Opportunity Rolls Onto Martian Ground

NASA - JPL ^ | 01-31-2004 | NASA/JPL

[Phil V.]

If you'd like to be on or off this MARS ping list please FRail me

[Dog]

Phil you have the NASA TV schedule?

[wideminded]

Matt Wallace, mission manager at JPL, told a subsequent news briefing, "We knew it was going to be a good day. The rover woke up fit and healthy to Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run,' and it turned out to be a good choice."

This is lame. Similarly when they pipe music into the space shuttle.

[Phil V.]

Do you want me to post it? . . . or a link?

[Dog]

A link would be fine.....thanks.

[Darksheare]

That's some fairly fine sand there.
Almost like silt.

[isthisnickcool]

This is lame. Similarly when they pipe music into the space shuttle.

Especially when they use Bruce Springsteen. "Born to Run"? Springsteen was "born with the runs". His sounds like he is singing while taking a dump on the toilet.

Here is a little NASA tidbit. The band Aerosmith was at NASA in Houston this week. They will be playing at the Super Bowl game. The story locally is that the band was caught having a cocaine party in one of the restrooms at the Johnson Center. They all should have been hauled off to jail but the "problem" was kept under wraps. Which upset some of the rank and file at NASA.

[OldFriend]

Every, every single one of our institutions is infested with boomers.

[Phil V.]

NASA TV schedule . . .link

[Karyn M. PhD]

At the risk of sounding incredibly naive, why does it take days of preparation to perform tasks like getting the rover off the lander and extending its arm?

[Unmarked Package]

The band Aerosmith was at NASA in Houston this week. They will be playing at the Super Bowl game. The story locally is that the band was caught having a cocaine party in one of the restrooms at the Johnson Center.

Members of Aerosmith were treated like dignitaries during the JSC visit including permission to enter the ISS Mission Control Room to engage in a lengthy chat with astronauts on station at the ISS. If this account regarding cocaine use on site is true, NASA employees at JSC have every right to be very upset. It’s like inviting someone into your home to meet your family and then they take a dump in your living room.

[Phil V.]

why does it take days of preparation to perform tasks like getting the rover off the lander and extending its arm?

There is a long list of tests and checklists to run . . . to verify that all is working. Complicating this (I believe) is the constraint of not being to communicate 24-7. There are limited "windows" of communication and about a 20 minute "round trip" for the "conversation".

Bones, what can you add?

Here'sa 3-D pic

[Bernard Marx]

Thanks for the ping.

Does anyone know offhand what the Opportunity weighs in Earth pounds?

[blam]

Tracks on Mars bump.

[Phil V.]

180 kg . . . about 400 pounds

[Phil V.]

Looks like the kind of stuff that my cat would just LOVE!

I'm wondering . . . uh . . . what are kittylitter futures . . . hmmmm . . .

[NormsRevenge]

I agree, it does have a nice consistency to it as well.

[ambrose]

they call it muuuuuuuuuuuuud..

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!