rockyroller
Guru
- Location
- 20 miles northwest of Boston, MA
Perseverance
- Thread starter C R
- Start date
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The descent speeds were being read in m/s
lazybloke
Considering a new username
- Location
- Leafy Surrey
I'm the space-nerd in this household but managed to get the entire family watching the livestream. Fantastic stuff!
I've closely followed all Mars landings since I was introduced by an American friend to a Nasa high achiever who "worked in payloads". She was a fascinating person, absolutely lit up an evening in an otherwise drab pub in Shoreham by talking about the recently launched Pathfinder mission.
Pathfinder touched down a few months later, July 1997, and successfully deployed Sojourner - the first rover to explore Mars.
I've closely followed all Mars landings since I was introduced by an American friend to a Nasa high achiever who "worked in payloads". She was a fascinating person, absolutely lit up an evening in an otherwise drab pub in Shoreham by talking about the recently launched Pathfinder mission.
Pathfinder touched down a few months later, July 1997, and successfully deployed Sojourner - the first rover to explore Mars.
I missed it all, sadly, but a fantastic achievement. I look forward to seeing the photos and the scientific breakthroughs we get from it.
Skycrane landings on Mars are now proven technology but you'd have thought that there are other techniques that would be less likely to fail than trying to fire up a rocket motor after half a year in deep space.
It's a bit trite to say, but Mars is the only planet in the universe known to be inhabited solely by active robots.
Personally, I'd rather we as a species spent time, money and expertise exploring Enceladus. An otherwise perfectly normal, small, unremarkable, icy planetoid orbiting Saturn that also happens to have multiple vast cryovolcanic vents over the south pole that lead directly to BRINY HELL.
Skycrane landings on Mars are now proven technology but you'd have thought that there are other techniques that would be less likely to fail than trying to fire up a rocket motor after half a year in deep space.
It's a bit trite to say, but Mars is the only planet in the universe known to be inhabited solely by active robots.
Personally, I'd rather we as a species spent time, money and expertise exploring Enceladus. An otherwise perfectly normal, small, unremarkable, icy planetoid orbiting Saturn that also happens to have multiple vast cryovolcanic vents over the south pole that lead directly to BRINY HELL.
The Crofted Crest
Veteran
matticus
Guru
Enceladus does look cool! But you can't have your cake and eat it:
sure, criticise the elaborate sky-crane - but then propose missions to SATURN?!?
gavroche
Getting old but not past it
- Location
- North Wales
May I mention that using the term " live" is not strictly true? By the time we see any pictures or any transmission from the spacecraft, it is already 14 minutes later as it takes that long to reach planet earth, so nothing is actually "live" in space from earth.
winjim
Smash the cistern
By that logic nothing is live anywhere ever. It takes a non-zero amount of time for signals to travel any distance. And it sort of depends on your perception of how time works.
lazybloke
Considering a new username
- Location
- Leafy Surrey
Not for me, I've evolved to a being of pure thought, free of physical constraints. How quaint that some people still experience time.
The Crofted Crest
Veteran
Serious question, why weren't there live images of the landing instead of CGI? JPL was getting a constant stream of data and instrument readings and with some 25 state-of-the-art cameras onboard, I had expected at least one of them to be working. When Apollo 11 went to the moon there were live piccies of the actual descent and touchdown. 51 years of technological advance later and we get cartoons!
To remove any doubt, I am not a scientist.
To remove any doubt, I am not a scientist.
matticus
Guru
Should I reply to this? I don't even know if the internet is still there as I type this. When it reaches gavroche he will be thousands of miles from his location when he wrote his.
Should I check on the lightbulb in here? I don't know if it's working - it was working when the photons left it, the ones I'm seeing now. But that was an age ago. I *do* know the sun came up today. But those photons take minutes ... the sun could be all explody as I type this
matticus
Guru
You are Dr Manhattan and I claim my ... etc ... etc ...
Sea of vapours
Guru
- Location
- Clapham, Yorkshire Dales
This Forbes article is pretty good at explaining the 'Why no live video during EDL?' question:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiec...pping-plans-for-laser-tv-from-the-red-planet/
In summary: the data rate would be very low. That's the primary issue. There is a future, solution to this though, covered in the article and involving lasers.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiec...pping-plans-for-laser-tv-from-the-red-planet/
In summary: the data rate would be very low. That's the primary issue. There is a future, solution to this though, covered in the article and involving lasers.