Caledonian Craig Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 (edited) Anyone interested in space exploration? Tonight NASA look to land a sophisticated rover on Mars. It is the best equipped rover ever and even comes with its own helicopter (I kid you not). It is due to land at 8.55 pm (GMT). It will be covered live on Sky News and NASA TV channel on YouTube. Edited February 18, 2021 by Caledonian Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orraloon Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 phart beat you to it on the other thread. Probably deserves a thread of its own though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caledonian Craig Posted February 18, 2021 Author Share Posted February 18, 2021 5 minutes ago, Orraloon said: phart beat you to it on the other thread. Probably deserves a thread of its own though. Definitely does. It is an exciting mission that could see its samples recovered and returned to Earth in about a decade's times if all goes to plan with other launches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phart Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 Aye was going to make a thread too, but just put in the Dark side of moon one. I've just finished a Topic on "Life" on Mars as part of an Open University degree module i'm doing. If we can find evidence of life and it can be shown to have developed independently of Earth, then it is perhaps the biggest discovery made so far. If it can happen twice in one solar system independent of each other then the chances of it happening elsewhere considering the amount of opportunities increases so much. Sean Carroll has some great podcasts with astrobiologists and astronmers etc about these sort of things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caledonian Craig Posted February 18, 2021 Author Share Posted February 18, 2021 1 minute ago, phart said: Aye was going to make a thread too, but just put in the Dark side of moon one. I've just finished a Topic on "Life" on Mars as part of an Open University degree module i'm doing. If we can find evidence of life and it can be shown to have developed independently of Earth, then it is perhaps the biggest discovery made so far. If it can happen twice in one solar system independent of each other then the chances of it happening elsewhere considering the amount of opportunities increases so much. Sean Carroll has some great podcasts with astrobiologists and astronmers etc about these sort of things. Finding even evidence of past life on Mars would be immense. It would just really confirm that life is really quite abundant in space. Lots of new systems being used on this mission such as a new landing system and new experiments such as MOXIE which will check if it can convert gases into oxygen for future manned missions to Mars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phart Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 here's the timetable i posted in other thread. • Contact with atmosphere: 20:48 GMT (8:48 PM) • Parachute deployed: 20:52 GMT (8:52 PM) • Powered descent: 20:54 GMT (8:54 PM) • Wheels down: 20:55 GMT (8:55 PM) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caledonian Craig Posted February 18, 2021 Author Share Posted February 18, 2021 Yup saw that on several websites but great info to follow things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caledonian Craig Posted February 18, 2021 Author Share Posted February 18, 2021 I can imagine how nervous those in mission control must be just over 10 minutes away from entry into the Martian atmosphere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caledonian Craig Posted February 18, 2021 Author Share Posted February 18, 2021 Touchdown confirmed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phart Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 looking good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caledonian Craig Posted February 18, 2021 Author Share Posted February 18, 2021 Perseverance joins Curiosity on Mars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phart Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 transmitting images now as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caledonian Craig Posted February 18, 2021 Author Share Posted February 18, 2021 Gee whizz the first pictures already in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caledonian Craig Posted February 18, 2021 Author Share Posted February 18, 2021 And has Tweeted from Mars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 Considering the state of the world now does anyone else think these things are just a waste of a shit ton of money? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caledonian Craig Posted February 18, 2021 Author Share Posted February 18, 2021 5 minutes ago, Kirk said: Considering the state of the world now does anyone else think these things are just a waste of a shit ton of money? Eh? No. Sooner or later there will be a rock out there that will impact Earth and wipe out all life here. These types of missions are tiny steps towards mankind moving out into space and colonizing planets so that mankind does not become extinct in one fell swoop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Och Aye Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 6 minutes ago, Kirk said: Considering the state of the world now does anyone else think these things are just a waste of a shit ton of money? Absolutely not. We've dragged our heels in space exploration. The world will always need more money that'll never change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaundy Posted February 18, 2021 Share Posted February 18, 2021 Watched the last 10k descent on the beeb live feed . Wow. The deceleration, altitude monitor all to see. was it real dough ? 😬 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exile Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 (edited) Well I ballsed that up. Looked for the "live" feeds on the Sky/NASA channels and all I saw was (a) a dodgy image of Mars in the distance with a fake spacecraft pasted in the foreground, with red planet not visibly getting any closer after 15 minutes; and (b) live scenes from a half empty NASA control room with people making self-congratulatory small talk about nothing. Managed to miss any live feeds. Checked computer only to find it said they'd already touched down, but not a single image from the surface. Suppose it serves me right for trying to do other stuff at the same time. Edited February 19, 2021 by exile Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaundy Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Sorry mate . Had to laugh . Knew the proposed landing time and beeb along with the football had a live click that didn’t require the do you pay for our unionist bollox too. it was mainly cgi but real-time for the action. Well, as long as I could be bothered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Och Aye Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 (edited) Watched the reports on tv. Said to the family - Isn't that incredible! That's took off, got out of earth's atmosphere which takes so much energy, travelled 7 months then enters Mars atmosphere at an immense speed and manages to slow itself down to land with such delicate equipment including a helicopter/drone fitted with cameras. I think it's mind blowing that there's man made vehicles on this planet and also man made vehicles on another planet 7 months travel away! To which I got the reply of....Alright Brian Cox, calm doon 😕 Edited February 19, 2021 by Och Aye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty CTA Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 (edited) 11 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said: Anyone interested in space exploration? Tonight NASA look to land a sophisticated rover on Mars. It is the best equipped rover ever and even comes with its own helicopter (I kid you not). 10 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said: Definitely does. It is an exciting mission that could see its samples recovered and returned to Earth in about a decade's time if all goes to plan with other launches. 🤞 10 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said: Finding even evidence of past life on Mars would be immense. It would just really confirm that life is really quite abundant in space. Lots of new systems being used on this mission such as a new landing system and new experiments such as MOXIE which will check if it can convert gases into oxygen for future manned missions to Mars. 9 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said: I can imagine how nervous those in mission control must be just over 10 minutes away from entry into the Martian atmosphere. I was on pins and needles. 9 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said: Touchdown confirmed. 9 hours ago, phart said: transmitting images now as well. 8 hours ago, Kirk said: Considering the state of the world now does anyone else think these things are just a waste of a shit ton of money? How can anyone say that NASA having a daily budget of $52,000,000 in return for CGI is a waste of money? 8 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said: Sooner or later there will be a rock out there that will impact Earth and wipe out all life here. These types of missions are tiny steps towards mankind moving out into space and colonizing planets so that mankind does not become extinct in one fell swoop. Lets be honest... It'd be for the best. 6 hours ago, Shaundy said: Watched the last 10k descent on the beeb live feed . Wow. The deceleration, altitude monitor all to see. Was it real though? 😬 Steady. 5 hours ago, Shaundy said: It was mainly cgi... But that's all the sheeple need. Edited February 19, 2021 by Scotty CTA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phart Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 9 hours ago, Kirk said: Considering the state of the world now does anyone else think these things are just a waste of a shit ton of money? I personally don't, although the "state of the world" isn't a function of a lack of money there's plenty of money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phart Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Scotty you talk about sheep when you're a member of the largest flock in modern human history all following a shepherd no one has ever seen let alone a CGI copy. Following words written by a council of humans who could barely work out the area of a triangle who weren't born when the subject they wrote about was alive in a language you don't understand, which was then translated into a language you don't understand. All this while availing yourself of the benefits modern science and it's methods have provided you, the same laws that govern flight,the internet , modern medicine, technology , super conductors a phone etc. There's a reason you believed the April fools joke that there was a dinosaur found in South America and it wasn't cause the folk following space missions were sheep, the reason was a lot closer to home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caledonian Craig Posted February 19, 2021 Author Share Posted February 19, 2021 Scotty can I kindly request you delete your pishy post and take it onto your own personal thread. There's a good lad eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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