NASA just bounced a 'red rover' off the surface of the red planet, using some kind of 'beach ball technology'; we just received tone, meaning that the rover survived landing and is functioning quite well.
YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!! $410 million for identical rovers to decide if there was life on Mars!!! Why? BECAUSE!!! BUT YES!!!!!! Anybody else realy asking 'What's the ****ing point?'
I am surprised there aren't more posts in this thread. This is great news. The Rover has landed, and safely. First pictures from the Spirit: It's just amazing.
NASA News RELEASE : 04-001 NASA Administrator Marks Successful Spirit On Mars The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe regarding Saturday's successful landing of the first Mars Excursion Rover (MER), Spirit, on the Martian surface. "Congratulations to the Mars Rover team on achieving a successful landing on the surface of Mars by the Rover Spirit. This amazing feat, coming so soon in the New Year, is a tribute to the dedication to the many men and women throughout NASA and our many partners who worked extremely hard to give our amazing rovers the best chance for success on their mission of exploration on the Red Planet. "In a few weeks, Spirit's twin Opportunity will be landing on the other side of the planet. The rovers will soon begin their mission to search the rocks of Mars for signs that water may have been present for long periods of time--signs that may tell us whether Mars could have been hospitable to life in the past." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Step-by-Step Guide to Entry, Descent, and Landing Step Four: Cruise Stage Separates ...About 8:29 pm PST, one of the most challenging aspects of the mission begins. In only six minutes, the spacecraft will slow down from 12,000 to 0 miles per hour.... This really is amazing. First the comet, now this Rover and then possibly a second Rover on the other side of Mars in January.
Pretty cool. One day someone will call that place home. ...What do you think would be the reaction if something just ran up to that camera, looked in, and then ran off. !!!!! Mass chaos.
Personally, I don't really care if there was a plant on Mars 1,000,000 years ago. I just want to know about this:
Wasn't there a legitimate story from Neil Armstrong, where he saw a glowing object and wanted to investigate, but NASA refused to let him go check it out. Calling him back.
Update: Mars Rover Yet to Face Biggest Challenge By Leonard David Senior Space Writer PASADENA, Calif. -- Less than 48 hours after its arrival on the Red Planet NASA’s Spirit Mars rover is in reported to be in superb condition, with scientists hungrily looking out at the martian landscape of Gusev Crater. Steve Squyres, Principal Investigator for Spirit from Cornell University, said that health checks of onboard science gear -- to appraise how they survived the shock of landing -- have gone exceedingly well. All are in great shape. However, color images as well as the first scan from Spirit’s Mini-Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) of the neighborhood terrain expected late today will help make the decision on where first the robot should roam. Mini-TES is an instrument that sees infrared radiation emitted by objects. The Mini-TES is soon to receive its checkout. A slight problem has cropped up. One of two motors that steers the high-gain antenna shows evidence of running rough. That problem is being assessed, and is not considered a major headache at this time. Matt Wallace, a Mission Manager for Spirit, said that work today includes further retraction of airbags underneath the lander. Color panoramic images are to be relayed to Earth later tonight. Putting all the good news aside, there remains the all-important task of deploying Spirit directly onto Mars’ surface. Furthermore, sets of wheels must be moved into down-and-locked driving position. Not out of the woods Spirit is still far from being out of the woods and onto the sands of Mars, in terms of its readiness to explore. Still to come is use of pyrotechnic devices that cut cables freeing the robot from its landing perch. Although these devices are highly reliable, if they don’t work properly Spirit could not start its sojourn across Mars. "If for some reason, heaven forbid, we couldn’t fire a cable cutter, our rover mission becomes a lander mission," Squyres told SPACE.com . "We wouldn’t be able to do any science with any instruments on our [rover] arm. We can take panoramic pictures and work the Mini-TES ‘till the cows come home, but the scenery is never going to change. So we’re looking forward to getting that cable cut," he said. "And that’s just what we intend to do," said Wallace. Although a number of mission critical steps are ahead, rover teams here at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have already set their science compass on one fascinating surface feature. Now dubbed "Sleepy Hollow" -- a name stemming from the condition of exhausted but exhilarated Mars Exploration Rover (MER) team members -- a depression or possible crater can be seen within short driving range of the robot. That area may well be the first scientific stomping ground for Spirit. Depression or crater? "It’s a hole in the ground…a window into the interior of Mars," declared Squyres. That circular depression is roughly 30 feet (9 meters) in diameter. It is at the most a scant 50 feet (15 meters) away from the landing platform upon which Spirit now rests, tightly secure to its landing base. Squyres said that the feature could be an impact crater, complete with exposed rock at rim’s edge. That hole might be a secondary crater -- created by falling fragments from a far larger object that struck elsewhere on Mars’ surface. "It’s a very, very exciting feature for us," Squyres added. There are a number of similar depressions that can be seen in early pictures broadcast from Mars by Spirit. To get to Sleepy Hollow will be a day trip, once Spirit is able to motor itself across Mars. "But we haven’t earned our Martian driving license yet," Squyres said. "If it takes a week, that’s okay by me." On the way to Sleepy Hollow, two good sized rocks can be seen. A stopover to inspect those well-positioned objects might be on tap. "That has not escaped our attention," Squyres noted.. Rover Trap That data could well declare Sleepy Hollow to be a "rover trap" -- filled to the brim with dust that might bog down the six-wheeled robot. While Sleepy Hollow is an old feature, it also looks to have one bit of new history. It appears to contain disturbed surface material. Spirit’s airbag landing system may have bounced in and out of the feature before coming to full-stop. If so, study of the airbag imprint should offer clues as to how solid the material is within the depression. "It has been a good day on Mars…it just keeps coming," Wallace said, detailing the establishment of a very healthy Spirit-to-Earth communications link. To help position a critical antenna to face Earth, images were taken of the Sun. "Like the ancient mariners used sextants to locate themselves by shooting the Sun," Wallace said, Spirit ground controllers accomplished the same thing to perfectly orient the high-gain antenna. This was done autonomously by the rover. http://space.com/missionlaunches/rover_lander_040105.html
I've been checking out the news all day for more information on Spirit. It's nice to hear some good news, and hopefully the troubles will just be minor ones. Even though folks have enough problems on Earth as it is, how can one really not care about Mars, and outer space? It's the only frontier left!
Err....please disregard the obvious parallel with the opening monologue for Star Trek. That final frontier thing is definitely true though.
