Curiosity - The Next Mars Lander

[Zenith]

They do forget to convert imperial into metric and lose entire space missions though....

Lack of communication is different than forgetting.

JPL has about 1/10th of the NASA budget - and they're responsible for the vast majority of what is cool about NASA. Cassini, Dawn, Deep Impact, MSL, MER, MRO... all JPL.

JPL takes credit for the vast majority of what is cool about NASA.

 

[TankAss95]

They do forget to convert imperial into metric and lose entire space missions though....

As much as I am impressed with the achievement I do kinda think it's a waste of money. Seriously folks, I'm all for improving telecommunication and I really think it was great to send all those deep space probes in the 70's, but can we really afford to do this kind of exploration now? It's not like we are going to find a cure for AIDS or a violation of the second law of thermodynamics there*.

*If this ever happens then I'll be really, really exited.

 

[CodeRedR51]

As much as I am impressed with the achievement I do kinda think it's a waste of money. Seriously folks, I'm all for improving telecommunication and I really think it was great to send all those deep space probes in the 70's, but can we really afford to do this kind of exploration now? It's not like we are going to find a cure for AIDS or a violation of the second law of thermodynamics there*.

*If this ever happens then I'll be really, really exited.

Maybe the day will come when you'll be thanking them for all their hard work and achievements when for some horrifying reason we have to leave this planet in a hurry.

(won't happen in our lifetime, but still)

 

[Zenith]

As much as I am impressed with the achievement I do kinda think it's a waste of money. Seriously folks, I'm all for improving telecommunication and I really think it was great to send all those deep space probes in the 70's, but can we really afford to do this kind of exploration now? It's not like we are going to find a cure for AIDS or a violation of the second law of thermodynamics there*.

*If this ever happens then I'll be really, really exited.

I used to think this, but then I looked up how much an aircraft carrier costs.

 

[Nessy]

Were you watching and listening after the landing success and for the press speeches, it was like an emotional Oscar thank-you and mostly dedicated to America and Americans and American build and design.

I really don't see anything wrong with a country tooting it's own horn..
They're the leaders of their field in space exploration afterall.

I think America is very good at technology and America has a right to feel proud of it's achievements ... bare in mind though, technology is a broad subject (many countries excel at it), so maybe thinking that America leads the way in all things technology, is a bit too much maybe.. i don't know, could be wrong.

Really looking forward to the hi-res pics BTW.

 

[Nessy]

Maybe the day will come when you'll be thanking them for all their hard work and achievements when for some horrifying reason the super rich have to leave this planet in a hurry.

(won't happen in our lifetime, but still)

FTFY

I doubt that 1600Turbo will see the alteration though... pretty sure i'm on his ignore list already, as iv'e disagreed with his opinion a few times now.

 

[TankAss95]

Maybe the day will come when you'll be thanking them for all their hard work and achievements when for some horrifying reason we have to leave this planet in a hurry.

(won't happen in our lifetime, but still)

I'm all for science and understanding and that's exactly why I take joy in any kind of progress. What I'm saying though is that I think that research priority should be organised so that the stuff that'll benefit most people will get done first.

It's probably none of my money going towards it anyway so its not like I can start raging about it. I just think its a little saddening though.

 

[Brett]

The biggest discovery ever.

Yep. Finding other life out there would definitely be the single greatest discovery by humans.

As much as I am impressed with the achievement I do kinda think it's a waste of money. Seriously folks, I'm all for improving telecommunication and I really think it was great to send all those deep space probes in the 70's, but can we really afford to do this kind of exploration now? It's not like we are going to find a cure for AIDS or a violation of the second law of thermodynamics there*.

*If this ever happens then I'll be really, really exited.

NASA operates on a small budget. The Iraq war cost more than NASA's entire operating history.

The cost for Curiosity was much less than what is annually spent buying potato chips.

 

[CodeRedR51]

NASA operates on a small budget. The Iraq war cost more than NASA's entire operating history.

The cost for Curiosity was much less than what is annually spent buying potato chips.

👍

 

[Tornado]

Were you watching and listening after the landing success and for the press speeches, it was like an emotional Oscar thank-you and mostly dedicated to America and Americans and American build and design. It was not done on behalf of the world. They were sickeningly patriotic and sugary to a nation and society rather than a species of people.

...



It is an American space mission. Nevermind how you seem to paint the idea of cheering after a successful mission to be "sickeningly patriotic", but why do you expect them to congratulate other countries ahead of themselves when they go to the press to announce the success so far (and they did credit other countries anyway, as R1600 pointed out) amidst constant calls for defunding and privatizing? Not only am I pretty sure that the people who work at NASA would like to continue to work at NASA, but outside of your increasingly unhinged-from-reality conspiracy theories I'm not seeing how NASA patting themselves on the back invalidates the ability for it to benefit everyone.

I again (and maybe you'll acknowledge it this time) point towards the 1960s. Remember how NASA had a practically unlimited budget (in comparison to today), the country was captivated with the concept of space travel (rather than only caring so long as it doesn't cost them anything), and the entire thing was arguably started to be a huge propaganda tool to use against the Soviet Union (hence, Space Race)? I'm pretty sure the things we learned and the advancements we made during that era of space travel directly benefited the human race as a whole. So how, exactly, do you justify this nonsense about how the human race can't benefit from this comparatively low-key (from a political perspective) mission unless China decides that they want to get into a shooting match over it?

 

[Touring Mars]

Were you watching and listening after the landing success and for the press speeches, it was like an emotional Oscar thank-you and mostly dedicated to America and Americans and American build and design. It was not done on behalf of the world. They were sickeningly patriotic and sugary to a nation and society rather than a species of people.

Thanks for that. Now I understand your username.

 

[TankAss95]

NASA operates on a small budget. The Iraq war cost more than NASA's entire operating history.

The cost for Curiosity was much less than what is annually spent buying potato chips.

I don't really get the point here. One man could take all of that money spend on potato chips and save many, many peoples lives.

 

[Tornado]

I don't really get the point here. One man could take all of that money spend on potato chips and save many, many peoples lives.

Ah. The "all money that isn't used to cure cancer is misappropriated" argument.

 

[TankAss95]

Ah. The "all money that isn't used to cure cancer is misappropriated" argument.

Nah. Not just cancer, anyways.

I'd rather we, as a human race, figure out how we can master the use of stem cells to treat ill children before setting off to play with some rocks on Mars.

That's just me though. I'm weird.

 

[Danoff]

They do forget to convert imperial into metric and lose entire space missions though....

As previously pointed out, thinking you're receiving numbers in one set of units while receiving them in a different set of units is not forgetting, it's miscommunication.

 

[Brett]

I don't really get the point here. One man could take all of that money spend on potato chips and save many, many peoples lives.

There are other avenues to find funds to save lives. Taking away from an already small NASA budget should not be one. NASA brings great benefit to society and lessening their ability to do so would be a shame.

 

[CodeRedR51]

I don't really get the point here. One man could take all of that money spend on potato chips and save many, many peoples lives.

One could argue that the money spent on projects like Curiosity could potentially save many people's lives. What's to say we don't find some amazing cure for something like, say, cancer on another planet?

Your argument is invalid.

 

[BlisteredHand]

...



It is an American space mission. Nevermind how you seem to paint the idea of cheering after a successful mission to be "sickeningly patriotic", but why do you expect them to congratulate other countries ahead of themselves when they go to the press to announce the success so far (and they did credit other countries anyway, as R1600 pointed out) amidst constant calls for defunding and privatizing? Not only am I pretty sure that the people who work at NASA would like to continue to work at NASA, but outside of your increasingly unhinged-from-reality conspiracy theories I'm not seeing how NASA patting themselves on the back invalidates the ability for it to benefit everyone.

I again (and maybe you'll acknowledge it this time) point towards the 1960s. Remember how NASA had a practically unlimited budget (in comparison to today), the country was captivated with the concept of space travel (rather than only caring so long as it doesn't cost them anything), and the entire thing was arguably started to be a huge propaganda tool to use against the Soviet Union (hence, Space Race)? I'm pretty sure the things we learned and the advancements we made during that era of space travel directly benefited the human race as a whole. So how, exactly, do you justify this nonsense about how the human race can't benefit from this comparatively low-key (from a political perspective) mission unless China decides that they want to get into a shooting match over it?

I did not expect them to congratulate other countries ahead of themselves why would I expect that? I said they were sickeningly patriotic, which is a contrast to doing it for the benefit of humanity which I argued against. I never expect Americans to not be patriotic, it's bad enough here in UK, but I think USA is a bit worse in that respect.
I also said the rover can benefit the world, but with added negatives that come with it such as demonstration of power advantage over others. Which is bad, especially considering the ethos/morality of American society/government which is quite cruel to humanity, that's another discussion.
I'm not saying China is ethically better, but it leaves some scope for individuals wherever they are in the world to find their own determination when 2 superpowers are distracted by each other (and creating good science).

 

[Dennisch]

Silly talk.

I think you live in a parallel universe.

 

[homeforsummer]

As much as I am impressed with the achievement I do kinda think it's a waste of money. Seriously folks, I'm all for improving telecommunication and I really think it was great to send all those deep space probes in the 70's, but can we really afford to do this kind of exploration now? It's not like we are going to find a cure for AIDS or a violation of the second law of thermodynamics there*.

I'd rather we, as a human race, figure out how we can master the use of stem cells to treat ill children before setting off to play with some rocks on Mars.

*Sigh*

What part of NASA's budget for Curiosity do you think is being somehow taken away from research on diseases etc?

NASA's budget is half a percent of the total U.S. budget. Curiosity is costing about 7% of that half a percent. It sounds like a lot of money on paper, but proportionally it's an absolutely tiny amount - and they're doing a massive amount of stuff with that tiny amount of money.

If anyone is having doubts about why we're exploring Mars, I'd advise them to read this excellent article.

That's just me though. I'm weird.

Not weird, just misinformed.

 

[Dennisch]

Just finished watching the news briefing stream. The "crime scene" picture is amazing. I had no idea all things would end up so close to each other. The sky crane is the one piece that more evidently shows signals of "crash landing". Awesome pic.

Scene of a Martian Landing

The four main pieces of hardware that arrived on Mars with NASA's Curiosity rover were spotted by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera captured this image about 24 hours after landing. The large, reduced-scale image points out the strewn hardware: the heat shield was the first piece to hit the ground, followed by the back shell attached to the parachute, then the rover itself touched down, and finally, after cables were cut, the sky crane flew away to the northwest and crashed. Relatively dark areas in all four spots are from disturbances of the bright dust on Mars, revealing the darker material below the surface dust.

Around the rover, this disturbance was from the sky crane thrusters, and forms a bilaterally symmetrical pattern. The darkened radial jets from the sky crane are downrange from the point of oblique impact, much like the oblique impacts of asteroids. In fact, they make an arrow pointing to Curiosity.

This image was acquired from a special 41-degree roll of MRO, larger than the normal 30-degree limit. It rolled towards the west and towards the sun, which increases visible scattering by atmospheric dust as well as the amount of atmosphere the orbiter has to look through, thereby reducing the contrast of surface features. Future images will show the hardware in greater detail. Our view is tilted about 45 degrees from the surface (more than the 41-degree roll due to planetary curvature), like a view out of an airplane window. Tilt the images 90 degrees clockwise to see the surface better from this perspective. The views are primarily of the shadowed side of the rover and other objects.

The image scale is 39 centimeters (15.3 inches) per pixel.

And the fullsize picture is : 1.026px × 770px

 

[Hun200kmh]

I really don't understand what is the problem with NASA spending money on this mission, or in them (NASA engineers and crew) having an american flag behind them and being proud of their nationality.

On the money issue: Do the people that say this think the money is put in a bag and sent to Mars along with the rover? Well, it isn't, the money is invested in scientific knowledge, and what happens is that by the simple fact that it changes hands right here on Earth, some amazing things get to be done. But let's all rest assured ... the money stays here, going back and forth between individuals and companies, the IRS, the Government, and back to NASA (hopefully ). Meanwhile, something that didn't exist before ... was made possible.

 

[Dotini]

It's not like we are going to find a cure for AIDS or a violation of the second law of thermodynamics there*.

*If this ever happens then I'll be really, really exited.

You wanna violate the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics? Never thought of you as a violator

Anyway, without getting too far off topic, here is supposedly non-crackpot research into such a Violation: http://www.technologyreview.com/view/428670/entangled-particles-break-classical-law-of/

Now back to Curiosity!

Respectfully,
Steve

 

[Joey D]

Were you watching and listening after the landing success and for the press speeches, it was like an emotional Oscar thank-you and mostly dedicated to America and Americans and American build and design. It was not done on behalf of the world. They were sickeningly patriotic and sugary to a nation and society rather than a species of people. This is why it's vital another country takes them on as equals in power.
Whether another country is less patriotic or not won't matter as long as there is a division of global power.

They thanked all sorts of people and nations. Also numerous NASA scientist have stated what an achievement this is for humankind, not just Americans.

I'm all for another space race, mostly because it would cause a faster growth in technology, but to think some other country wants to do it to crush the US is just stupid. Look at the International Space Station, that should be all the evidence you need that it isn't just America wanting to dominate space. If countries spent their time trying to figure out how to destroy one another's space programs the only thing that would suffer would be the pursuit of knowledge.

As much as I am impressed with the achievement I do kinda think it's a waste of money. Seriously folks, I'm all for improving telecommunication and I really think it was great to send all those deep space probes in the 70's, but can we really afford to do this kind of exploration now? It's not like we are going to find a cure for AIDS or a violation of the second law of thermodynamics there*.

*If this ever happens then I'll be really, really exited.

The Olympics cost something like 6 times as much as the whole Curiosity mission, do you really think we should be having them?

You need to put everything into perspective, the Curiosity mission wasn't really a burden on the taxpayers at all since NASA's budget is extremely small. Think about how much money we waste on various conflicts, politician's salaries and expense accounts, arguing about pointless stuff and any other bone-headed moves by the government. I'd rather my tax dollars be spent on trying to increase the knowledge of humankind then blowing up some third-world nation or paying some asshat politicians.

I used to be against the space program until I actually thought about it for 10 seconds. NASA's missions have provided us with more things than you probably realize. And who knows, a discovery on Mars could lead to a cure for cancer...remember anything is possible with science!

And now for something related and humorous:

 

[Dennisch]

And the ESA funded Mars Express has been a crucial part of the communication between Curiosity and Earth.

 

[FoolKiller]

As much as I am impressed with the achievement I do kinda think it's a waste of money. Seriously folks, I'm all for improving telecommunication and I really think it was great to send all those deep space probes in the 70's, but can we really afford to do this kind of exploration now? It's not like we are going to find a cure for AIDS or a violation of the second law of thermodynamics there*.

No, but the research used to get there sure does help. NASA has filed over 6300 patents and participated in the development of medical technology.

Here is a quick list of things you use everyday and things that have aided in saving millions of lives over the years.

Invisible Braces
Scratch Resistant Lenses
Memory Foam Mattresses/Pillows/etc
Ear Thermometer
Athletic Shoes Insoles
Long Distance Communications
Smoke Detectors
Safety Grooving on Roads
Cordless Tools (Medical and Home Use)
Home Water Filtration Systems
WD-40

Medical:
MRI and CAT Scan Imaging
Left Ventricle Assist Device (heart pump - based on the shuttle's fuel pump)
Breast Biopsy imaging systems
Fetal Monitors
Laser Angioplasty
Cool Suit to lower body temperature
Voice-controlled Wheelchairs
LEDs used in brain surgery
Prosthetic limbs (foam from fuel tanks used for molds)
Programmable Pacemakers (I have one, and it does amazing stuff)
Cataract Surgery tools


Sources

http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/nasa-inventions/nasa-breakthroughs-in-medicine.htm

http://curiosity.discovery.com/topic/physics-concepts-and-definitions/ten-nasa-inventions.htm

 

[CodeRedR51]

^^^ Amazing stuff.

 

[Dennisch]

Everyone who complains about the money spent :

 

[Nessy]

No, but the research used to get there sure does help. NASA has filed over 6300 patents and participated in the development of medical technology.

*snip*

WD-40

Are you sure NASA was responsible for WD-40?... thought it was some missile dude who came up with it (missile coating).

Impressive list none the less.

[EDIT]

Cordless tools is another (according to the webz), apparently it was Black & Decker in 1961, who then was approached by NASA in the mid 60's to design tools for them.

 

[FoolKiller]

Are you sure NASA was responsible for WD-40?... thought it was some missile dude who came up with it (missile coating).

Impressive list none the less.

First used on Atlas missiles, which were the first stage of satellite launch vehicles. It probably counts more as military development. But with the 6300 patents on different technologies it is likely that you can't go a day without using something that had its development connected to NASA in some way.

As for cordless tools, the second link explains how NASA's redesigns led to the lightweight designs used today.