Mars lander

PurpleGeezer wrote:The only disappointment is they still haven't put a microphone on a mars rover, so we still don't know what it sounds like when the wind blows.

PurpleGeezer wrote:Scarey

PilotNut wrote:

PurpleGeezer wrote:Scarey

Oh dear. I'm pretty sure Stonehouse just felt a sharp pain in his brain.

PilotNut wrote:

PurpleGeezer wrote:Scarey

Oh dear. I'm pretty sure Stonehouse just felt a sharp pain in his brain.

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s rover Curiosity touched down deep in a Martian crater early Monday after a picture-perfect descent and landing, beginning what promises to be one of the most ambitious planetary missions in history.

Jubilant NASA engineers and scientists let out a loud and prolonged whoop when the data came in indicating that the one-ton rover had touched down. It remains unknown exactly what shape the $2.5 billion rover is in, but the fact that it survived its “seven minutes of terror” descent was cheered like the grandest Olympic triumph.

The descent and touchdown were tracked by the Mars orbiter Odyssey, which allowed Curiosity to send black-and-white “fisheye” (wide-angle) images within minutes of the rover’s wheels on the ground. Two hours later, Odyssey passed over again and relayed other more highly defined images, including one that appeared to show the distant rim of the Gale Crater landing site.

“It doesn’t get any better than this,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “This is a huge day for the American people.”

Described by top NASA officials as their “mission of the decade,” the just-delivered rover will search for the building blocks of extraterrestrial life as well as investigate how and why Mars turned from a wet and warm planet into the dry and cold place it is now. The complex, precision landing and sophisticated instruments being used on the mission could hasten the day when humans fly to Mars as well.

The excitement and jubilation burst into a bedlam scene of hugs, smiles and high-fives an hour after touchdown when the entire Entry, Descent and Landing team entered a nearby auditorium for a news conference-turned celebration.

“The team went to the Olympics and we weren’t sure what would happen,” Charles Elachi, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told the crowd. “But you came back with the gold.”

The landing took place within the 9-by-3-mile ellipse selected for touchdown. Entry, Descent and Landing team leader Adam Steltzner said that the rover appeared to have landed in a “nice flat spot;” other NASA officials said it seemed to have landed on rock rather than sand, which would have made movement potentially more difficult. The rover is believed to be close to its ultimate destination, three-mile-high Mount Sharp.