Posted on 11/26/2011 4:51:04 AM PST by shove_it
NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory will begin its mission to the Red Planet Saturday, with a launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is scheduled to occur during a one-hour and 43 minute window opening at 15:02 UTC (10:02 local time).
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(Excerpt) Read more at nasaspaceflight.com ...
How exciting.
I’ll be watching from my dune overpass in Melbourne Beach. You’ve got prime seats.
Thanks NVA, for adding that live link.
The cable news networks usually cover NASA launches.
My Dad was the Program Manager for the RTGs that power the two Mariner-Jupiter-Saturn spacecraft (aka, “Voyager”). Even in the 70s, they had to deal with the protesters because of the plutonium fuel. I clearly remember the engineering efforts they expended to make sure the RTGs could survive a launch vehicle crash.
BTW, that sign is hilarious - “NO RADIATION IN SPACE!!”
It’s COSMIC, MAN!
That animation is crazy. A big departure from the bouncing ball delivery.
Good luck Atlas! 2 min
I'm surprised it wasn't required by the EPA. Did they even do an environmental impact??
Did you know that When Lindbergh returned to NY a gigantic parade occurred and would not occur again till the Apollo 11 Crew returned from the moon.
Lindbergh made the rounds of the high society parties where he was offered additional monies. He declined since his St Louis investors gave Lindbergh the Ortieg prize. Lindbergh advised the wall street investors that there was this high school teacher in Massachusetts by the Name of Goddard who could use this money to develop new and more powerfull rockets.
Von Braun would read Goddard's papers and the V2 was born. Von braun came to the US after WWII and the US Space Program advanced. Von Braun and the German "Rocket Boys" would take us from V2 to Saturn V to the Moon.
When Neil Armstrong took that "First Step" the Apollo Emblem was
An eagle landing. Lindbergh,the Lone Eagle,would say on his death bed that he was proud of the US for the Eagle landing a US flag on the moon!
Now in the 6 minute burn. Everything is nominal. Whew!
I clicked on your link and saw the launch was scheduled for 10:02. I looked to see what time it was just as my clock went from 10:01 to 10:02 and then the engines lit up on the “live” display. If I hadn’t clicked on the link, I would have missed it. Thanks!
bump
“Greater than expected data loss”... Hmmmm, boy does that freak me out... going in and out apparently? Otherwise everything looking normal. Bit on edge here...
NASA’s latest Mars mission takes off on Saturday carrying a huge array of high-tech tools. Critical to its success is a cutting-edge water detector built by Russian scientists.
RT's Darya Pushkover has been to meet the people behind the device.
The Red Planet has been a source of wild flights of imagination and of scientific speculation for centuries. Getting there has never been easy – many missions have failed.
But hopes are high for the new rover. It is called “Curiosity” and it is due on Mars next year.
Engineer Aleksey Bitulev told RT that the heart of the device is a tiny tube that produces neutrons capable of penetrating up to one meter below the planet’s surface. And Sergey Sholeninov, head of the design team, added that the challenge was to accommodate the device on board a spacecraft.
“We were not only limited in weight – it also has to endure all the hardships of interplanetary flight.”
DAN’s second half is a hydrogen detector, which will act as the probe’s aqua navigator.
“The rover is like a small car, and our device is placed on it like headlights,” Mitrofanov explained. “So as the pulsing neutron generator shoots, neutrons go under the ground, and feel their way under. If liquid or frozen water is there, it can then be measured with our detector.”
And the Rover comes fully-loaded: 17 high-definition cameras, aluminium wheels that can be steered independently, a mounted laser to vaporize rock and a robotic arm to drill and scoop up samples, among other instruments. Under the hood: a nuclear-powered engine to give it a top crawling speed of five centimeters per second.
Read more at: Russia Today
Shhhhhh! Don't tell anyone but but we dropped one in the Pacific. Appollo 13's LEM had an RTG.
Reminded me of the Soviet N-1 troubles with large numbers of engines not working in the desired balanced-thrust mode of operation.
Always watch it from my driveway....but there was a lot of cloud coverage today.
“We jad proteters at the gate for several days many I think was an OWS prototype held up a big sign that said NO RADIATION IN SPACE!!! . I guess he thought the sun was electric.”
Gotta wonder where the heck these people come from.
Von Braun...arrogant effing Nazi. He got all the credit and reveled in it,,,when everything he did was built on Goddard’s work.
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