http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/21/giant-mars-rover-set-for-launch-saturday/?hpt=hp_t3

Quote:

NASA’s biggest and most advanced Mars rover is scheduled for launch Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Curiosity is packed with 10 science experiments to determine whether Mars has ever been suitable for life and to find clues about past life forms that may have been preserved in rocks. NASA says Curiosity won’t answer the age-old questions about life on Mars, but it will provide important information that will guide future missions. The launch was originally scheduled for Friday, but the mission team will take an extra day to remove and replace a flight termination system battery, NASA said. Curiosity is expected to spend about two years roaming Mars, hunting things researchers say are essential for life to grow: liquid water, key chemicals used by living organisms and an energy source. The rover will blast off Saturday atop an Atlas V rocket and is scheduled to land in August 2012 in the Gale Crater. The first opportunity for launch is 10:02 a.m. EST; the window lasts an hour and 43 minutes. If the launch is postponed, NASA has until December 18 to get the spacecraft off the ground. Curiosity is twice as long and five times as heavy as the older Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. Its science instruments weigh 15 times as much as its predecessors' science payloads

And a pic of the vehicle:
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?Category=Top10&IM_ID=12023

Yes, a momentous occasion. Here's the launch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-LudR2pQyU

- and the planned landing is a bit ambitious too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KLxmGLZQSY&feature=related

Thanks Muso,
great videos.
This will be an exciting mission if it lands without incident.

There is one thing that is not on it - a microscope to detect microbes or bacteria.
I wonder why, as  that would be an obvious choice of equipment?

Bobby. wrote on Nov 27^th, 2011 at 10:01am:

Thanks Muso, great videos. This will be an exciting mission if it lands without incident. There is one thing that is not on it - a microscope to detect microbes or bacteria. I wonder why, as  that would be an obvious choice of equipment?

If it came with a drilling rig, I'd possibly agree, but on the surface of Mars? nah - too hostile an environment.

muso wrote on Nov 27^th, 2011 at 10:20am:

Bobby. wrote on Nov 27th, 2011 at 10:01am: Thanks Muso, great videos. This will be an exciting mission if it lands without incident. There is one thing that is not on it - a microscope to detect microbes or bacteria. I wonder why, as  that would be an obvious choice of equipment? If it came with a drilling rig, I'd possibly agree, but on the surface of Mars? nah - too hostile an environment.

Yes - you could be right.
I bet scientists would love to have a giant drilling rig on Mars
& bring up samples from deep beneath it's soil to fully test?
I reada  theory once that says it may be a fact that there were oceans on Mars
which froze over & then became covered in dust.
We see them now as large flat areas.
If that's the case there may be bacteria down deep in the ground
in the same way we find bacteria living without sunlight deep in the Earth here.

Metal on the Plains of Mars
Image Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, JPL, NASA
Explanation: What has the Opportunity rover found on Mars? While traversing a vast empty plain in 2005 in Meridiani Planum, one of Earth's rolling robots on Mars found a surprise when visiting the location of its own metallic heat shield discarded last year during descent. The surprise is the rock visible on the lower left, found to be made mostly of dense metals iron and nickel. The large cone-shaped object behind it -- and the flank piece on the right -- are parts of Opportunity's jettisoned heat shield. Smaller shield debris is also visible. Scientists do not think that the basketball-sized metal "Heat Shield Rock" originated on Mars, but rather is likely an ancient metallic meteorite. In hindsight, finding a meteorite in a vast empty dust plain on Mars might be considered similar to Earth meteorites found on the vast empty ice plains of Antarctica. The finding raises speculations about the general abundance of rocks on Mars that have fallen there from outer space.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1107/rockshield_opportunity_1024.jpg

:D

Glad you explained that -

Light would have said it was a "galactic federation of light" crashed spacecraft.

We all just have to wait 'till August 2012.

Bobby. wrote on Nov 27^th, 2011 at 7:19pm:

Glad you explained that - Light would have said it was a "galactic federation of light" crashed spacecraft.

LOL Bobby...The 'galactic federation of light' ships don't crash.....

I wanna see some pictures of the insides of Jupiter and that...


Have they got them??   :-? :-? ;)

Another curious fact of the rover's is that they are built with the camera at eye level... so that we get a human view of the planet.

BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on Nov 28^th, 2011 at 9:20pm:

I wanna see some pictures of the insides of Jupiter and that... Have they got them??   :-? :-? ;)

INSIDE of Jupiter???

I don't think they've ever tried that...The pressure (and or temperature) might be too high for a probe to last long enough...

Another good thing is that it won't have dust problems blocking
solar panels from getting light:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/news/mer-20090212.html


It has a nuclear battery.

Bobby. wrote on Nov 28^th, 2011 at 11:14pm:

Another good thing is that it won't have dust problems blocking solar panels from getting light: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/news/mer-20090212.html It has a nuclear battery.

Yeah, makes you wonder why that technology isn't used in heavy transport on Earth, doesn't it???

gizmo_2655 wrote on Nov 28^th, 2011 at 11:16pm:

Bobby. wrote on Nov 28th, 2011 at 11:14pm: Another good thing is that it won't have dust problems blocking solar panels from getting light: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/news/mer-20090212.html It has a nuclear battery. Yeah, makes you wonder why that technology isn't used in heavy transport on Earth, doesn't it???

A plutonium battery is too dangerous to be used by Tom Dick & Harry.

I've been following this forum for years:

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/

Some of the rover drivers and researchers post there too. Some amazing pictures through the years.I'll post as a link because it's a huge picture:

http://www.db-prods.net/marsroversimages/Opportunity/2011/Sol2785-pancam.jpg

You notice the stained bit in the centre? That's caused by spending too much time at the heatshield site shown earlier. Some of the dust blew off and got in one of the Pancam lenses.

muso wrote on Nov 29^th, 2011 at 6:49am:

I've been following this forum for years: http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/ Some of the rover drivers and researchers post there too. Some amazing pictures through the years.I'll post as a link because it's a huge picture: http://www.db-prods.net/marsroversimages/Opportunity/2011/Sol2785-pancam.jpg You notice the stained bit in the centre? That's caused by spending too much time at the heatshield site shown earlier. Some of the dust blew off and got in one of the Pancam lenses.

Thanks Muso - I am very interested in all the Mars missions.
I only wished we spent more money on it instead of wars.

Just think, Bobby. If we sort Mars out, we can send all the homosexuals there!

;)

Annie Anthrax wrote on Nov 29^th, 2011 at 10:11pm:

Just think, Bobby. If we sort Mars out, we can send all the homosexuals there! ;)

Very funny Annie - you know something? -
if you're good looking you may have a chance with me.  ;D

P.S. - no makeup, fancy clothes or boob jobs allowed.  ;)

gizmo_2655 wrote on Nov 28^th, 2011 at 10:56pm:

BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on Nov 28th, 2011 at 9:20pm: I wanna see some pictures of the insides of Jupiter and that... Have they got them??   :-? :-? ;) INSIDE of Jupiter??? I don't think they've ever tried that...The pressure (and or temperature) might be too high for a probe to last long enough...

True but it may,... I'm just making this up on the spot RIGHT NOW(YEH, TALK ABOUT EXCITED WHERE'S MY BOURBON DAMN I SAID I'D GET OFF THAT UMBILICAL CHORD!), prove the perfect ground to experiment with materials !!

Yeh.... yeHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

 :o :o :o :o ;) make for some sweet youtube in the very least!!!

BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on Nov 30^th, 2011 at 11:52am:

gizmo_2655 wrote on Nov 28th, 2011 at 10:56pm: BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on Nov 28th, 2011 at 9:20pm: I wanna see some pictures of the insides of Jupiter and that... Have they got them??   :-? :-? ;) INSIDE of Jupiter??? I don't think they've ever tried that...The pressure (and or temperature) might be too high for a probe to last long enough... True but it may,... I'm just making this up on the spot RIGHT NOW(YEH, TALK ABOUT EXCITED WHERE'S MY BOURBON DAMN I SAID I'D GET OFF THAT UMBILICAL CHORD!), prove the perfect ground to experiment with materials !! Yeh.... yeHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!  :o :o :o :o ;) make for some sweet youtube in the very least!!!

Yeah, maybe...but NASA would never get funding...
The only reason the Mars probes get sent is because it's the place they're thinking about sending people...

gizmo_2655 wrote on Nov 30^th, 2011 at 11:58am:

BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on Nov 30th, 2011 at 11:52am: gizmo_2655 wrote on Nov 28th, 2011 at 10:56pm: BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on Nov 28th, 2011 at 9:20pm: I wanna see some pictures of the insides of Jupiter and that... Have they got them??   :-? :-? ;) INSIDE of Jupiter??? I don't think they've ever tried that...The pressure (and or temperature) might be too high for a probe to last long enough... True but it may,... I'm just making this up on the spot RIGHT NOW(YEH, TALK ABOUT EXCITED WHERE'S MY BOURBON DAMN I SAID I'D GET OFF THAT UMBILICAL CHORD!), prove the perfect ground to experiment with materials !! Yeh.... yeHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!  :o :o :o :o ;) make for some sweet youtube in the very least!!! Yeah, maybe...but NASA would never get funding... The only reason the Mars probes get sent is because it's the place they're thinking about sending people...

D'oooooooooooooooooooooooooH!!!  ;)

Annie Anthrax wrote on Nov 29^th, 2011 at 10:11pm:

Just think, Bobby. If we sort Mars out, we can send all the homosexuals there! ;)

Mmmm, that idea has merit. :)
I can see you have been giving this alot of thought Annie.

chicken_lipsforme wrote on Nov 30^th, 2011 at 12:09pm:

Annie Anthrax wrote on Nov 29th, 2011 at 10:11pm: Just think, Bobby. If we sort Mars out, we can send all the homosexuals there! ;) Mmmm, that idea has merit. :) I can see you have been giving this alot of thought Annie.

Why does every thread - even technical ones -
end up about peter puffers?
Is Ozpolitics a gay site?

Annie Anthrax wrote on Nov 29^th, 2011 at 10:11pm:

Just think, Bobby. If we sort Mars out, we can send all the homosexuals there! ;)

Well, you'd have to send them to the best locations Send the Lesbians to Amazonis Planitia or even Valles Marineris to eke out an existence in the cracks of Mars.

The gays might prefer the Tharsis Bulge.

Of course Uranus might be preferable to  Mars for them.  ;D