Mars Rover

[Dr_Totenkopf]

Well tonight's the night the new Curiosity rover is landing or crashing tonight. We won't get good photos for almost a week I think. We will get pics off the hazard cameras, and a 20fps video of the landing.

 

[Trever1t]

I am proud to say something I helped manufacture is on that lander

 

[Dr_Totenkopf]

I am proud to say something I helped manufacture is on that lander

Sweet what did you make?

 

[Trever1t]

Coated. 2 items, a collection 'box' and lid. The box was a small round, perforated unit that will allow smaller samples fall through and had a total of 14 process steps. The lid had 16. As I was told by NASA engineers, the assembly had to be coated in a manner that would allow retrieval in 10 years. Apparently we already have the technology to locate, recover from the surface and return to Earth......

 

[LizardKing]

Watching it live! We'll see what happens and then wait for the cool stuff

 

[Dr_Totenkopf]

Its landed and the first haz-cam pics are in, now we just have to see when they get posted.

 

[rexbobcat]

Well I'm glad it didn't crash considering the incredibly intricate landing procedure it had to go through (compared to the other two rovers)

 

[Dr_Totenkopf]

Here is the first pic via the rovers twitter feed. http://twitter.com/MarsCuriosity/status/232351189826678785/photo/1

 

[Dr_Totenkopf]

And the second...

https://p.twimg.com/Azl7LXOCUAAJT5z.jpg

 

[Dr_Totenkopf]

Coated. 2 items, a collection 'box' and lid. The box was a small round, perforated unit that will allow smaller samples fall through and had a total of 14 process steps. The lid had 16. As I was told by NASA engineers, the assembly had to be coated in a manner that would allow retrieval in 10 years. Apparently we already have the technology to locate, recover from the surface and return to Earth......

They may be banking on SpaceX's 2020 bet

 

[Ernicus]

Here is a great pic from it all.

Wall Photos | Facebook

 

[pgriz]

Kudos to the teams that built that rover, and to the navigators that got it there. Also to the QC and testing teams that obviously made sure that errant sign inversions and incorrect system unit conversions didn't imperil this mission. Very complex system.

@ Trever: hope your coatings work. The martian soil samples tend to clump and clog the analyzing equipment - and if Curiosity material samplers work as hoped, it will be a first.

 

[Trever1t]

I hope so too, it's all very exciting!. Last time I met with their engineers they told me the sad story of the Russian $2B project that died before it was able to leave Earth's orbit

 

[12sndsgood]

I'm just glad they remembered to take the lens cap off before it left earth.

 

[Trever1t]

Here is a great pic from it all.

Wall Photos | Facebook

OK, that's some funny chit right there, and nobody caught it!