"Curiosity" lands on Mars tonight 10:30pm PDT televised

Ray Bradbury Forums

This topic can be found at:
https://raybradburyboard.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3791083901/m/5347022816

05 August 2012, 06:21 PM

fanboy

"Curiosity" lands on Mars tonight 10:30pm PDT televised

The landing of Curiosity on Mars will be televised on Nasa TV tonight at 10:30 PDT.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html

I need to find out if it's going to be live online, too.

Too bad Ray isn't here to see it, he would have loved this, would have been glued to the TV, no doubt.

They are trying to land a full sized car in a low spot where water could be, and we all know the importance of water to the future colonization of Mars, which Ray passionately believed in.

05 August 2012, 06:23 PM

fanboy

Here is a link to an L.A. Times, it will be live on youtube, UStream, and the nasa.gov website.

http://www.latimes.com/enterta...0803,0,1402564.story

05 August 2012, 10:49 PM

Linnl

Ecstatic. Looks fantastic. Congrats to the whole mission team.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

05 August 2012, 11:14 PM

Mike Langford

Curiosity is on Mars! The first picture from the surface, moments after landing, showed a wheel on the Martian soil. The second photo showed Curiosity's own shadow on the surface.

Ray, we are all Martians once again and evermore!

Aside from the excitement of the landing itself, I think Ray would have especially loved these three things. First, the superstitious traditional passing of the jar of peanuts at the JPL control center in Pasadena. Second, the frequent reports of "heartbeat tones" coming from the lander (which made me think of a room full of intense doctors, carefully delivering a Martian child). And third, the wonderfully unbridled emotions and jubilant celebrations of the JPL controllers.

Emotionless technologists? I think not!

06 August 2012, 01:47 AM

dandelion

Congratulations to Ray and the human race. Great work!

06 August 2012, 05:23 PM

jkt

quote:
Originally posted by jkt:
quote:
Too bad Ray isn't here to see it, he would have loved this, would have been glued to the TV, no doubt.

Ray would have had to make a hard decision as to where he wanted to be, either at JPL in the control room observation area or at the Planetary Society event with Bill Nye the Science Guy or with his buddy Leonard Nimoy at the Griffith Park Observatory.

06 August 2012, 09:10 PM

fanboy

Thanks, jkt, I forgot for a moment that Ray had access to all those places!

It was wonderful to see the first picture that came through showed the wheel safely resting on Martian soil.

11 August 2012, 03:32 AM

philnic

In case anyone was wondering about reasons for going into space, here's a nice 1970 letter written by Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger:

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2...y-explore-space.html

(Of course, Ray said it more simply: we go to Mars in order to LIVE FOREVER!)

11 August 2012, 07:14 PM

dandelion

quote:
Originally posted by jkt:

Ray would have had to make a hard decision as to where he wanted to be, either at JPL in the control room observation area or at the Planetary Society event with Bill Nye the Science Guy or with his buddy Leonard Nimoy at the Griffith Park Observatory.

Since word has it things on the other side are simultaneous, perhaps he could be at both, though personally I like to think he observed from Mars.

16 August 2012, 12:36 AM

philnic

Ylla, Muhe Ca, Mr Ttt... come out, come out, wherever you are...

http://www.360pano.eu/show/?id=731

23 August 2012, 07:43 PM

fjp451

In HD!!
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/si...me-hd-224131860.html

What might Curiosity find as it ventures away from Bradbury Landing??

23 August 2012, 08:03 PM

Linnl

quote:
Originally posted by fjp451:
What might Curiosity find as it ventures away from Bradbury Landing??

Perhaps a few fire balloons...

If not, I can't help thinking The Old Ones are watching...and somehow, smiling.