Curiosity nails perfect landing on Mars

Boston Herald ^ | Aug 6, 2012 | AP

[Islander7]

PASADENA, Calif. — In a show of technological wizardry, the robotic explorer Curiosity blazed through the pink skies of Mars, steering itself to a gentle landing inside a giant crater for the most ambitious dig yet into the red planet’s past.

Cheers and applause echoed through the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory late Sunday after the most high-tech interplanetary rover ever built signaled it had survived a harrowing plunge through the thin Mars atmosphere.

[cripplecreek]

I watched Bladerunner last night.

Technologically we’re capable of about 12% the speed of light but the costs are astronomical and such a ship would need to be built in space due to its sheer size.

With a lot of our technology we’re in the same situation we were in when we built our first stealth jets. We could build them but the computer tech needed to fly them was still a couple decades off.

[deoetdoctrinae]

Miniaturized integrated circuits, satellite technology, GPS navigation systems, bone-density measurements, miniaturized heart pumps and other technologies derived from NASA research and development have saved and improved our lives.

New spin-offs include water filtration systems that turn wastewater into drinkable water, wireless light switches, remediation solutions for sites contaminated by chemicals, the development of Liquidmetal and sensors on reconnaissance robots used in Afghanistan and Iraq to deal with improvised explosive devices.

The one-half of one percent of the national budget devoted to NASA may be the best investment we make, providing for long-term, high-dividend research, and technology breakthroughs.

Rep. Ralph Hall (R-Texas)

[Berlin_Freeper]

'Curiosity' - Mission to Mars

[Sacajaweau]

There's a big difference between traveling a few thousand miles and 48 million miles. And there's a reason other planets are not occupied.

BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE!!

God specifically gave us mother earth!!

[deoetdoctrinae]

A sticky post-it note on a sticky stamp. Now there's an invention! LOL

[bert]

-——we can’t cure the common cold-——

large doses of vitimin D3 and zinc like ziacam do the trick nicely

[winodog]

I think it is mans attempt to find “life” so they can claim there is no God.

[Sacajaweau]

Right....It took Curiousity 253 days to get to Mars.

Ask any woman with children if that's a long time. The human gestation period is 266 days.

[Berlin_Freeper]

NASA Scientists: Mars Landing 'Beautiful'

[bert]

drivel

[central_va]

Ask any woman with children if that's a long time.

First family trip to Mars,

"Are we there yet?" Repeat 4,789 times.

[ruesrose]

2 billion on this what is the point of all of this?

Well, Waxer, it is 2 billion NOT spent on one of Obama’s green jobs program.

[Sacajaweau]

How about...Holy cr**...

That's an asteroid....and it's coming straight at us.....

Where's Kirk??

[PeteB570]

No problem.....

You say behind and be happy.

[aruanan]

I think it is mans attempt to find “life” so they can claim there is no God.

How in the world would that follow? If the odds are against life forming spontaneously in just a single instance here on earth, to have the same thing happen twice are those odds TIMES those odds. The more times life that has independent sources is found, the less likely it is that it originated by chance.

[central_va]

” You’ll have to wait dear, not in front of the kids.”

[central_va]

As a kid I watched a whole series of documentaries about Martian life produced by Warner Bros.

[stinkerpot65]

I’m all for space exploration, but focusing on a “search for life” in a desperate attempt to prop up evolution theories is ridiculous.

[commish]

"Are we there yet?" Repeat 4,789 times.

LOL. Cute Story time -- last weekend Mrs. Commish and I took our 4 yr old grand-daughter on her first trip away from mommy & Daddy and also her first trip ever to the beach.

Apparently daddy decided to have some fun with us -- we hadn't even gotten out of our neighborhood good on the 3 hour drive and our grand-daughter yelled from her car seat "Pawpaw ARE WE THERE YET!!!!" and started laughing her self silly. She then repeated it about 5 times in the first few miles, cackling every time.

[corkoman]

The meek shall inherit the earth

...the rest shall go to the stars.