Today in Science History

Continuing in our chain of sciencey threads...


If you had the controls of the mars rover and could place historic tire tracks on the Martian surface, what would you do?

Head to the nearest high value science target? Sign your name? Write: “Hi mom”?

Nope.

I’d do what the folks at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory did.  I’d draw a giant phallus.

Source:  link

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Mars or Alderaan?

While we have been discussing the 2nd Amendment here at ATK, the Curisoity rover has been blasting away on Mars with a gun - of sorts - of its own.

As you will see below, Curiosity has been zapping holes into rocks with a laser to examine their make-up.  See the before and after below.

So I wonder if the 2nd Amendment applies on Mars.  Does the 2nd Amendment apply to laser weapons?  If there are Martians there, could Curiosity defend itself?

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We're Tall

If you missed it last night, here's the vid of the Entry, Descent and Landing portions of the Curiosity rover landing on Mars.

Mars.

I think at about 28:00, touchdown is confirmed.  NASA JPL...erupts.  It's just awesome.




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Look what we can do when we put our minds to it!

Here are the first 2 shots from Curiosity, confirming not only that it landed in a series of really complicated maneuvers (including a parachute, retro-rockets and a crane), but that it works.  I'm all misty.

rear-facing "hazard cam;" lens a bit dusty, clear shadow of
Curiosity on the surface of...oh...ANOTHER PLANET

The surface of Mars, using a slightly higher-res camera.  To the
lower right is one of Curiosity's wheels. 

UPDATE BY BOB:  Even higher res image from same camera:

Higher res, (but not HD) image sent from Mars a couple hours after the above.  This one is double the resolution.



UPDATE 2 BY BOB - A shot of the parchute open above the lander as shot by the orbiter.


Unreal.  There it is.  In another 48 hours, we'll start getting hi-resolution color photos.

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