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Mars Odyssey begins

Posted by michael on from the wild-red-yonder dept.

Soft writes: "NASA's latest Mars probe has had a good launch on the first try. Stories at SpaceflightNow, CNN, and the BBC. The Delta rocket's onboard camera gave impressive pictures of the ascent..." Read the CNN story for an awesome picture from the nose of the rocket looking back. I want a print of that.

3 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Video Incredible by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 3
    Totally agree. It would be cool if they added movie cameras to the space probes, that way once a week we could see where it is going and what it is leaving behind. At least this way we should be able to see when something goes wrong.

    This gives me another idea: mini black boxes, with beacons, for the landing craft that could survive even the total disingration of the probe itself. At least thay way we could work out where the probe crashed - this would be possible since there is still the global suveyor orbiting Mars.

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    Jumpstart the tartan drive.
  2. Launch photos by proxima · · Score: 4

    Unfortunately, the photo Michael likes so much is among a bunch that are only available at low resolution here at the Mars Odyssey Website. More important scientific photos and artist renderings are frequently available in high-quality tiff format at places like this. I don't know if they had a high enough resolution camera to take the sort of pictures needed for reprint.

    If anyone can find a high-res version of this picture, please post it - I'd love to have Ofoto make an ultra high quality 8x10 for me (thanks for the idea, Michael).

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    "The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent." --Carl Sagan
  3. Another DOOMED voyage... by mfarah · · Score: 3
    What the public doesn't know is the REAL reason that the Mars probes haven't had any success: they were shot down by the Mars Space Army!

    Our probes were spy satellites, sent to peep on the MSA forces and were shot down for that reason. The Pathfinder was spared because it landed on an unpopulated area (the desert of Gniiiijks's's-daaasd) and because that way it wouldn't stir up public suspicion.

    Our government's double agents at the NASA (horribly infiltrated by Marzies) have managed to provide the UN and key human governments with vital information as to the Mars Federation purposes: they intend to

    1. sabotage all our satellites, so we'll be left blind (already destroyed the Iridium project, remember that one?)
    2. invade EARTH within the next five years, USA in particular
    3. claim Earth as part of the Mars Federation
    4. once that is done, SUE the makers of Mars bars, for copyright infringement!

    It's our duty to come up with an open source candy bar that doesn't violate the Mars patents ASAP, or switch to Snickers or Three Musketeers (we can't use Milky Way, that one's taken, too).

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    Death to Vermin.

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    "Trust me - I know what I'm doing."
    - Sledge Hammer