Opportunity rover arrive at mars

[Tassadar]

NASA's second Mars Exploration Rover reached the surface of the Red Planet at about 12:05 a.m. EST (0505 GMT) tonight. Flight controllers reported a strong signal from the the Opportunity rover after its touched down at Meridiani Planum, a smooth, flat plain near the Martian equator.

Link:http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/status.html


why not double the chance at double cost

 

[Sims2789]

yeah!

 

[Tassadar]

Those martien attacked on 2 front will surely get overwhelm by our preemtive attack..... errrr at pooking at them.

 

[Strider]

Hopefully this one doesn't mal-function.

 

[TrailblazingScot]

Originally posted by Strider
Hopefully this one doesn't mal-function.

Hopefully it does malfunction, with hilarious consequences

 

[Strider]

Originally posted by kittenOFchaos


Hopefully it does malfunction, with hilarious consequences

And spend some more money on fixing a damn thing that is suppose to just look at a rock? No, I'll like my tax dollars spent on something better.

 

[marshal zhukov]

The Europeans should spend more money on Space Exploration, I Brazil had enough tax money to provise the basics for its people and have something left for Space Programs.

During Soviet times Space Exploratin received bigger budgets, from both the US and Russia. Now the Soviets republics are so poor that the competition ended. I hope China replaces the Soviets in the Space Race soon.

 

[Singularity]

@marshal zhukov

Agreed. I would love to see Europe use existing scientific resources in Russia to build a new space agency with both the know how and the funds to make things happen.

Edit: I was a bit off in my wording. Europe should cooperate with Russias space agency, not use it

 

[Goober]

If there is a 3in1 chance that a rover will successfully land on Mars, then why did the US only send 2 rovers? I really like seeing the pics that the rovers send back, they are very cool. I wouldn't be surprised if those rovers and satellites do find water on Mars, and non-frozen water at that . . .

 

[a space oddity]

Originally posted by RealGoober
I wouldn't be surprised if those rovers and satellites do find water on Mars, and non-frozen water at that . . .

I would. Have you seen the temperatures in which the first rover has to function? What was it? Some -30 degrees Celcius on the warmest hour of the day...

 

[Bozo Erectus]

My feeling is that we'll find liquid water (and life) when we have the capability to drill deep enough. The deeper you go, the warmer it gets and the less harmfull radiation there is. Life on Mars probably retreated underground, which is where we should live when we start settling there.

 

[a space oddity]

Originally posted by Dumb pothead
My feeling is that we'll find liquid water (and life) when we have the capability to drill deep enough.

I agree, I certainly hope so. It is frustrating to know exactly what we should be doing to (have the biggest chance to) find it, but it is so darn far away. OTOH it is as close as you can get solar-system-wise.

 

[wlievens]

China will eventually...

 

[Strider]

Originally posted by wlievens
China will eventually...

I've got to agree with this, they will eventually, most likely while were all still alive, but not any time soon.

 

[Tassadar]

Rover hits scientific jackpot in strange martian world
The Opportunity rover unfolded its solar panels and beamed back its first snapshots of Mars four hours after landing today, providing stunning views of nearby slab-like rock formations, the first bedrock ever seen on the red planet. The images also showed what to this point is the smoothest fine-grain soil ever seen on Mars.

Full story:http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/040125images.html

The ground look funny, like a supercritical fluid quicksand, maybe carbon dioxyde's amalgam, amalgam are pretty weird propriety of matter.

 

[Goober]

Originally posted by Dumb pothead
My feeling is that we'll find liquid water (and life) when we have the capability to drill deep enough. The deeper you go, the warmer it gets and the less harmfull radiation there is. Life on Mars probably retreated underground, which is where we should live when we start settling there.

WHEN we start settling there? You make it sound like we are definitely going to settle Mars. I think we should extablish a colony there, as a base to exzplore other planets that might be more hospitable, but Mars? We have no exidence of a permanent water source, except for a bit that is frozen at the poles. No, I think unless we find more hospitable terrain underground, we will establish maybe a little base there, for scientific purposes only. I really doubt that Mars could support Human existance there.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

RG Im taking the long view. I dont think theres much doubt that within the next 200 or 300 years there'll be thriving permanent human settlements on Mars. That bit of water ice at the poles is merely the tip of the iceberg, theres alot more underground and out of sight. I dont understand what you mean when you say 'use Mars as a base to explore other planets that might be more hospitable'. What other planets are in our solar system that are more hospitable than Mars?

 

[Tassadar]

A hole in one for oppurtunity.


Opportunity achieves 'interplanetary hole in one'
BY SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: January 25, 2004

After a seven-month voyage spanning 300 million miles from Earth to Mars, the Opportunity rover ended up inside a tiny crater to the utter delight of mission scientists.


More:http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/040125crater.html

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Looks like it got pounded by a meteor in some point in its history. You can kind of make out where 'ground zero' was.

 

[Tassadar]

This bedrock look pretty strange IMO, but i am not a geologist. Just compare with the fine grain soil around.