Mars Rover Mission, "Curiosity" Monday August 6, 2012

[Orion]

GO HERE FOR LIVE STREAM DIRECT FROM NASA:
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/ma...ity_news3.html

The Mars Rover is scheduled to touch down on the planet sometime around 1:30AM (+/- 10min) this morning! It will be searching for signs of life and exploring the great "Grand Canyon-esque" rip on its earth that is about 5mk deep. . . . possibly an old dried up ocean bed, is my guess.



You can get an interesting LIVE radio show of the event with plasma physicist Dr. John Brandenburg, aerospace engineer Dr. Robert Zubrin, and space expert Dr. David Livingston.
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2012/08/05


http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/20...o-watch-rover/

I'll be watching and hearing live from several sources! I was going to go to one of those landing parties, but I always get turned off by so many people in one room who don't know shit!



landing.jpg

[Orion]

It's 17km from surface @ 1:29AM
Parachute deploy @ 1:30AM
SAFE ON MARS 1:33 AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1:34 > waiting for images
1:35 images coming down NOW!

256x256px image

ROVER TD_2.jpg

ROVER TD_3.jpg

images collection for future reference:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/

from press kit We will get color video of the descent! :

During the final few minutes of Curiosity’s flight to the
surface of Mars, the Mars Descent Imager, or MARDI,
will record a full-color video of the ground below. This
will provide the Mars Science Laboratory team with information
about the landing site and its surroundings, to
aid interpretation of the rover’s ground-level views and
planning of initial drives. Hundreds of the images taken
by the camera will show features smaller than what can
be discerned in images taken from orbit.
The video will also give fans worldwide an unprecedented
sense of riding a spacecraft to a landing on Mars.
MARDI will record the video on its own 8-gigabyte flash
memory at about four frames per second and close to
1,600 by 1,200 pixels per frame. Thumbnails and a few
samples of full-resolution frames will be transmitted to
Earth in the first few days after landing. The nested set
of images from higher altitude to ground level will enable
pinpointing of Curiosity’s location. The pace of sending
the rest of the frames for full-resolution video will depend
on sharing priority with data from the rover’s other
investigations.
The full video — available first from the thumbnails in
YouTube-like resolution and later in full detail — will
begin with a glimpse of the heat shield falling away from
beneath the rover. The first views of the ground will
cover an area several kilometers (a few miles) across.