Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity Roll Out on Mars at 12 AM PST 1-31-2004 (LIVE THREAD)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory ^ | 1-30-04 | NASA JPL

[bonesmccoy]

The roll off of Opportunity from the lander pad at Meridiani Planum will occur at midnight tonight.

JPL NASA will be carried live on NASA TV.

JPL reports a 12 AM PST "Opportunity egree live coverage"

4 AM PST : Opportunity egress briefing

[Frank_Discussion]

That's a wonderful pic. I hope they apply an algorithm to it soon, and flatten it out.

I wonder what is making the dust/dirt stick to the wheels like that?

[Phil V.]

I've been gone for a few days. DAMN! I missed the party!!!

[LibWhacker]

Rolled off the landing platform at 3:01AM PST.

[Howlin]

Dadgumit! I told you all I needed to move to a different time zone for the duration!

[Howlin]

Can't get over how clear those pics are

I was just thinking the same thing. I can't see my DESK that clearly.

[LibWhacker]

LOL . . . Me, too. I conked out around 2.

[LibWhacker]

LOL . . . A hundred million miles away, too, right? Very impressive!

[bonesmccoy]

That's ok... it was a slower set of data transmissions because the transmission time created delays of 30 minutes.

Progress resupply ship is currently on NASA Select TV via Russian Mission Control.

The Russians are docking the Progress to ISS at 20 meters at 0.2 m/sec

[bonesmccoy]

NASA TV with target closing on ISS docking adapter.

They are centering the target via TV signal.

Engineering data is overlaid on the b&w image.

[LibWhacker]

And it only rolled three feet. Hope it's not some kind of super static charge. Don't know how much it can dissipate.

[bonesmccoy]

closing more... contact with probe reported.

docking confirmed at 7:13 AM central (must be a tape delay)

hooks and latches engaging and retraction of docking probes to "form a hard mate of the Progress and Zvezda"

[PatrickHenry]

Thanks for the ping. Alas, I missed the whole thing.

[Dog]

I missed the whole thing!

Will there be a replay?

[OldFriend]

I thought I had read that we were going to take a look to see if we could spot the Beagle.

[NormsRevenge]

I know they were going to try but I haven't seen any reports that they were actually able to spot the Beagle, unfortunately.

It looks like we can write it off, well, ESA can anyway.

Too bad, we need all the data and such we can get if we plan to send manned missions and begin to colonize the Red Planet this century.

[OldFriend]

Thanks, I thought if they were able to find anything we would have heard......but then it is the media and they would prefer the whole topic of our successful Mars mission just go away.

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks for all the great shots! My dialup is chugging away. and I'm loving it!

[NormsRevenge]

The UYK-5 and associated hardware, tape trnsports, etc were all ambient cooled (air-conditioned and kept in the low to mid-60 degree range. No liquid coolants were used or needed for this old beast.

They were housed in co-joined portable trailer for ease of deployment into battlefield conditions. They would fit on a C130 and could be torn down, moved, setup and online in a few hours. I don't remember how many tons of batteries we had, but none of the stuff was of light construction.

We never did do the C130 thing but were Hot Standby a couple of times, this is toward the end of the Vietnam "experience".

We were the most envied guys on the base especially when it got really hot and sticky outside. The teletype could do a whole 50 bits a second, a real hummer. Imagine running on a 50 baud line today. LOL

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Someone put up a link to C-Span that was a replay of one of the daily briefings. But I seem not have saved it.

We might see what they are archiving!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I need to go back to the bed ... I am not all here yet...guess I will try a serious caffeine injection.