Mars Science Laboratory

[maxwelldash]

Landing was weird... there is no air there, thats how you land on Earth :))

[xnow13]

@maxwelldash Fortunately there was somehow "air" or "wind" 'cause there wont be sandstorm/dunestorm like what "spirit" and "opportunity" experienced

[kolleamm]

my house looks like Mars

[disneylandguy10]

Isn't it powered by some kind of nuclear reactor?

[JPLnews]

@disneylandguy10 Yes, the power source is a Radioisotope Thermal Generator or RTG, similar to those used on the Voyager and Cassini spacecraft. The RTG will enable Curiosity to operate year-round farther from the equator than would be possible with only solar power.

[xnow13]

@JPLnews I might be late but u said "RTG" or "Radioisotope Thermal Generator" This "Nuclear Reactor" can generate it's own power using heat from mars?? For all we know that mars is colder than earth as it is now and if not how will it generate it's own power like "Spirit" and "Opportunity" does (they produce power through solar stuff ryt?) and BTW that rover shoots at the rock are those lazors?

[TheCottonTop]

@disneylandguy10 I was the first one to bring that up.

[HumanTargetAus]

It's Quiet... Too Quiet

[Clarknipolo]

Mars lander an space from Mario from Mars man from Mars ;) Mario man of Mars

[khanman125]

im gald it is using RTG's for power....what flexibility those power systems allow for

[jeromeyward]

I"m going to have to make sure I take a vacation day from work when this lands. I watched Pathfinder, both MER's, and Phoenix land live on Nasa TV. The one I missed was Mars Polar Lander. I must be good luck, every mission I watch live succeeds, and the ones I miss seem to always fail.

[JPLnews]

Komojo is right, the airbag landing system worked well for smaller vehicles (e.g., the Sojourner rover on Pathfinder and the two Mars Exploration Rovers) but MSL is too heavy. The Phoenix lander was also too heavy for the airbag system and landed beautifully using retro rockets.

[xfvkemosx]

why not have both airbag landings and this

[57384291]

i like this system but there can be a problem

what if the the machine holding the rover by mistake drops is from 30 ft above? that will be a loss of $2 billion. The airbag system was better.

[Attilaakiraly]

pretty nice and all but martians must have a toy robot collection by now... "ooo theres a nother one! this'll go as little jacks' present! aren't earthlings just nice?"

[simontist]

That is sooo much better than the stupid balloon thing.

[barackson]

thank you nasa for showing us the buildings on mars,i saw two buildings one of them look like a dam throwing water

[Kenjineering]

This landing process seems more complicated than previous landings.

Adding complexity increases the risk of things going wrong. I would love to see what reasoning has gone into changing the landing method.

[Ratznium]

Dangling the lander itself from that hub seems to be a sensible way of reducing the impact force - especially for delicate equipment onboard the lander craft.

It's possible too that the hub could act as a relay station or have some other ancillary purpose.

[Kenjineering]

Yeah I agree, thanks for the reply.

[Komojo]

There's a maximum weight limit to airbag landings, and the Mars Exploration Rovers were just barely below that limit. MSL is significantly larger, so that method won't work.

[TableWolfMusic]

Wow, it has vertical intake jets like a harrier jumpjet. It has a laser gun on it and it is a dentist. A martian rock's worst nightmare!

[lazermaniac]

The camera angles from the first minute or so really reminded me of the Mako drop sequences in Mass Effect.

[Pwnzerfaustz56]

I'm glad my tax dollars are paying for awesome shit like this

[darkmaxuy]

LOL agreed xDDD

[woody43526]

reminds me of wall e

only more intelligent

[Raymond66Revalee]

nice

[TczewTV]

Szkoda że zbytnio nie znam angielskiego, ale powiem że świetnie wykonana animacja :)

Życzę powodzenia! :)

[gucker07]

The landing method is so cool! They couldn't use airbags this time (as with the two smaller rovers already on Mars) because this one is so much bigger. It's the size of a small car actually.

[cassiomaffia]

enough with the slow wheel based robots, we need a robot that can hover around Mars so it can travel longer distances, we are not going to find anything interesting crawling around on Mars.

[gucker07]

Uhm, we already have found a lot of inteesting stuff while crawling around on Mars (water anyone?). Please keep your mouth shut if you don't know what you're talking about (you have probably heard that before).

[cassiomaffia]

you are an idiot because the water on Mars was not confirmed until we sent Phoenix in, which was NOT a wheel based rover, so you shut your fucking dumb mouth. go learn to spell before you start to type you dumb shit.

[gucker07]

My spelling is just fine, thank you. You might want to work on your anger management though.

Water was confirmed long before Phoenix. Fact. Do your howework and stop talking out of your ass.

[Boy75402]

True story. People keep forgetting that water has been known on Mars for quite some time before Phoenix. Phoenix was great because it went there and sampled it.

[cassiomaffia]

Water was NOT confirmed before Phoenix, you know why? Because nothing had yet sampled the actual material you moron, that's science 101. No matter how good the theory seems based on observation and calculation, unless you actually test the sample of that you are claiming, in this case water, you cant confirm shit!! :) ......

[cassiomaffia]

... Do you even know what the word "confirmed" means in science? Since you probably only have a high school education at best from your level of ignorance, i would say the answer is probably no, but "confirmed" in science is sacred because it means that the theory in question has actually been backed up by results in a laboratory, in some cases by many different scientists....

[cassiomaffia]

...I would be willing to bet anything that you cant find 1 true scientist that would agree with you that water had been "confirmed" before Phoenix. Go back to Community College and start over.

[gucker07]

LOL, you're so ignorant and arrogant at the same time. It's the worst combination! xD

Of course water had been confirmed long before Phoenix, do your homework, moron. Google Mars Express. It *confirmed* (actually you're the one who doesn't have a clue what that means) water in the polar cap long ago. Now please fuck off.

[cassiomaffia]

nope, you are still wrong, sorry dumb shit, nothing can be confirmed unless you can sample the actual data, how many times am i gonna have to teach you that? Go to your local community college and take some entry level science classes, they'll get you going, i dont have time for dumb fucks like you.

[gucker07]

LOL, stop embarrassing yourself already! I guess you think you know better than NASA and ESA, huh? (they said Mars Express comfirmed it and you just have no clue what you're talking about) How fucked up you are! xD

[TRKoneAD2]

Interesting

[digitalimpulse]

With BSG & Terminator getting hype I'm amazed people still think giving nuclear powered robots their own planet is a good thing. :P

[Edsan91]

Nevertheless, I heard that they are about to send another to help fix this one, and with better technology it will be much easier to research.

[Edsan91]

Nevermind this is an old rover lol. This over is already over there in mars. Everyday its doing its daily research. They should send another. And it is powered by solar they are just hidden. You can tell in the animation becuase it lowers its lenses to conserve energy. I though it was new. Well hope they send another rover. Also this rover has its right wheel in the front damaged. Nasa has been having trouble trying to move around. But they found a way to move around.

[imarchello]

it's not even launched...

[gucker07]

@Edsan

You're wrong. This is a new rover, it will be nuclear powered (the two smaller rovers are solar powered) and it has not yet been launched.

[Edsan91]

Ive always been fascinated by Nasa and its missions. I am amazed that they are sending another robot. I can't wait till they land it. I wonder what this rover is for though, Anyone have any idea? Or is it an old rover, but they put the video to show people who haven't seen it? Whatever the case its awesome. Also they are using nuclear huh? How thats that work? How long does it last? Congrats to nasa for their work, Although I wish they were more honest, not paintbrushing photos.

[digitalimpulse]

More robots.. Any idea when a human will ever get there?

[hyhhy]

I have the impression that the earliest plans are for the 2030s. As far as I know, the 2020s is supposed to be spent on Moon for human explorers, and the next 10 years from now to prepare for that.

[dustynbones]

Where's it's solar panels with it's own ability to clean it's own solar panels off?

[redstone1963]

dustybones, This rover is nuclear powered enabling it to conduct science day or night.

[dustynbones]

Nuclear powered ... Well it's about time.

We should have already been colonizing Europa's oceans over a thousand years ago if they never destroyed the Great Library of Alexandria.