"I?ve never been on a flight project that didn?t have one of these. Every single one that I?ve been involved in has had an event like this, or worse than this," said Steve Squyres, principal investigator for the overall Mars Exploration Rover (MER) program. Squyres works at Cornell University, which is collaborating with NASA on the project.
Could this have something to do with the Northern Lights I saw last night? I wonder if there's been a lot of solar activity recently, and some cosmic radiation took a likin' to our little beloved up there....
Bah! Better five Mars threads than five Bush treads.
I go straight to NPR now for all of my "get him out of office, NOW" news... Sure sure, we have all that "sour grapes" talk from the former Treasury official, but it's always more revealing than a web forum when you hear things like the founder of the modern EPA (a staunch Republican all his life), talk about what an incredibly deceitful bunch Bush and his cronies are.
The administration is an abomination; let's talk about Mars for a while. Water and long-ago-manufactured stone parts / tools anyone?
Maybe I should stroll over to the Alien Conspiracy thread to find out if it was the worker-class Martian or the dirigible-class Martian that is holding Spirit for ransom!
Oh! Good news! They appear to have received a 20 minute burst of info from the Spirit rover! All isn't lost!
They were supposed to be drilling into Adirondack when the communications bobble occurred. Hopefully that data has been gathered!?
Also, they had a NASA spokesman on Letterman last night. Dave was really busting his chops about why we would need to send men to Mars. He had a series of photos of the Martian regolith snapped by Spirit...he took a look at one and said "I can tell you right now there ain't nothin' up there!". About five pictures later there was a suspicious looking item on the lefthand side...the camera zoomed in and it was an Applebee's that had been photoshopped into the picture.
Saw the briefing today. Despite the fact Spirit is behaving confused pentium it was awesom! They went through the actual data gathered during decent and how the "decenter" had compensated for thinner air and more vertical vind than expected. The above picture and the landers way through that picture was explained.
I say to hell with Mars! THe engineering complexity is much more interesting than a dead red rock.
Saw the briefing today. Despite the fact Spirit is behaving confused pentium it was awesom! They went through the actual data gathered during decent and how the "decenter" had compensated for thinner air and more vertical vind than expected. The above picture and the landers way through that picture was explained.
I say to hell with Mars! THe engineering complexity is much more interesting than a dead red rock.
That 1000am pst 1/23/04 Spirit briefing is being replayed now on NASATV
Wow, it's continually rebooting itself...that's not good for the batteries especially if it's continuing that behavior throughout the night. The forensics team will, I suppose, be running tests on the Earthside version of the rover to narrow down what might be the cause of the bad behavior.
Wasn't there a solar flare during the trip? I'd be surprised if they DON'T discover if the problem was due to radiation, landing shock or inherent poor design.
We're not yet ready to send humans in 2004. In 18 years? Surely we must.
Edit: There are some new computer animations posted up on the JPL site that show Spirit's descent and bounce path - gathered by the sensors onboard. Would be a lot neater if the darned thing was working right now.
Please go to the first page and answer what I think is an importent question.
My take: For the same resources unmanned missions will give us much more information than manned missions. It doesn´t have to be rovers in every mission. It could be a platform lander that had a heavy duty drill that was able to look beneath the surface. It could be a ballon station that could send up ballons. The possibilities are huge and you won´t have to use billions to build huge space to transport a few humans there and back.
Please go to the first page and answer what I think is an importent question.
My take: For the same resources unmanned missions will give us much more information than manned missions. It doesn´t have to be rovers in every mission. It could be a platform lander that had a heavy duty drill that was able to look beneath the surface. It could be a ballon station that could send up ballons. The possibilities are huge and you won´t have to use billions to build huge space to transport a few humans there and back.
your poll could stand a few more options than just
a) more manned
b) more unmanned
everybody knows Mars Needs Women
some both, and alternative choices (Moon not Mars, Europa, etc)
Comments
Now we won't get to see all of this http://www.enterprisemission.com/spirit2.htm up close and clearly in focus.
Thriving on conspiracies....
Aries 1B
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches...nt_040122.html
"I?ve never been on a flight project that didn?t have one of these. Every single one that I?ve been involved in has had an event like this, or worse than this," said Steve Squyres, principal investigator for the overall Mars Exploration Rover (MER) program. Squyres works at Cornell University, which is collaborating with NASA on the project.
Shouldn't this thread be merged with the Official Mars Exploration Thread....seems appropriate, instead of having five Mars threads hanging about.
Hat Trick.
I go straight to NPR now for all of my "get him out of office, NOW" news... Sure sure, we have all that "sour grapes" talk from the former Treasury official, but it's always more revealing than a web forum when you hear things like the founder of the modern EPA (a staunch Republican all his life), talk about what an incredibly deceitful bunch Bush and his cronies are.
The administration is an abomination; let's talk about Mars for a while. Water and long-ago-manufactured stone parts / tools anyone?
Originally posted by Moogs
Bah! Better five Mars threads than five Bush treads.
...
The administration is an abomination; let's talk about Mars for a while. Water and long-ago-manufactured stone parts / tools anyone?
Hear! Hear!
Oh! Good news! They appear to have received a 20 minute burst of info from the Spirit rover! All isn't lost!
They were supposed to be drilling into Adirondack when the communications bobble occurred. Hopefully that data has been gathered!?
Also, they had a NASA spokesman on Letterman last night. Dave was really busting his chops about why we would need to send men to Mars. He had a series of photos of the Martian regolith snapped by Spirit...he took a look at one and said "I can tell you right now there ain't nothin' up there!". About five pictures later there was a suspicious looking item on the lefthand side...the camera zoomed in and it was an Applebee's that had been photoshopped into the picture.
Dave said "I guess I was wrong!"
Sounds like a bug, Dave.
less than 31 hours until Opportunity EDL in Meridiani Planum.
I say to hell with Mars! THe engineering complexity is much more interesting than a dead red rock.
Originally posted by Anders iBook
Saw the briefing today. Despite the fact Spirit is behaving confused pentium it was awesom! They went through the actual data gathered during decent and how the "decenter" had compensated for thinner air and more vertical vind than expected. The above picture and the landers way through that picture was explained.
I say to hell with Mars! THe engineering complexity is much more interesting than a dead red rock.
That 1000am pst 1/23/04 Spirit briefing is being replayed now on NASATV
Wasn't there a solar flare during the trip? I'd be surprised if they DON'T discover if the problem was due to radiation, landing shock or inherent poor design.
We're not yet ready to send humans in 2004. In 18 years? Surely we must.
Edit: There are some new computer animations posted up on the JPL site that show Spirit's descent and bounce path - gathered by the sensors onboard. Would be a lot neater if the darned thing was working right now.
All times EST
January 24, Saturday
*3 - 4 p.m. - Opportunity Landing Update - JPL
*5 - 6 p.m. MER Briefing - JPL
*7 - 8 p.m. - Briefing: "Fireside Chat" with Administrator O'Keefe and JPL Director Dr. Charles Elachi - JPL
*10:30 p.m. - Opportunity Mission Coverage and Commentary - JPL
January 25, Sunday
*1:30 - 2:30 a.m. - Opportunity News Briefing - JPL
*2:45 - 3:30 a.m. - Commentary: Odyssey Pass - JPL
*3:45 - 4:30 a.m. - Commentary: Opportunity - JPL
*5 - 6 a.m. - Opportunity News Briefing - JPL
*6:30 - 10:30 a.m. - Live Interviews on the "Opportunity" Landing - JPL
*1:15 - 1:45 p.m. - Commentary: Opportunity (mgs VHF Pass) - JPL
*4 - 5 p.m. - Briefing: Opportunity Odyssey Pass - JPL
*5:30 - 9:30 p.m. - Live Interviews - JPL
*9:30 p.m. - Commentary - JPL
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasat..._Breaking.html
first briefing about to start
9 hours to Opportunity Landing
EDIT: SPIRIT upgraded from "Critical" to "Serious"
They say that's more than all government websites for all of 2003.
Please go to the first page and answer what I think is an importent question.
My take: For the same resources unmanned missions will give us much more information than manned missions. It doesn´t have to be rovers in every mission. It could be a platform lander that had a heavy duty drill that was able to look beneath the surface. It could be a ballon station that could send up ballons. The possibilities are huge and you won´t have to use billions to build huge space to transport a few humans there and back.
Originally posted by Anders
Ah the power of being a mod.
Please go to the first page and answer what I think is an importent question.
My take: For the same resources unmanned missions will give us much more information than manned missions. It doesn´t have to be rovers in every mission. It could be a platform lander that had a heavy duty drill that was able to look beneath the surface. It could be a ballon station that could send up ballons. The possibilities are huge and you won´t have to use billions to build huge space to transport a few humans there and back.
your poll could stand a few more options than just
a) more manned
b) more unmanned
everybody knows Mars Needs Women
some both, and alternative choices (Moon not Mars, Europa, etc)
5 hours to Opportunity EDL...
Various probes are necessary for a lead-up to a manned mission, so saying either/or is specious.