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Up late tonight? Watch the Mars rover land via HD NASA streams (Curiosity-R)

JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
edited August 2012 in Strut Central
I enjoy looking up. If you do as well and you find yourself up late tonight...you should watch the rover landing....

2 billion dollars of tech // world renowned scientists // space // rockets // 7 minutes of terror....

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl
http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

Coverage starts at 11:30pm eastern. Landing should be at 1:30am.

Here is an explanation of what will go down:





EDIT: This is mad fun to follow along with... http://eyes.nasa.gov/launch2.html?document=$SERVERURL/content/documents/msl/edl.xml

  Comments

  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,903 Posts
    I'm watching as well.

    Great stuff.

    The delivery system is pretty cool, compared to the old balloon system.
  • JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
    DOR said:
    I'm watching as well.

    Great stuff.

    The delivery system is pretty cool, compared to the old balloon system.

    Yeah but, jesus christ, there are a lot more moving parts and opportunities to fail, it seems.

    They mentioned earlier that they didn't go that route because this rover is too big for that type of landing.
  • ketanketan Warmly booming riffs 3,169 Posts
    Thanks for posting this - I'm watching and am totally captivated.
  • volumenvolumen 2,532 Posts
    the more views added the worse my stream gets. we can land on mars but cant live stream. fun
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,903 Posts
    For some reason I like the fact that dude has a mohawk.

    Not like hipster mohawk. But kinda Vernon Wells/Road Warrior mohawk.
  • JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
    Damn...that was awesome. I definitely suggest you all check out that eyes app I linked to in the edit. You can follow the path of the landing.
  • dj_cityboydj_cityboy 1,478 Posts
    damn sorry i missed this...it was too late in my neck of the woods, i really wanted to stay up and check it. saw the pics an erything this morning
  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    This has got to be a giant mindfuck to all those dudes who still don't believe we landed on the Moon!
  • JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
    Rockadelic said:
    This has got to be a giant mindfuck to all those dudes who still don't believe we landed on the Moon!

    Give it a few days and there will be a shit load of videos and articles that 'debunk' the rover landing.
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,903 Posts
    Rockadelic said:
    This has got to be a giant mindfuck to all those dudes who still don't believe we landed on the Moon!

    I don't mind watching Buzz Aldrin punching those fools out.
  • RisingsonRisingson 696 Posts
    for $2.5 billion you'd have thought they'd have a least fitted the rover with a color camera
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,903 Posts
    I think the colour camera is coming. They had it put away for the trip. Once everything is fully deployed you'll get some quality shots.

    Some more info on this site.

    http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/gallery-indexEvents.html


    "Curiosity's First Color Image of the Martian Landscape

    This view of the landscape to the north of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity was acquired by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the afternoon of the first day after landing. (The team calls this day Sol 1, which is the first Martian day of operations; Sol 1 began on Aug. 6, 2012.)

    In the distance, the image shows the north wall and rim of Gale Crater. The image is murky because the MAHLI's removable dust cover is apparently coated with dust blown onto the camera during the rover's terminal descent. Images taken without the dust cover in place are expected during checkout of the robotic arm in coming weeks.

    The MAHLI is located on the turret at the end of Curiosity's robotic arm. At the time the MAHLI Sol 1 image was acquired, the robotic arm was in its stowed position. It has been stowed since the rover was packaged for its Nov. 26, 2011, launch.

    The MAHLI has a transparent dust cover. This image was acquired with the dust cover closed. The cover will not be opened until more than a week after the landing.

    When the robotic arm, turret, and MAHLI are stowed, the MAHLI is in a position that is rotated 30 degrees relative to the rover deck. The MAHLI image shown here has been rotated to correct for that tilt, so that the sky is "up" and the ground is "down".

    When the robotic arm, turret, and MAHLI are stowed, the MAHLI is looking out from the front left side of the rover. This is much like the view from the driver's side of cars sold in the USA.

    The main purpose of Curiosity's MAHLI camera is to acquire close-up, high-resolution views of rocks and soil at the rover's Gale Crater field site. The camera is capable of focusing on any target at distances of about 0.8 inch (2.1 centimeters) to infinity. This means it can, as shown here, also obtain pictures of the Martian landscape. "
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