New NASA Rover!

[Rev7]

CNN story

 

NASA story

 

"PASADENA, Calif. -- A NASA spacecraft today sent pictures showing itself in good condition after making the first successful landing in a polar region of Mars.

 

The images from NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander also provided a glimpse of the flat valley floor expected to have water-rich permafrost within reach of the lander's robotic arm. The landing ends a 422-million-mile journey from Earth and begins a three-month mission that will use instruments to taste and sniff the northern polar site's soil and ice.

 

"We see the lack of rocks that we expected, we see the polygons that we saw from space, we don't see ice on the surface, but we think we will see it beneath the surface. It looks great to me," said Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, principal investigator for the Phoenix mission........"Only five of our planet's 11 previous attempts to land on the Red Planet have succeeded. In exploring the universe, we accept some risk in exchange for the potential of great scientific rewards," said Ed Weiler, NASA associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

 

Phoenix carries science instruments to assess whether ice just below the surface ever thaws and whether some chemical ingredients of life are preserved in the icy soil. These are key questions in evaluating whether the environment has ever been favorable for microbial life. Phoenix will also study other aspects of the soil and atmosphere with instrument capabilities never before used on Mars. Canada supplied the lander's weather station."

 

[align=center]*[/align]

 

Comments?

 

I was watching this on television yesterday (5.25.08) and was intrigued by this. Just knowing that something that is from Earth has sucessfully made it to another planet, just is well, amazing. A lot of the people on this mission have worked a really long time to make this happen.

[Fredi]

It will investigate if there was life too ... It's interesting indeed ... I hope some day soon they send someone up there.

[*Don*]

^^^^

That'll be the day.

Realistically speaking, I think that person is probably in kindergarten or perhaps not even born yet.

[Da_Man_2423]

It's actually just a lander, not a rover. It won't be doing any actual moving around the planet.

[Pho3nix]

I like It's name.

[Arcesious]

I like the whole space exploration thing going on, but I have to say that all that money could go to better use... Fix world now, explore space later.

[Totenkopf]

If we wait till we fix the world, we'll never get anywhere.

[Rev7]

^

I guess that that depends on how you look at it.

 

I like It's name.

Might I ask why?

[Q]

My confidence in "Need Another Seven Astronauts" is less than zero. IMO they're corner-cutting, incompetent, arrogantly self-assured morons who seem to see nothing wrong with gambling with the astronauts' lives on a daily basis. It's nothing short of a miracle that more astronauts haven't paid the ultimate price for their willful stupidity.

[Achilles]

Comments?

 

I was watching this on television yesterday (5.25.08) and was intrigued by this. Just knowing that something that is from Earth has sucessfully made it to another planet, just is well, amazing. A lot of the people on this mission have worked a really long time to make this happen.

Yeah, pretty cool, huh?

 

Have you been following the progress of Spirit and Opportunity at all? If you thought the Phoenix lander was cool, the rovers might actually blow your socks off.

 

Roving Mars documentary on YouTube (the other three parts are also available)

 

It's actually just a lander, not a rover. It won't be doing any actual moving around the planet.

Yep

 

I like the whole space exploration thing going on, but I have to say that all that money could go to better use... Fix world now, explore space later.

Ehhh...yes and no. The world will never be "fixed". If we wait for that to happen space exploration will never happen. In the mean time, space exploration does forward our technology (which has a positive impact for all mankind) and help to answer other important questions that need to be answered. My 2 cents.

[Corinthian]

Right, that explains why we've never lost an American in space.

[Q]

Well, on a positive note at least the unmanned program doesn't kill people.

[Achilles]

Just came across this. Thought others here might enjoy it as well.

 

EDIT: Let's try this this one then.

[Rev7]

^

That video has been removed.

Yeah, pretty cool, huh?

 

Have you been following the progress of Spirit and Opportunity at all? If you thought the Phoenix lander was cool, the rovers might actually blow your socks off.

 

Roving Mars documentary on YouTube (the other three parts are also available)

Yes, I have been following the Spirit and Opportunity. I was more describing my unique feeling of knowing that something from our planet was in the process of landing on another planet. It was a unique feeling for me. The Sojourner was pretty awesome too.

[Achilles]

Yes, I have been following the Spirit and Opportunity. I was more describing my unique feeling of knowing that something from our planet was in the process of landing on another planet. It was a unique feeling for me. The Sojourner was pretty awesome too.

Ah. Like

? That's cool.

[Rev7]

Yes. That kinda captures what I felt. In a way. That snapshot is mind-blowing to me. When you get curious, you explore, and through exploratation, you learn. Knowledge is a gift.

[mimartin]

My confidence in "Need Another Seven Astronauts" is less than zero. IMO they're corner-cutting, incompetent, arrogantly self-assured morons who seem to see nothing wrong with gambling with the astronauts' lives on a daily basis. It's nothing short of a miracle that more astronauts haven't paid the ultimate price for their willful stupidity.

I live less than 45 miles from Johnson Space Center. I graduated from the University of Houston Clear Lake campus that is adjoined to Johnson Space Center except for a road separating the two properties. My best friend for the past 30 year is a computer engineer assigned to shuttle operations that works for a general contractor whose offices are on Johnson Space Center property. I have numerous other friends and acquaintances that either work for NASA itself or general contractors for the space agency. I can say without doubt that their number one concern is human life. I was in the vehicle with my friend on February 1 ,2003 when news of Columbia disappearance first hit the radio. I know how at least one of the “incompetent, arrogantly self-assured morons" reacted. A grown man that I had known most of my life broke down like a little child. I was wondering whom to blame, he was concerned about the astronauts and their families. Yes, he was feeling guilt that some mistake he could have made in the computer system could have been the cause. I remember him saying, “what if the system would not take a command.” I was around during his father’s death and I do not remember him taking it as hard as he did when we finally got the news that Columbia had disintegrated during re-entry.

 

You can say that NASA administrators cut corners, but you are very wrong about the vast majority of the people that work within the space agency. I will also say that a vast amount of the blame for Columbia disaster can be placed on politicians. They are the ones that approved the missions, yet cut the funding. They were the ones that cut funding to the shuttle program and forced NASA to continue flying the first space worthy shuttle. Columbia was design before 1975, the year they started construction on her.

 

I love what NASA is doing with its unmanned program, but personally, nothing captures the imagination more than the manned missions do. Is it dangerous? Yes, but with any great achievement there is great risk.

[Q]

First off, I would like to apologize to those offended by the unnecessary, emotionally-charged heavy-handedness and generalization of my previous post.

 

I will not, however, retract the core of what I stated there. Both the Challenger disaster and the Columbia disaster 17 years later had the exact same cause: stupidity born of complacency in NASA's decision-making process. NASA was aware of the defective O-rings in the solid rocket boosters that destroyed Challenger and of the defective foam insulation on the external tank that destroyed Columbia and in both cases NASA did absolutely nothing to fix the problem until it was too late.

 

Once is understandable. Twice is unforgiveable. There was and perhaps still is something fundamentally wrong with NASA's decision-making process that obviously was not corrected the first time around. Has it been fixed this time? Who knows? Hopefully it won't cost another seven lives to find out.

[The Source]

CNN story

 

NASA story

 

"PASADENA, Calif. -- A NASA spacecraft today sent pictures showing itself in good condition after making the first successful landing in a polar region of Mars.

 

The images from NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander also provided a glimpse of the flat valley floor expected to have water-rich permafrost within reach of the lander's robotic arm. The landing ends a 422-million-mile journey from Earth and begins a three-month mission that will use instruments to taste and sniff the northern polar site's soil and ice.

 

"We see the lack of rocks that we expected, we see the polygons that we saw from space, we don't see ice on the surface, but we think we will see it beneath the surface. It looks great to me," said Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, principal investigator for the Phoenix mission........"Only five of our planet's 11 previous attempts to land on the Red Planet have succeeded. In exploring the universe, we accept some risk in exchange for the potential of great scientific rewards," said Ed Weiler, NASA associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

 

Phoenix carries science instruments to assess whether ice just below the surface ever thaws and whether some chemical ingredients of life are preserved in the icy soil. These are key questions in evaluating whether the environment has ever been favorable for microbial life. Phoenix will also study other aspects of the soil and atmosphere with instrument capabilities never before used on Mars. Canada supplied the lander's weather station."

 

[align=center]*[/align]

 

Comments?

 

I was watching this on television yesterday (5.25.08) and was intrigued by this. Just knowing that something that is from Earth has sucessfully made it to another planet, just is well, amazing. A lot of the people on this mission have worked a really long time to make this happen.

After watching NASA's slow progress over the years, I am tired of their lack of vision and perspective on the solar system. If all we have is a few small rovers and orbitals racing around the solar system, we should invest in other companies in which are motivated to do more. I think these mini-projects are a waste of time and money. To be all honest, I do not think we are making enough progress in space. We need a massive push for space exploration, which we can all benifit from in both short and long term. These little probs are useless. We need to take larger steps into the unknown. It is our human destiny. One company cannot and will not determine our fate.

[Achilles]

Once is understandable. Twice is unforgiveable.

If it was the exact same thing, I would agree. This is akin to saying that once you have been involved in a car accident, you're never allowed to have one ever again.

 

There was and perhaps still is something fundamentally wrong with NASA's decision-making process that obviously was not corrected the first time around. Has it been fixed this time? Who knows? Hopefully it won't cost another seven lives to find out.

The foam came loose while the craft was launching. What decision where they supposed to make? Foam dislodging during launch was a common occurrence and up until the disaster, had never been considered a danger before.

[mimartin]

First off, I would like to apologize to those offended by the unnecessary, emotionally-charged heavy-handedness and generalization of my previous post.[/Quote] No need to apologize on my account. If that is how you feel you are more than entitled to your opinion. I just did not like the way you appeared to lump all NASA employees into a single group. I also would like to apologize if my remarks were offensive in anyway.

I will not, however, retract the core of what I stated there. Both the Challenger disaster and the Columbia disaster 17 years later had the exact same cause: stupidity born of complacency in NASA's decision-making process. NASA was aware of the defective O-rings in the solid rocket boosters that destroyed Challenger and of the defective foam insulation on the external tank that destroyed Columbia and in both cases NASA did absolutely nothing to fix the problem until it was too late.[/Quote] I’m going to stay away from the O-rings because there is evidence that your assumption in that area could be correct. Again NASA was under political pressure to launch despite the temperature. The foam was a concern, but not as much of a concern as ice falling from the external fuel tank and striking the shuttle. One of the reasons for the foam is to prevent ice build up on the tank itself.

 

Once is understandable. Twice is unforgiveable. There was and perhaps still is something fundamentally wrong with NASA's decision-making process that obviously was not corrected the first time around. Has it been fixed this time? Who knows? Hopefully it won't cost another seven lives to find out.

I’m sure if the U.S. continues manned space flight there will be more deaths. After all space flight is a dangerous proportion and the only way to completely protect against loss of life is to end the program all together. I will say NASA has a backup plan for everything including their backup plan and safety is their number one concern. That said NASA does take calculated risks which are necessary in space exploration. I have no problem with those risks if and only if the astronauts are fully aware of the risk they are taking.

After watching NASA's slow progress over the years, I am tired of their lack of vision and perspective on the solar system.

Is the lack of progress due to NASA’s lack of vision or their lack of funding? I believe that are getting the biggest bang for their buck with the unmanned exploration of Mars and still meeting the US responsibility with the shuttle program and the International Space Station. I wish NASA was back on the moon making preparations for a manned trip to Mars, but with their budget that is not feasible. At their current pace I may never realize my dream of becoming a “Republican Space Ranger.” Of course I guess I first have to become a Republican.

[Gurges-Ahter]

Is the lack of progress due to NASA’s lack of vision or their lack of funding? I believe that are getting the biggest bang for their buck with the unmanned exploration of Mars and still meeting the US responsibility with the shuttle program and the International Space Station. I wish NASA was back on the moon making preparations for a manned trip to Mars, but with their budget that is not feasible. At their current pace I may never realize my dream of becoming a “Republican Space Ranger.” Of course I guess I first have to become a Republican.

I think their budget is big enough; however, progress is almost always stifled when it's publicly funded rather than privatized. NASA could do with some competition in the private market, I think.

 

That is a Republican view, however.

[ET Warrior]

I think their budget is big enough;

Do you know how much their budget is? Do you know the costs of aerospace related technologies? Or are you just assuming that it's probably enough, and if they can't make do with what they've got they're a bunch of whiners?

[Rev7]

Link

 

I know that this is still a lot of money, but it is spread out into different fields.

[Achilles]

I think their budget is big enough;

Meh, it has steadily increased since the late 80's however lately it's barely keeping ahead of inflation. $17 billion sounds like a lot until you consider that 1) this has to fund not only R&D, but maintenance, and operations 2) it's a pittance when compared to other expenditures (like the war in Iraq - $475 billion) and 3) just because that budget is approved doesn't mean that is what they get (need more money? Call NASA and tell them to cancel that order on that superfoam that won't fall off during launch. We'll use that money to support prayer in public school or investigate Bill Clinton's sex life instead, etc).

 

however, progress is almost always stifled when it's publicly funded rather than privatized. NASA could do with some competition in the private market, I think.

This is the trade-off:

 

Publicly funded space exploration resulting in government-controlled technology and a lot of oversight or

 

Privately funded space exploration resulting in privately-owned (and patented) technology and very little oversight (not to mention the same-profit driven thinking that that has given us JetBlue, etc).

 

Not that I'm advocating socialism, but I do think there are some things that really just don't belong in the private sector. Maybe some day in the future someone will help me change my mind on this.

 

That is a Republican view, however.

But are you a Republican Space Ranger? That's what I thought