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Mars Rover/Mission Thread: Following Our Curiosity


Sharpshooter

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NASA's Curiosity Rover Caught in the Act Landing

PASADENA, Calif. - An image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance orbiter captured the Curiosity rover still connected to its 51-foot-wide (almost 16 meter) parachute as it descended towards its landing site at Gale Crater.

"If HiRISE took the image one second before or one second after, we probably would be looking at an empty Martian landscape," said Sarah Milkovich, HiRISE investigation scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "When you consider that we have been working on this sequence since March and had to upload commands to the spacecraft about 72 hours prior to the image being taken, you begin to realize how challenging this picture was to obtain."

The image of Curiosity on its parachute can be found at:

http://www.nasa.gov/.../pia15978b.html

The image was taken while MRO was 211 miles (340 kilometers) away from the parachuting rover. Curiosity and its rocket-propelled backpack, contained within the conical-shaped back shell, had yet to be deployed. At the time, Curiosity was about two miles (three kilometers) above the Martian surface.

"Guess you could consider us the closest thing to paparazzi on Mars," said Milkovich. "We definitely caught NASA's newest celebrity in the act."

Curiosity, NASA's latest contribution to the Martian landscape, landed at 10:32 p.m. Aug. 5, PDT, (1:32 on Aug. 6, EDT) near the foot of a mountain three miles tall inside Gale Crater, 96 miles in diameter.

673734main_PIA15978-43_516-387.jpg

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Along with the talk of "afford" and Sharpshooter's paraphrased rant of "however much it costs".

I'm only following your discussion of the economics of it, because you mentioned it. If you don't want to discuss that part, don't mention it. Let common sense be your warning, rather than trying to mute others because they don't share your opinion. You should have warned yourself but I doubt introspective criticism will be part of your rant. :)

Also, if you don't want to discuss, don't reply and discuss. I have a feeling you'll conveniently ignore this too for something far more melodramatic.

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I replied to your post which was on the subject, you're attacking me as a poster..

Where is your 'friendly' warning to yourself about personal attacks? Oh right, Sharpshooter doesn't need to heed any type of advice in this fashion.

Hypocrisy 101.

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I haven't seen the humanity advancement portion of this yet (going back to previous events on Mars) that merits the cost to taxpayers when they in most countries, particularly US and Canada, can't afford it and are paying on their government credit cards for billions in fun and exploration. If honesty on the subject to you equals nothing of affordability that's fine, but not much different than Sharpshooter's "if you don't share my opinion, shut up".

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No, you just don't want to pay for it because in your limited scope you don't see the merits. This has nothing to do with affordability.

"Going back to previous events on Mars", while Sharp's comment was toward future manned exploration, presumably with the goal of making humanity interplanetary. It's no wonder you don't see the merits.

I wonder, what is more important than working on ensuring humanity ins't wiped out in a single act of galactic indifference?

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As soon as they find one I'm volunteering to be a colonist.

space exploration is great. I feel lucky that I am around to see these kind of achievments. NASA did a great job making this so public, I loved the fact that I could watch the whole thing on my xbox, with the simulation running on my computer. I felt like part of the NASA team.

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