POLL: Will NASA Mars rover "SPIRIT" land successfully?

[bpctech]

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: bpctech
I work at Jet Propulsion Lab (NASA's facility that built and is flying these 2 spacecraft). In fact, I work in telecommunications and I know a few people who work for this mission and are currently quite busy managing the landing.

Shame on you guys for having so little faith! The spacecraft that was lost last week at mars was built by the European Space Agency and not managed by NASA.

Can I have a job?

sure!

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Ladies Man
no wonder these things never work

they rely on parachutes and airbags... must be a pretty easy landing

Originally posted by: Chadder007
If this were say 30 years ago....then yes. Now?...No.

I find these two posts mind boggling.

 

[lowfatbaconboy]

my roomate does mission planning/mission control stuff for some satellite stuff at CU boulder and he had a full huge video of how it is supposed to land

its awesome

i think its suppose to bounce for like a mile with the big "grape air bag" thingy

basically ....enters the atmposphere outer shell pops off a parachute deploys it uses reverse thrusters to slow down some more then drops the triangular prism grap ball thing and bounces for a mile then stops deflates and opens up......

 

[MacBaine]

Originally posted by: lowfatbaconboy
my roomate does mission planning/mission control stuff for some satellite stuff at CU boulder and he had a full huge video of how it is supposed to land

its awesome

i think its suppose to bounce for like a mile with the big "grape air bag" thingy

basically ....enters the atmposphere outer shell pops off a parachute deploys it uses reverse thrusters to slow down some more then drops the triangular prism grap ball thing and bounces for a mile then stops deflates and opens up......

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

 

[GTaudiophile]

Have any of the recent probe landings been successful? I know the Europeans sent something.

 

[bpctech]

Originally posted by: lowfatbaconboy
my roomate does mission planning/mission control stuff for some satellite stuff at CU boulder and he had a full huge video of how it is supposed to land

its awesome

i think its suppose to bounce for like a mile with the big "grape air bag" thingy

basically ....enters the atmposphere outer shell pops off a parachute deploys it uses reverse thrusters to slow down some more then drops the triangular prism grap ball thing and bounces for a mile then stops deflates and opens up......

It's really a marvel of engineering. The spacecraft will enter the martian atmosphere at 12,000 mph and have only about 5 minutes to slow down to a speed where the craft won't be vaporized. The airbags are incredibely strong too. linky

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: lowfatbaconboy
my roomate does mission planning/mission control stuff for some satellite stuff at CU boulder and he had a full huge video of how it is supposed to land

its awesome

i think its suppose to bounce for like a mile with the big "grape air bag" thingy

basically ....enters the atmposphere outer shell pops off a parachute deploys it uses reverse thrusters to slow down some more then drops the triangular prism grap ball thing and bounces for a mile then stops deflates and opens up......

Bwhahaha!!!

Bounce.. for a mile? :Q

LMAO! It's probably going to be like....

*whistling*

*THUD/POOF*

*hole in martian surface*

And we'll be like..... " Welp.. Back to the drawing board."

:Q

 

[bpctech]

If you wanna see something that's really cool you should check out the antennas that NASA uses to communicate with these rovers among many other spacecraft all over our galaxy.

NASA's 70m dish out in the mojave desert of CA

The picture doesn't do it justice.

 

[Oscar1613]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: lowfatbaconboy
my roomate does mission planning/mission control stuff for some satellite stuff at CU boulder and he had a full huge video of how it is supposed to land

its awesome

i think its suppose to bounce for like a mile with the big "grape air bag" thingy

basically ....enters the atmposphere outer shell pops off a parachute deploys it uses reverse thrusters to slow down some more then drops the triangular prism grap ball thing and bounces for a mile then stops deflates and opens up......

Bwhahaha!!!

Bounce.. for a mile? :Q

LMAO! It's probably going to be like....

*whistling*

*THUD/POOF*

*hole in martian surface*

And we'll be like..... " Welp.. Back to the drawing board."

:Q

you do realize this same system was successfully used for the '96 Pathfinder mission right?

 

[Martin]

I really really hope both of them make it there ok.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: lowfatbaconboy
my roomate does mission planning/mission control stuff for some satellite stuff at CU boulder and he had a full huge video of how it is supposed to land

its awesome

i think its suppose to bounce for like a mile with the big "grape air bag" thingy

basically ....enters the atmposphere outer shell pops off a parachute deploys it uses reverse thrusters to slow down some more then drops the triangular prism grap ball thing and bounces for a mile then stops deflates and opens up......

Bwhahaha!!!

Bounce.. for a mile? :Q

LMAO! It's probably going to be like....

*whistling*

*THUD/POOF*

*hole in martian surface*

And we'll be like..... " Welp.. Back to the drawing board."

:Q

you do realize this same system was successfully used for the '96 Pathfinder mission right?

Yes.. I just found the thought of such a cartoonish outcome amusing.

 

[ViRGE]

As the theory goes, the Martian Defense Grid can only track 1 object at a time, so if we send down 2 at once, at least 1 of them should survive.

 

[NightCrawler]

It will get shot down by the aliens :0

 

[Pliablemoose]

I hope it makes it.

Landing video in Quicktime

Landing video mpeg

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: bpctech

sure!

Dang...

--
Required Skills: Ph.D. in Atmospheric Physics or a related field.
Demonstrated expertise in atmospheric radiative transfer theory and
remote sensing algorithms for retrieval of trace gases, clouds, and
aerosols from high resolution spectra of reflected near-infrared solar
radiation. Demonstrated ability in Linux FORTRAN 95, C, and IDL
computing environments. Established record of peer-reviewed scientific
publications and the potential to create and sustain an externally
funded research program. Ability to interact effectively with members
of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) science team.

Desired Skills: Research experience in remote sensing algorithm
development, global carbon cycle science, and climate change science.

Will: Contribute to the development and implementation of advanced
retrieval algorithms to support the OCO Mission and other future JPL
Earth science missions. Publish scientific results in refereed
lierature.
--

$1,040/wk min

Not bad, I guess. You have to live in California though...

 

[Pliablemoose]

Originally posted by: bpctech
I work at Jet Propulsion Lab (NASA's facility that built and is flying these 2 spacecraft). In fact, I work in telecommunications and I know a few people who work for this mission and are currently quite busy managing the landing.

Shame on you guys for having so little faith! The spacecraft that was lost last week at mars was built by the European Space Agency and not managed by NASA.

I'd settle for a JPL ball cap, had one & lost it on a Jet Ski

 

[C'DaleRider]

Considering NASA is the only space agency that's had ANY success putting landers on Mars that function, they have a better than even chance this will succeed....I think NASA is currently 3 for 5 in landings....no other country's space agency has had a single success.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: C'DaleRider
Considering NASA is the only space agency that's had ANY success putting landers on Mars that function, they have a better than even chance this will succeed....I think NASA is currently 3 for 5 in landings....no other country's space agency has had a single success.

I think people underestimate the difficulty of lauching an SUV 10s of millions of miles to another planet, having it land safely, and have it transmit information back.

 

[C'DaleRider]

Chaotic......I know. I think it's amazing anyone has had a single success with remote vehicles......it's all just sort of point-and-hope....too much time lag to control the landings at all. I read that there have been 36 attempts since 1960 at putting craft either in orbit around Mars or landing on Mars. 2/3 have ended in failure. But NASA has the best overall record of any agency, so I'd put my money on some chance of success from them. Like I said, no one else has ever successfully landed anything on the Death Planet.....NASA has done it three times.

 

[Oscar1613]

Originally posted by: C'DaleRider
Considering NASA is the only space agency that's had ANY success putting landers on Mars that function, they have a better than even chance this will succeed....I think NASA is currently 3 for 5 in landings....no other country's space agency has had a single success.

well that depends on how you define success... the USSR had a successful landing with Mars 3 in '71 and it transmitted data, however it only lived for about 2 mins past landing

 

[rgwalt]

Originally posted by: bpctech
I work at Jet Propulsion Lab (NASA's facility that built and is flying these 2 spacecraft). In fact, I work in telecommunications and I know a few people who work for this mission and are currently quite busy managing the landing.

Shame on you guys for having so little faith! The spacecraft that was lost last week at mars was built by the European Space Agency and not managed by NASA.

I have little faith because none of you caught the unit conversion error that sent a probe to its doom. That is the sort of problem that should never, ever happen.

R

 

[FlashG]

At this rate how could we ever succeed in a manned mission? Scary

 

[JohnnyAnnalog]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
I hope it makes it.

Landing video in Quicktime

Landing video mpeg

And haven't learn to use metric.

 

[Wag]

At this rate how could we ever succeed in a manned mission? Scary

Scary, maybe, but more intriguing to me than anything. Lets go.

Alot more care goes into any "manned" mission than an automated one.

 

[cliftonite]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
I hope it makes it.

Landing video in Quicktime

Landing video mpeg

Damn that is crazy.