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NASA Rover 'Curiosity' Set For Saturday Launch

Posted by Soulskill on from the wave-at-phobos-grunt-on-the-way-up dept.

arcite writes "The Mars Science Laboratory Rover 'Curiosity,' an SUV-sized rover packed to the gills with the latest scientific instruments and an innovative landing system, is set to launch tomorrow. As the heaviest and largest Mars rover to date, if it is successful in touching down on the red planet, it will be the best bet yet for NASA to find signs of life. Stuffed with turkey and burned out on holiday shopping, Geeks everywhere will be watching the skies above (or the livestream here) and wishing NASA's Curiosity godspeed!"

18 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. Measurements by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just remember to not confuse feet and meters, and I think things will be ok.

  2. The Landing by bjb_admin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Wow the landing video shows how complicated this one is.

    The whole hanging by a crane held up by a thruster module seems quite scary. Especially considering it couldn't be tested at Earth.

    Guess there will be lots of nail biting when the landing comes! Hopefully there is live telemetry for the landing.

    1. Re:The Landing by camperdave · · Score: 2

      Spirit and Opportunity went through the same decent procedure except they were dropped from the hover instead of placed gently on the surface. They survived, so Curiosity should as well. Besides, there was lots of testing on Earth.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  3. The gills? by Baloroth · · Score: 3, Funny

    SUV-sized rover packed to the gills

    It has gills now? I mean I knew they were considering a kitchen sink to go along with its laser, but gills? There isn't that much water on Mars, is there?

    --
    "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
  4. Backups by CBung · · Score: 2

    I hope they at least made two of them at once since they went through all that process like they used to do.

    1. Re:Backups by gblackwo · · Score: 5, Informative

      They did in fact build two of them simultaneously, however the 2nd rover was built for testing and is not sterile enough to send to Mars without a serious teardown. There may be further reasons why the 2nd rover is unsuitable to go.

    2. Re:Backups by 0123456 · · Score: 2

      It's like those old SF stories where the astronaut who trains hardest for the mission is left behind on Earth because he failed some psychological testing while the slacker is sent into space instead. Hopefully the second rover doesn't chop the first up with an axe on launch day and then sneak on board in its place.

  5. Is this thing on? by crumpty · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I have looked around and cannot find the answer as to whether Curiosity has a microphone on board.

    If not then why not?

    Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine, - who wouldn't want to hear the winds of Mars?

    Cheers...

    1. Re:Is this thing on? by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Funny

      I have looked around and cannot find the answer as to whether Curiosity has a microphone on board.

      If not then why not?

      Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine, - who wouldn't want to hear the winds of Mars?

      In space, no one can hear you scream.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    2. Re:Is this thing on? by geckipede · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Atmospheric pressure at surface level on Mars is about 1% of Earth's pressure at surface. There's not much to hear. It's not going to be totally silent, but sound will be extremely quiet and distorted.

  6. Holy hell, they built a MALP! by Tastecicles · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Have you heard about the instrument package??

    two HD cameras
    mass spectrometers
    chemical laser
    x-ray diffractometer
    full terrestrial weather station
    radiation meter
    magnetometer
    rock abrasion tool
    thermal emission spectrometer
    Moessbauer gamma spectrometer
    panoramic multispectral camera
    microscopic imager

    They could send one of these to Titan to discover once and for all if that moon could ever be settled...

    --
    Operation Guillotine is in effect.
    1. Re:Holy hell, they built a MALP! by 0123456 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Have you heard about the instrument package??

      A fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff...

    2. Re:Holy hell, they built a MALP! by MachDelta · · Score: 2

      This rover probably wouldn't survive Titan very well. In the first TFA they state that Curiosity's potential landing zones are up to 45 degrees from the equator. Meaning it's not designed to withstand a martian arctic. And the warmest beach on Titan is going to be at least twice as cold as the most frigid dump on Mars.

    3. Re:Holy hell, they built a MALP! by Tastecicles · · Score: 2

      Oh, I don't know... Voyager 2 was launched on a 150-odd foot rocket back in 1977. For a direct trajectory journey of eight months to Jupiter even a Saturn V (at more than twice the height) wouldn't have been enough, fuel wise. The "Grand Tour" was calculated to minimise the amount of fuel needed by using the gravity well of the inner planets and the sun to slingshot the probes out to the outer planets, saving vast amounts of fuel at the cost of several years to make the trip. Even in manned space flight they have to use gravity assist (Apollo 13, for example) because the fuel requirements for direct trajectory just to the moon are physically prohibitive.

      --
      Operation Guillotine is in effect.
  7. Its a conspiracy ... by perpenso · · Score: 2

    They could send one of these to Titan to discover once and for all if that moon could ever be settled

    but they wont because some scifi of the 1940-60's has beaten it into everyone's skull that Mars is the only place to go in the universe, meanwhile we cant spend a dime on titan, that would just be stupid

    Yep, there must be some conspiracy behind electing to send our "first" probes to a closer, more habitable and larger destination. :-)

  8. Future Headlines by cstacy · · Score: 3, Funny

    (1) Curiosity will last longer than advertised design life, headlines will be "The Nine Lives Of Curiosity" (2) Curiosity will accidentally be driven into a crater or something, headlines will be "Curiosity Killed The Cat" (3) both

  9. Hourray! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Great! Another rover will be sent to Mars to collect probe the dirt and look for "signs of life". What number is this, 6? It is apparent that Mars lacks breathable air, surface water, and, more generally, life. Why not send life-seeking probes to Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, or even Titan? At least those worlds feature liquid oceans of some kind therefore there is at least a chance that they may harbor life.

  10. Wait, everywhere? by shirque · · Score: 2

    Stuffed with turkey and burned out on holiday shopping, Geeks everywhere will be watching the skies ...

    Either your definition of "everywhere" stops at the US border or you really believe Thanksgiving and Black Friday are global phenomena.