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Poll: Will you be watching Mars Curiosity landing live?

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Will you watch Mars Curiosity land live?

  • Yes, I will be watching.

  • No, I won't be watching.

  • Space is vast. That's why they call it space. I'm an idiot.

Results are only viewable after voting.
Northern Lawn said:
I don't know why they even bother, I'll bet the landing site is almost completely flat with a bunch of small stones strewn around.

What I would like to see is a hot air balloon uav or something like that.
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I think there was a mission for that but it got canned, too expensive.
It was going to be a UAV with a scramjet and just burn some stuff in the atmosphere. Would be able to stay up indefinitely.
 
Northern Lawn said:
Well what are WE supposed to watch then, any Idea? I hope it's not just a bunch of egg heads sitting at their computers at NASA, then half an hour later they cheer.
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Live video transmission not possible during decent and it takes 14 minutes to get here from Mars.
 
soccerballtux said:
it takes 7 minutes.
The 14 number is "latency to control the rover"-- 7 minutes to make it do something, and 7 minutes to find out how that went
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No, at the current distance, it takes 14 minutes each way according to NASA.

(do the math...154,000,000 miles / 186,000 / 60 )
 
ichy said:
I know, I just like to nitpick.

I won't be watching it because I have to go to work the next day, 1 AM is a bit late for me on a Sunday night.
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I know right? Who's idea was it to schedule the landing for 1AM?
 
techs said:
Its scheduled to land at about 1:30 a.m. Eastern time Monday morning and 10:30 pm Sunday Pacific time.

So, who will be watching? And how many east coasters are going to stay up for it?
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OP, since there is no way for anyone to actually watch the landing "live" I suggest that you modify your poll.
 
Lol, no. I watched the last lander landing (Phoenix), and it was the most uneventful TV ever. So yea, I'm not gonna be duped again.

I'll gladly watch any footage captured after the fact, but I'm not going to sit around and wait for it.
 
Its live enough.

In the 80s our public access station used to broadcast NASA TV and they were showing live pictures of a flyby of what I think was Neptune. Was so amazing sitting in our living room watching "live" pictures from the edge of our solar system.

Yea and 1am SUCKS but I am going to go sleep even earlier then normal ( I get up at 4:30) I have my timer set to wake me at 1AM, going to be tuff at work. I already told my boss about it so I cant call in~ :'(
 
Thebobo said:
Its live enough.

In the 80s our public access station used to broadcast NASA TV and they were showing live pictures of a flyby of what I think was Neptune. Was so amazing sitting in our living room watching "live" pictures from the edge of our solar system.

Yea and 1am SUCKS but I am going to go sleep even earlier then normal ( I get up at 4:30) I have my timer set to wake me at 1AM, going to be tuff at work. I already told my boss about it so I cant call in~ :'(
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It MIGHT be a waste of your sleeping time. NASA has said that it COULD be as much as 3 days before they hear from Curiosity...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t7p08hcQzs&list=UUryGec9PdUCLjpJW2mgCuLw&index=1&feature=plcp
 
BoomerD said:
The nerve of them to not schedule it for prime time! :colbert:

Imagine the pissed off people if it interrupted their "regularly scheduled shows" though...
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I can see it now "Young and the Restless is canceled because of some stupid NASA probe, this is BS!"
 
I hope i get to live long enough to see the lights shine on the submarine rover on Europa. I could just imagine the reaction people would have if they saw some ocean creatures swimming past the camera. I would then look forward to the explanations offered for how Noah's flood has something to do with all that water and the sea creatures of another planet.
 
Well so much for armchair engineering, that was pretty awesome. I still wonder if this becomes the standard way of entering mars though (like is this the approach they take with a craft carrying humans?)
 
science, you fucking amazing.

NASA officials had more good news about what they described as Mars rover Curiosity's picture-perfect landing.

Space scientists said Monday that NASA's Curiosity rover had landed on a slope of just 3.6 degrees, with its nose pointed down, but only barely. They also reported that initial checks indicated that Curiosity's suite of geochemistry instruments survived the landing sequence.

"We landed pretty much on this table right here," said Curiosity mission systems manager Michael Watkins, patting his palm on a table at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "It's a pretty good spot."

PHOTOS: JPL's faces of joy

The landing Sunday night brought cheers that continued to echo Monday.

Adam Steltzner, the lead mechanical engineer for entry, spent nearly a decade at JPL working on Curiosity. In a Times Google+ chat Monday, he described what it was like to see the rover on Mars.

"We could not even imagine in our wildest dreams it doing as well as it did," he said.

INTERACTIVE: Curiosity, from liftoff to landing

Steltzner spoke about the nervousness and excitement inside the control room at JPL in the final moments before Curiosity landed. He described it as "a lot of focus occasionally broken up by celebration."

Others at JPL were similarly excited.

"So that rocked. Seriously! Woo!" said Richard Cook, deputy project manager for the Mars Science Laboratory, as he punched upward with both fists, a sign of victory.

Cook reminisced about how far they had come since the 1997 Pathfinder mission, which sent the first rover, Sojourner, to skitter across the Martian surface. Sojourner was a relatively simple, skateboard-sized affair, whereas the latest rover — known as Curiosity — is a laser-zapping, video-shooting chemical laboratory on wheels.

"Pathfinder was great, but we were young and stupid, frankly," Cook said, to much laughter.

The elation was mixed with relief.

“I’m so glad we nailed that sucker!” mission systems engineer Randii Wessen said.

The real goal of the mission — a hunt for the building blocks of life and signs that Earth's creatures may not be alone in the universe — is just beginning.

Curiosity is expected to revolutionize the understanding of Mars, gathering evidence of whether the planet is or was capable of fostering life, probably in microbial form.

The spacecraft is also expected to pave the way for important leaps in deep-space exploration, including bringing Martian rock or soil back to Earth for detailed analysis and, eventually, human exploration.

Curiosity is a full-fledged geochemistry lab on wheels, able to vaporize rocks, “taste” air samples and ingest dirt, then send the results of experiments home from 154 million miles away.

Ensuring that all of Curiosity's instruments are working in proper fashion will take weeks. The rover is not expected to begin driving until early September and will probably begin scooping samples several weeks later. Curiosity is expected to begin drilling into rocks later in the fall.

Applause erupted across the campus of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge when the landing was affirmed, and engineers inside mission control could be seen hugging and weeping with joy. Al Chen, an engineer on Curiosity's entry, descent and landing team, said the words that space scientists had been awaiting for 10 years: "Touchdown confirmed."

"We did it again!" another engineer shouted.

The landing site was so distant that the spacecraft's elaborate landing sequence had to be automated. The Earth also "set" below the Mars horizon shortly before landing, making even delayed direct communication with mission control impossible — and confirmation of Curiosity's fate tricky.
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soccerballtux said:
I call your bluff, lets see your resume or badge of employment.

citing "the news" WOW sir way to cite your sources. THE NEWS is legit and knows what they're talking about. LOL.
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I don't work there anymore, and you turn in your badge when you leave (for obvious security reasons). Even if I did have my badge, its not like I could post it (for obvious security reasons).

News sites get their info from JPLers. Otherwise, they wouldn't know wtfto say.

Accusing me of lying? Fuck you.

I went to school in Los Angeles. JPL is right there. They recruit at my college. It's not rocket science.

Again, I didn't work on the project one bit. I just talked to some engineers. Got a view of MSL in the test chamber. I actually was there the day they packed it up. A lot of employees came down to watch.

Anyway, glad it landed. A lot of JPLers were worried about it when I worked there. They have some brilliant people.
 
Farang said:
Well so much for armchair engineering, that was pretty awesome. I still wonder if this becomes the standard way of entering mars though (like is this the approach they take with a craft carrying humans?)
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Not likely. If they shuttle humans to Mars they will want to get home, expect something similarish to a moon lander. The whole reason behind this approach was to minimize dust while delivering an extremely hefty vehicle.
 
Dumac said:
I don't work there anymore, and you turn in your badge when you leave (for obvious security reasons). Even if I did have my badge, its not like I could post it (for obvious security reasons).

News sites get their info from JPLers. Otherwise, they wouldn't know wtfto say.

Accusing me of lying? Fuck you.

I went to school in Los Angeles. JPL is right there. They recruit at my college. It's not rocket science.

Again, I didn't work on the project one bit. I just talked to some engineers. Got a view of MSL in the test chamber. I actually was there the day they packed it up. A lot of employees came down to watch.

Anyway, glad it landed. A lot of JPLers were worried about it when I worked there. They have some brilliant people.
Click to expand...
I can attest that they do indeed take the badge away from you on exit.
 
ussfletcher said:
Not likely. If they shuttle humans to Mars they will want to get home, expect something similarish to a moon lander. The whole reason behind this approach was to minimize dust while delivering an extremely hefty vehicle.
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If the Apollo craft would be ideal, why wouldn't they use that model (on auto-pilot) and just let the thing sit there in the capsule until the dust settles?
 
Farang said:
If the Apollo craft would be ideal, why wouldn't they use that model (on auto-pilot) and just let the thing sit there in the capsule until the dust settles?
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The dust can cause problems with the mechanics of the rover. It would really suck to have the transmitters all caked in Mars dust and be unable to talk to it. For a human landing this is less of an issue (bring a broom). Also, since the trip is so long to get to Mars and back we would conceivably want a larger landing craft, and some neat vehicles to accomplish more than we could on the moon.
 
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