Mars Rover "Curiosity" Landing tonight

[Monoriu]

Congrats 

[Ed Anger]

Everybody notice how much better science threads are better without Timmay?

[Syt]

Everybody notice how much better science threads are better without Timmay?

Grammar isn't, though.

[Admiral Yi]

PRAWNED 

[Caliga]

Monstrous.

[Martim Silva]

Well, it's one step further to explore this Solar System, anyway. Well done.

That said, and really not wanting to take anything out of this achievement... isn't this rather similar to the Viking missions? Or am I getting too old? 

[The Brain]

Well, it's one step further to explore this Solar System, anyway. Well done.

That said, and really not wanting to take anything out of this achievement... isn't this rather similar to the Viking missions? Or am I getting too old? 

Kids today don't know that there once was a time when humanity planned to travel into the solar system. So putting a gadget on Mars is a huge thing to them.

[Faeelin]

Kids today don't know that there once was a time when humanity planned to travel into the solar system. So putting a gadget on Mars is a huge thing to them.

I know, Von Braun thought we'd land a man on Mars in the 2050s and it hasn't happened yet.

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2012/07/wernher-von-brauns-martian-chronicles/

What a crock.

[Josquius]

How is this the first full fledged science laboratory? Whats it plan to do the earlier ones didn't?

I'd be all over this 10 years back. Now I struggle to care.

[Grey Fox]

How is this the first full fledged science laboratory? Whats it plan to do the earlier ones didn't?

I'd be all over this 10 years back. Now I struggle to care.

The other are small robots. This is one is the size of a Mini.

Figure it out.

[Tamas]

yeah and they like, floated a crane in the air long enough so it could gently-enough place the robot on the surface from it's flying platform.

[grumbler]

How is this the first full fledged science laboratory? Whats it plan to do the earlier ones didn't?

This one is designed to analyze the rock specimens it collects to determine their chemical makeup and, in particular, to search for trace elements that will tell scientists more about Mar's atmospheric past.  It also is deigned to detect signs that there is, or was, life on Mars.

Previous rovers were pretty much photo-recon jobs, without much chemical analysis capability (I think that had just a single crude analysis kit, compared to the 5 sophisticated ones on Curiosity).

[Syt]

IIRC Viking also had a few soil analysis tests in its program, but they were pretty crude by modern standards as grumbler says. Viking was also stationary, not a rover, if I remember correctly?

[mongers]

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter managed to take a snap of Curiosity as it made it's way down to the surface:

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19150849



How cool is that. 


I'm really hoping this mission achieves all of it's planned scientific experiments.

Well done NASA; after the successful landing it was interesting how the organisations big-wigs muscled in on the press conference, it if had failed or been a more problematic, I doubt you'd have seen them for dust. 

[CountDeMoney]

Well done NASA; after the successful landing it was interesting how the organisations big-wigs muscled in on the press conference, it if had failed or been a more problematic, I doubt you'd have seen them for dust.

Yeah, no additional pressure needed in the mission control room, right?