Curiosity

[Velocity Kendall]

Tonight... NASA is curious, y'see



http://io9.com/5920597/find-out-why-...encelaboratory

[s.ketch]

Technically the second image received.

[Sidharth Chaturvedi]

Fuck, what an exciting few minutes. I might have cried a little. Press conference is going on now.

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl

[Beeston]

I've been watching it through here: http://www.ustream.tv/spacevidcast

It was a little annoying trying to get the vital statistics from one of the guys in the computer room at Nasa while he was being talked over by Bill Nye the Science Guy and his Rockstar persona. Silly man in his red tie.
It should have been Neil D'Grasse Tyson up there.

Also, I spent the majority of the Nasa centered footage staring at these three. I think my memories will be closely tied with these guys, hope someone can put a name to them.

[jessicaabbot]

I've been watching it through here: http://www.ustream.tv/spacevidcast

It was a little annoying trying to get the vital statistics from one of the guys in the computer room at Nasa while he was being talked over by Bill Nye the Science Guy and his Rockstar persona. Silly man in his red tie.
It should have been Neil D'Grasse Tyson up there.

Also, I spent the majority of the Nasa centered footage staring at these three. I think my memories will be closely tied with these guys, hope someone can put a name to them.

How does this photo prove that NASA has a time machine?

[velderia]

I'm in love with the mohawk dude.

[Farvus]

I just wanted to say that NASA space missions are one of the few cool things I like about USA .

[Shahan]

Dooo it Kendall , do eet

[Velocity Kendall]

This makes him curious y'see! Theo, exploration Rudy!

[Shahan]

@Velocity Kendall
lmfao where do you find shit like that hahaha xD

and the post on the IOW was awesomeee!! THANK YOU
I'll try to have an entry in there... soon

[Arshes Nei]

This was pretty cool to look at http://www.panoramas.dk/mars/greeley-haven.html

[Shahan]

This was pretty cool to look at http://www.panoramas.dk/mars/greeley-haven.html

...wow... i think that is what we all thought when we heard "HD pictures of Mars"... where do you find stuff like that?!

[Velocity Kendall]

the horizon in this one looks fake as fuck

[s.ketch]

raw photos:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/

composites/edited/otherstuff:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/

You can keep up with what's going on by visiting the project sites:
http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html

[s.ketch]

Interactive panorama

http://www.360cities.net/image/curio...27,45.79,110.0

[Velocity Kendall]

oo nice!
heres a giant mildly colour-corrected pic
apprarently they shift the colours to earth sunlight so the geologists can quickly identify rocks.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/6...portalfull.jpg

[dpaint]

oo nice!
heres a giant mildly colour-corrected pic
apprarently they shift the colours to earth sunlight so the geologists can quickly identify rocks.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/6...portalfull.jpg

For once in my life, when we go into space, instead of the above kind of picture, I would like to see something like this instead;

[Velocity Kendall]

For once in my life, when we go into space, instead of the above kind of picture, I would like to see something like this instead;

yeah its pretty dull. they keep going to really boring places instead of the attractions. theres the biggest volcano in the solar system (75000ft tall) and the deepest canyon in the solar system (really deep and long) round the corner. this looks like the crap beach behind the camp site.

[dpaint]

yeah its pretty dull. they keep going to really boring places instead of the attractions. theres the biggest volcano in the solar system (75000ft tall) and the deepest canyon in the solar system (really deep and long) round the corner. this looks like the crap beach behind the camp site.

The problem is they're not going anywhere near those places. They're going to the flattest places they can find. We need someone like Howard Hughes running space exploration.

[Velocity Kendall]

Deffo need some hot air balloons over Marineris.

"Because of the size of Olympus Mons and its shallow slopes, an observer standing on the Martian surface would be unable to view the entire profile of the volcano, even from a great distance. The curvature of the planet and the volcano itself would obscure such a synoptic view.[12] Similarly, an observer near the summit would be unaware of standing on a high mountain, as the slope of the volcano would extend beyond the horizon, a mere 3 kilometers away"

just got to find the pyramid.

[Chris Bennett]

This is why you don't:

[JFierce]

I don't wanna find aliens near us. Pretty sure our reaction would be along the lines of.

[s.ketch]

We landed in the giant crater because if oceans ever existed, the water would have ran down hill into the crater and settled at the lowest point. Plus, flowing water may still exist on Mars during its warm season.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MR...o20110804.html

Though briny, it could point to an ancient ocean or at least a very large salty lake. They're taking a look at the bedrock because it may contain sedimentary layers. Like rings in a tree, these layers will give insight to Mars' geologic history.

If that's not interesting enough, sedimentary rocks are a good environment for fossil development. It'd shat myself if they found a fossil of ancient plants or aquatic life.

Though the main mission of Curiosity isn't just to find life. It's mainly to survey gross geological data and climate history to see how habitable it would be for us. Finding evidence of ancient life would be a pretty cool unintended consequence.

[manlybrian]

If only they'd found a kid with a pogo stick.

[Turpentine]

If only they'd found a kid with a pogo stick.

I love you...

[Velocity Kendall]

all the rocks you can eat

[manlybrian]

What all can they do on Mars now that they're there? I'm sure they could do some ridiculous trigonometry measurements. Would they research livability there? Look for a princess? How much can be done on Mars that couldn't already be done from Earth?

I'm going to Google it because I know how to use the Interwebs.

[Beeston]

What all can they do on Mars now that they're there?

[s.ketch]

What all can they do on Mars now that they're there? I'm sure they could do some ridiculous trigonometry measurements. Would they research livability there? Look for a princess? How much can be done on Mars that couldn't already be done from Earth?

I'm going to Google it because I know how to use the Interwebs.

The MSL mission has four scientific goals: Determine the landing site's habitability including the role of water, the study of the climate and the geology of Mars. It is also useful preparation for a future manned mission to Mars.
To contribute to these goals, MSL has eight main scientific objectives:

Biological
(1) Determine the nature and inventory of organic carbon compounds
(2) Inventory the chemical building blocks of life (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, and sulfur)
(3) Identify features that may represent the effects of biological processes (biosignatures)

Geological and geochemical
(4) Investigate the chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical composition of the Martian surface and near-surface geological materials
(5) Interpret the processes that have formed and modified rocks and soils

Planetary process
(6) Assess long-timescale (i.e., 4-billion-year) Martian atmospheric evolution processes
(7) Determine present state, distribution, and cycling of water and carbon dioxide

Surface radiation
(8) Characterize the broad spectrum of surface radiation, including galactic radiation, cosmic radiation, solar proton events and secondary neutrons

As part of its exploration, it also measured the radiation exposure in the interior of the spacecraft as it traveled to Mars, and it is continuing radiation measurements as it explores the surface of Mars. This data would be important for a future manned mission.

Just sticking a toe in before we go skinny dipping.

[Velocity Kendall]

I dont really understand the point of landing a small team of humans on Mars.
Sending a robot is cool because we can actually do it and it does lots of interesting science that informs our cosmology and what not, and it sort of sticks it to the world that the US can still actually do impressive things, and its not that expensive. Its awesome.
Sending at immense cost all the plumbing to allow some people to go to Mars and do.... what do they do again? Inflate a tent? and then come back. Or maybe die somehow.. I dont get it it.
The deep gravity well, the lack of useful materials, the useless but dangerous atmosphere. Seriously its the Dry Valleys of Antarctica without the seals or air; it looks amazing but you wouldnt want to live in it very long.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14307987