crap!! Can this possibly work? Has Vegas given any odds on this things working? I sincerely hope it does but, wow, it would be easier to fo an appendectomy through an ear.


3 posted on 07/13/2012 6:07:09 PM PDT by muir_redwoods (Legalize Freedom!!)
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To: cripplecreek

Yeah, and by dangling it from a rocket moving at 200 mph...


4 posted on 07/13/2012 6:08:13 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: bigbob
I hope they show the landing like they did with Spirit and Opportunity. We stayed up till the wee hours watching a room full of engineers and scientists holding their breath, and then the first picture came down, it was very exciting! And they had daily briefing for several days afterward, I so missed those briefings when they stopped. Best TV I'd seen in years.
5 posted on 07/13/2012 6:16:09 PM PDT by pepperdog (Why are Democrats Afraid of a Voter ID Law?)
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To: bigbob
Touchdown of the Curiosity lander on the surface of Mars will occur at 10:31PM on August 5, 2012.

Obama's birthday is August 4, so the MSM will say it is his birthday present so he can take credit for it.

6 posted on 07/13/2012 6:23:24 PM PDT by kabar
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To: bigbob

“Dare Mighty Things” What a great mission slogan from TR


7 posted on 07/13/2012 6:23:59 PM PDT by cyclotic (People who live within their means are increasingly being forced to pay for people who didn't.)
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To: bigbob

“DARE MIGHTY THINGS”

How about silly things that cost $2.5 billion?


8 posted on 07/13/2012 6:24:38 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
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To: bigbob

Hell of a way to get down.
I sure hope they pull it off.
Will be watching the live thread.


9 posted on 07/13/2012 6:31:01 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: tet68

If nothing else we’ll be leaving plenty of artifacts
for someone to find and they will probably wonder,
why the HELL, did they do it that way?


10 posted on 07/13/2012 6:33:42 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: bigbob
Not feeling greatly optimistic about this one. Such a complex landing and no room for error. One little glitch and Mars gets another pricey pile of rubbish on the surface.

Not to mention... Are there any Russians working on this project? Or muslims (in accordance with Obama's directive for NASA to help muslims feel better about themselves and their total lack of achievement and hostility toward any rational form of thinking for the last 1,600 years)? Even before Obama, NASA tended to overlook the threat from those two entities. And that's just two of the groups I, personally, wouldn't allow near a JPL visitor center vending machine, much less allow them to touch the Curiosity mission.

"Oh, let's join with Russia and build a space station. What could go wrong? Let's team up with the Russians and put an SUVski on the surface of Mars, yippee!" No, not feeling optimistic at all.

Still, I love all of it, minus the blinders NASA's put on, and will be sitting on the edge of my seat all day that day. Here's hoping all goes well! Go Curiosity!

11 posted on 07/13/2012 6:59:06 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: bigbob

Watched the video.....

Very interesting....

If they can pull off “that” landing.....I would be amazed....

It would be this generation moon landing....

Of course this generation will be watching American Idol instead...


12 posted on 07/13/2012 7:00:06 PM PDT by Popman (When you elect a clown: expect a circus...)
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To: BenLurkin

“How about silly things that cost $2.5 billion?”

In terms of Obama spending and debt creation in the past 3 plus years, 2.5 billion dollars pales into insignificance. And this has a lot more merit that the f’n bailouts of hundreds of billions that benefited bankster buddies of Obama, etc etc etc.


13 posted on 07/13/2012 7:23:54 PM PDT by GGpaX4DumpedTea (I am a Tea Party descendant...steeped in the Constitutional Republic given to us by the Founders.)
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To: GGpaX4DumpedTea; BenLurkin
In case some haven't thought this through, most of that 2.5 billion bucks has been spent right here in the US, providing income to thousands of firms that employ tens of thousands of Americans.

Our trip to the moon created hundreds of new products for this nation, strengthened our military greatly, and gave Americans their first home computers - and this trip to Mars has done, and is continuing to do many of the same kind of things.

14 posted on 07/13/2012 7:57:54 PM PDT by Ron C.
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To: bigbob

I love NASA, but it’s been dark days for them under Obama, I hope this thing makes it, but for 2.5 billion, I don’t know if I’d risk such a complex landing, but it probably brought the cost down, that’s why they are tempting it. I’m cheering for them, I love robotic space exploration, I just wish they would be more proactive with coverage after landing, it seems they stop after awhile, these missions are what make space worth exploring!


15 posted on 07/13/2012 8:14:30 PM PDT by IslamE (epiphany)
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To: bigbob
The video really explains what will happen as Curiosity nears Mars, and the amazing sequence of events that must happen like clockwork for a successful landing to occur.

Doesn't it seem strange to you that in July 1969 - over 40 years ago, without any on-board computers we landed men on the moon? They not only flew down, but took off without boaster rockets, computers or a structure to keep the lander stable during take-off. The craft they landed in was about the size of a Volkswagen... Why do we have such a hard time all these years later? Any clue?

16 posted on 07/13/2012 8:25:16 PM PDT by GOPJ (Innocent people dying was the objective of Fast and Furious......... Ann Coulter)
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To: IslamE

The “cheap” way was the way they landed the rovers, with the big bouncing ball. It was very clever but it doesn’t scale up very well. Also, it had its own complexities in getting the rover off the platform with deflated remnants of the cushions in haphazard arrangement. I believe one of them almost got hung up.

The “sky crane” is a modified version of the traditional rocket landing, but putting the rockets above the lander eliminates the problem of undocking the rover, and of course dispenses with the platform. The tricky part seems to me the quick release of the rover from the rocket assembly. Any kind of hangup at the point would be disastrous. I’m sure they’ve designed it with this in mind!

And btw, all these missions have web pages where you can peruse huge catalogues of raw images, promptly posted, and read the latest updates.


17 posted on 07/13/2012 9:47:59 PM PDT by dr_lew
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To: IslamE

It’s expensive, but what’s 2.5 bil compared to all the other waste? Anyway, if they can do this, they should think about sending something to Mars that can return to Earth with soil samples. That would be cool.


18 posted on 07/13/2012 11:49:36 PM PDT by virgil
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To: BenLurkin
"How about silly things that cost $2.5 billion?"

Yeah -- like solar energy plants, windpower landscapes, "high speed" rail, burning corn in cars, "electric autos", etc., etc., ad nauseam...

All we have learned from those fiascos is that they cost $$$$$, they don't work, and they are "solving" "problems" that don't really exist ("Global Warming")...

19 posted on 07/14/2012 7:57:12 AM PDT by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias...)
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To: dr_lew

Just read on one of the science blogs that the
satellite NASA was going to use to observe
Curiositys entry and descent has gone off line.
they are working it but there may be no word till
Curiosity has landed.


20 posted on 07/16/2012 6:45:57 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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