Mars Curiosity Landing, NASA doing awesome shit ITT

[Aea]

The moon is arguably a planet since according to a common definition the earth and moon are a binary system. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_planet

[Rakshasa The Cat]

The moon is arguably a planet since according to a common definition the earth and moon are a binary system. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_planet

In ancient greek the word that became planet described any object in the sky that wander (planet) relative to the fixed stars, so even the sun is a planet.

So unless you want to use terminology as loosely as possible then go ahead, let's call everything not fixed in the sky for a planet and have a conversation that makes as much sense as if we'd start to call every physical object for... "object".

"When I went over to his object last night, we started to suck each other's object but really I wanted to stick my object in his object. He hadn't gone to the object all day so I ended up with a lots of object on my object."

Or we could just go for the IAU definition and call the moon a moon and Pluto for a dwarf planet.

[Lachesis VII]

There are some decent arguments for calling the Earth-Moon system a binary planet. In addition to the above article, this one is illustrative:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbit_o...oon_around_Sun

[olusegun obasanjo]

I seem to remember a definition not mentioned in the wikipedia article along the lines of 'if the center of gravity of the system lies outside the radius of the largest body, then the system is a binary planet system. if it lies within, the smaller object is a satellite.'

Seems like a very precise and reasoned definition.

edit: its mentioned in the second wiki posted

[Marlona Sky]

Well at least we managed a few pages before the usual anti-American bitches started butt hurt posting. Also if you don't like living here, kindly pack your shit up and get the fuck out.

[omeg]

Woke up early to watch it live and don't regret that. At least the start of this week is not that terrible.

[Paradox]

Well at least we managed a few pages before the usual anti-American bitches started butt hurt posting. Also if you don't like living here, kindly pack your shit up and get the fuck out.

Which anti-american posts are these?

[Synapse]

Woah, they showed the wheels of the rovers... I didn't realize they were that large! (seriously, the wheel of the curiosity rover is a solid 3ft diameter (ish))

Was holding a scale model about 2 hours ago that was sent from JPL. It's about 2.5 feet, but I wouldnt say 3.

Fun fact, the treads are not rubber, they are paper thin aluminum. Thin enough that they flex like quarter inch rubber though.

[Aramendel]

[Kransthow]

Me irl while watching the live stream of the landing

[ctrlchris]

Big up nasa rudeboys.
Outs to all involved

Tapatalk etc

[Canberra]

Apparently the signals are being beamed to not that far from me at Tidbinbilla. It's also where most of the Apollo 11 stuff went via, despite what Parks would like you to think.

The dishes there are powerful enough to blast a hole in the clouds and is a pretty awesome place to visit.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidbinb...acking_Station

[Lilalaunebör]

Radiation assessment detector (RAD): This instrument was the first of ten MSL instruments to be turned on. On the route to Mars and while working on its surface, it will characterize the broad spectrum of radiation environment found inside the spacecraft. These measurements were never done before from the inside of a spacecraft and their main purpose is to determine the viability and shielding needs for human explorers.[86] Funded by the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters and Germany, RAD was developed by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and the extraterrestrial physics group at Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Germany.[86]

Fuck yeah thats my old Uni. Also:

MSL Mars Descent Imager (MARDI): During the descent to the Martian surface, MARDI will take color images at 1600×1200 pixels with a 1.3-millisecond exposure time starting at distances of about 3.7 km to near 5 meters from the ground and will take images at a rate of 5 frames per second for about 2 minutes.[60][66] MARDI has a pixel scale of 1.5 meters at 2 km to 1.5 millimeters at 2 meters and has a 90-degree circular field of view. MARDI has 8 GB of internal buffer memory that is capable of storing over 4,000 raw images. MARDI imaging will allow the mapping of surrounding terrain and the location of landing.[60] JunoCam, built for the Juno spacecraft, is based on MARDI.[67]

So, were going to get a color vid of the landing? Thats going to be cool as hell.

[Smuggo]

I had intended to get up early to watch this but the comfort of bed was too much that even awesome science could not break its spell. Ah well, I'm sure there will be lots more cool shit to come out of this monstrous robot over the next decade.

[Daco]

I thought it was only running for 23months?

[Paradox]

I thought it was only running for 23months?

They always say that about satellites, probes and rovers In reality NASA is very good at making do with what they have so I would imagine, unless the rover breaks, the actual mission duration will be much longer than that.

[Daco]

I thought it was only running for 23months?

They always say that about satellites, probes and rovers In reality NASA is very good at making do with what they have so I would imagine, unless the rover breaks, the actual mission duration will be much longer than that.

I guess it is safe to say we'll atleast get some pretty awesome pictures for the next 23months from it

[Zilulil]

I thought it was only running for 23months?

They always say that about satellites, probes and rovers In reality NASA is very good at making do with what they have so I would imagine, unless the rover breaks, the actual mission duration will be much longer than that.

See Spirit for a perfect example of this.

[Daneel Trevize]

Edit: beaten. At least, obligatory xkcd

The last communication with the rover was on sol 2210 (March 22, 2010)

R.I.P.

Meanwhile

On July 12, 2012 (Sol 3010) solar arrays produced 523 watt-hours and 21.49 miles (34,580.05 meters) was the total distance traveled from landing.

[Rakshasa The Cat]

Well at least we managed a few pages before the usual anti-American bitches started butt hurt posting. Also if you don't like living here, kindly pack your shit up and get the fuck out.

Fuck why is all the NASA website times in PDT? UTC is the standard FFS!!!