Curiosity Lander Thread

To NASA: next time duct-tape an i-phone on your robot and give us some proper pics :P

Let's see that iPhone survive the trip, be power efficient enough, and of course - still give exactly the same picture considering that the dust filters were still on. :P

Speed, you must have a great Security Clearance to know what we have and don't have?, but interesting all the same!:music_whistling: Cheers all!! I sure the truth would not be posted here!!!!

No specific security clearances are required to know anything of what he spoke about. Don't assume everything that uses the words "plutonium" and/or "reactor" is automatically classified.

Like Speed said, Plutonium 238 has no application as a weapon simply through not being fissile. Think of it like Plutonium's equivalent to Depleted Uranium (which, "fortunate for itself", did find military application and is therefore not getting the axe. :P ).

Let's see that iPhone survive the trip, be power efficient enough, and of course - still give exactly the same picture considering that the dust filters were still on. :P

I forgot you swear on android :doh:

To my "shame" I still haven't convinced myself to buy a smartphone..

Pilotasso: Thx for the pic

^^ I wait for the high res version, It's still in transmission..

I forgot you swear on android :doh:

To my "shame" I still haven't convinced myself to buy a smartphone..

 

Pilotasso: Thx for the pic

The android would be equally toast though, but at least it wouldn't bitch about there being no iCloud connection on mars. :D

And am I weird when pictures like that makes me want to move there? :P

Yes - You are !

But when you do - make sure to visit me at my habitat not without a six-pack.

Than we can both spend the day watching some sandstorm from my veranda.

And am I weird when pictures like that makes me want to move there? :P

Considering what awaits you there, maybe just a bit. ;)

Just think about the horendous lag when playing SC2, 40 minutes for a ping!!! Your current connection is like glassfiber compared to that. :)

Just think about the horendous lag when playing SC2, 40 minutes for a ping!!! Your current connection is like glassfiber compared to that. :)

'Reality Check's' are such a bummer!:D

Just think about the horendous lag when playing SC2, 40 minutes for a ping!!! Your current connection is like glassfiber compared to that. :)

I'll just paint myself green and troll all the rovers and decorate the "face" on mars... For the lols and to troll all those less reputable authors of "astronomy" books. Should keep me occupied. :D

That's one lonely robot...

Considering what awaits you there, maybe just a bit. ;)

 

Just think about the horendous lag when playing SC2, 40 minutes for a ping!!! Your current connection is like glassfiber compared to that. :)

More like an ansible :thumbup:

For those who get US TV programming, there's a show scheduled on the Nat Geo channel tonight at 10 PM EST/EDT/whatever-the-hell-god!@#$-stupid-time-change-thing-we-are-on-now, called "Martian Mega Rover", covering the construction of the rover, it's capabilities, and the mission so far, up to and including the landing.

Thanks for the heads up. I think I know what time zone I am suposed to be in. :D

A better panoramic... :)

Click here http://www.panoramas.dk/mars/greeley-haven.html and click to button for full screen.

These pictures make me want to go there with my GS 1200 Adventure... yeeehaw... :pilotfly:

What blowed me away was the landing procedure; totally amazing how the managed to do it!

Imagine if they had more resources to work with!

[YOUTUBE] LiEoGUHEobo[/YOUTUBE]

It may be that interstellar space flight is not done by advanced civilizations on a regular basis simply because it is very expensive, and there is not as much motivation to do it as we might think. Once a civilization acquires the technology and the resources to actually attempt an interstellar voyage, it may have also solved the problem of self-sustaining colonies in space. If your colony can sustain itself using just the materials mined from an asteroid or comet, and the energy derived from say, nuclear fusion, then the motivation to leave your home system is much reduced. Why do you need to find a new home? You don't need to, you can live anywhere.

There's a pretty big difference between what he is talking about (love him btw, so looking forward to his re-imagining of Sagan's 'Cosmos' series), and interstellar space travel.

The point Speed is making, which I might agree with, is that by the time we have the technology to "easily" do interstellar space travel, there'll also be huge advances in all other areas of technology, so civilizations that do get to that capability might simultaneously simply not have any motivation to bother; and the few that do bother might end up so far apart from each other that even cosmological time isn't enough to let them meet each other.

Not a bad image today...

Except for the sky, that could be Earth:

^^ Atacama desert

Heck, even the Atacama desert could have a dusty orange sky on a day with a dust storm.

Uh-oh, pretty soon we will need the help of the myth busters :D

Not a bad image today...

 

That is just so completely cool!! :thumbup:

Looks like a nevada update screenshot!

OK, I wasted some time, and put together a little game. You think you know your own planet? Let's see.

(I gave away two of the answers a few posts ago, but I'll post them anyway :) Consider them freebies)

Mars or Earth? Expand the spoiler below to view the 13 images, and reply which you think is Earth, and which you think is Mars. I'll give answers later (assuming people actually "play").

Some of them are obvious, the clouds in some of them are earth like (mars has much less watter to form big vapor clouds, most are dust clouds), the one with the small unknown rover is also earth, the long range horizon is also a clue since mars the horizon is much shorter and you cant see very far due to the much smaller planet radius (about half as much as earths).

But yeah, mars is much like an earth arid desert (if you ignore the fact you cant gauge atmo pressure just by looking at them)

earth photos that Im almost sure:

3

4

5

8

12 (too much erosion marks on that crater)

mars:

2

6

the rest Im not sure, I would have to be a pretty damn good geologist to tell just by the rocks and sand