"Come at me bro"

It's time once again for NASA's favorite game: Feet Or Meters!

Is it me, or does it look like the landing system was designed by Rube Goldberg? Hope it works.

"Now...again...which way is 'ON' and which is 'OFF'?'

Don't worry buddy... we're coming for you.

/full thing is suddenly too big. :-(

The boyfriend has hardware on MSL and he is TERRIFIED.

I'm excited I get to party at caltech for my birthday.

Cool, I forgot about this. That's the nice thing about space missions. They're a surprise when they get to where they were going.

Mike

I'll be watching the live stream again, as I did with the previous two rovers - and maybe with an audience at the Chabot Space and Science Center planetarium, as I did for the Deep Impact mission, if they're offering the chance (although the touch-down is happening at something like 4am here).

/Remembers getting goosebumps when Opportunity opened its eyes and saw it had landed in a crater with exposed bedrock
//that was completely farking awesome in the true sense of the word

Curiosity rover? I thought they repealed DADT. Just say it homosexual. It's a gay robot and it's beautiful and there's nothing wrong with that.

olddeegee

Is it me, or does it look like the landing system was designed by Rube Goldberg? Hope it works.

I like the part where the landing sequence is initiated by a rolling egg falling into a spoon.

Did I do a good job? Do I get to come home? ...guys?

noit: Curiosity rover?...

I'm gonna be recording this son of a biatch.

One step closer to human visits.

Prickly Pete: Cool, I forgot about this. That's the nice thing about space missions. They're a surprise when they get to where they were going.

Freaks the hell outta the Martians, too. One of these days, they're gonna throw something back...

rhiannon

Prickly Pete: Cool, I forgot about this. That's the nice thing about space missions. They're a surprise when they get to where they were going.

Freaks the hell outta the Martians, too. One of these days, they're gonna throw something back...

The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one.

studebaker hoch:

The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one.

So,,,, you are saying there is a chance?



//double hot pic

Million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten.

studebaker hoch: The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one.



/concurs

I'm skeptical that the landing system will operate as intended. They didn't even test the thing here on Earth IIRC.

m1ke: I'm skeptical that the landing system will operate as intended. They didn't even test the thing here on Earth IIRC.

They didn't??!! I woulda thought they they tested that operation umpteen + 1 times given how complex it is. Guess we'll see how well the simulations hold up in 3 months.

They can't do a full test of the landing system because it isn't designed to land on Earth. Too much gravity here.

Same reason they couldn't flight-test the Apollo lunar lander. It can't lift it's own weight here.

All they can do is run the engine in a vacuum chamber and see how it performs, read load cells, do a million other calculations and tests, and say "it meets the specs".

But isn't until they arrive at Mars that they'll know if it works.

/There's a metric assload of peer-review on that thing, my guess is it will be fine.

must remember to get booze for Landing Day.

either to celebrate or drown sorrows.