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NASA Launching Two Mars Rovers in June
shaniber writes "NASA is planning the launch of the Mars Exploration Rovers this month. The rovers are scheduled for two two separate launches, between June 5th and July 15th. These rovers will both work as robotic geologists, including a human-eye height panoramic camera and a miniature thermal emmision spectrometer amongst their scientific equipment. NASA plans on webcasting the launches, as well. A press kit, with many more details, is also available as a pdf."
I think it would suffice to move the camera a couple of inches between exposures.
A previous generation had the Apollo moon landing as a life defining moment, for me it was the Mars rover. I distinctly remember being glued to the life tv broadcast, watching the first images of mars being beamed back to earth, in full colour, high-res, 360 degree glory. Is there anything else that has come closer to bring humanity closer together than the wonder of space exploration? I don't think so. I hope for success for all the landers and probes. We need them to succeed if we are to achieve the next stage of humanity. You know, the Startrek stage. ;)
No, it won't weigh much - as long as you discount the one and a half metric ton of food and water (assuming you have equipment to recycle your urine) and the air purifying system you need to survive to the end of the trip. That will be _really_ easy to sneak aboard. And, of course, with a launch and propellant system that dimensioned down to the pound, adding close to two tons of extra cargo may have a slight effect on the success of the mission...
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
NASA really needs this to be a success, especially after the Columbia.
Given the past performaces of Mars expeditions, NASA is taking a big risk.
Of course, technology has improved, but is this a prudent bet for NASA?
YES! :-)
Now it will be very soon we'll have certainty about life on Mars: reall competition (ESA+Rusia vs. NASA)
Ps. I'm not a fundamental capitalist; in a few instances competition is bad. But this is one of the many good examples imho.
Why does it really matter who makes an important discovery? Is the world scientific community somehow enriched more because Uwe in Vienna or Piet in Den Haag made the discovery before Steve in Alamogordo? Or is it more accurate to say that you hate America?
Your first sentence seems to lean toward the latter explanation, as you seem to be upset about U.S. "space dominance," despite the fact that a look at the STS mission crew bios is more multicultural than a Rainbow Coalition rally. Aboard the ill-fated Columbia mission, for the first example that comes to mind, we had the first Israeli in space; I believe his name was Ilian Ramon (although I could be wrong about his first name). Additionally, Kalpana Chawla was born in India. Granted, she was a U.S. citizen at the time of her death, but I'd still say that on the whole, the goodwill extended by NASA in offering to take up scientists of so many nations stands as an eloquent counterargument to your belief in some sort of American doctrine of "Manifest Space Destiny." Were I you, I'd worry more about my own demagoguery than the perceived dangers of American astronautical hegemony.
In my travels to Europe, South America, and the Pacific Rim, I've met hundreds of intelligent, friendly, and generally cool people. I can only hope that when they read such ill-informed and sneeringly smug commentary as yours, that they are as horrified as I am when I see an American behaving rudely towards someone from another country.
They that would sacrifice their
In any case, future of space exploration does ideally lead to human settlements on other planets; giving up manned space exploration only delays that goal.
Just let us assume for one moment that the European Mars Express with its Beagle 2 lander does find something they claim is a sure sign of life on Mars. It would mean that the first European planetary mission ever finds something that NASA has been looking for for decades. Somebody in Congress is going to take that as a personal insult and push the space program some more -- while the Europeans will find funding their probes a lot more interesting. More space exploration for all...
But this is just chicken feed. Can you imagine the U.S. watching China build and man a moon base? Even having Chinese astronauts ("taikonauts", I believe they are called) walking on the moon will make them nervous enough to push funding.
There is nothing like space exploration for a nation's scientific prestige. This hasn't been apparent for the last few decades because the U.S. and the Soviet Union both decided not to get into that kind of arms race again, and after the fall of communism, the U.S. has had a monopoly. If that is challenged, it is a good thing -- certainly better than trying to build the largest navy, the most atom bombs, or some of the other things we've had in the past.
- Security around spacecraft security is very tight, especially on a launch site. It is hard to get to them, and they are inspected constantly (not for stowaways, but one would be detected quickly enough).
- Spacecraft tend to be rather small, and filled with equipment. Certainly Mars Express (the european spacecraft) is far too small to contain a human being. I have not seen the american spacecraft but I'd guess they are not much bigger.
- The weight of the spacecraft is known with high accuracy, and verified before launch.
- The center of gravity of the spacecraft is known. Changing it (by tagging on extra weight) will cause maneuvring to fail, sending the thing to the wrong location.
- The trip takes a significantly long time (many months). You'd be long dead by the time you arrived (from lack of oxygen, radiation, etc.).
- The launch may very well kill you: not every launcher is human-rated, and some produce vibrations strong enough to kill a human passenger.
Finally, I don't want to discourage you but as far as I know noone has ever been able to make a picture of one of the moon landing sites proving there was something there. Your grave would most likely suffer a similar fate.