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NASA Releases HiRISE Images of Curiosity's Descent

Posted by Unknown on from the in-space-everything-is-awesome dept.

gcnaddict writes "NASA released content from the MRO HiRISE imager taken during the descent of the Curiosity Rover. Among the most notable artifacts are the images themselves as well as a diagram showing the exact location of the rover relative to NASA's target." Update: 08/07 00:15 GMT by U L : And now for a picture from the rover itself.

6 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Too cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Unfortunately, things are going the other way. NASA's unmanned space budget is being cut.

    The Obama administration plans to massively cut funding for NASA’s planetary exploration program. Zubrin writes that Obama’s 2013 budget would permit the continuation of a couple of projects—the MAVEN orbiter and the Mars Science Curiosity Lab—but would otherwise leave planetary exploration without much of a budget. The space astronomy program, too, faces deep cuts.

    The overall NASA budget is similar, but unmanned probes and robotic science budgets have been savaged :-(.

  2. Re:Freaking incredible. by Swampash · · Score: 5, Informative

    We've got some damn fine people working on this.
    And a lot of them will be looking for work after the next round of NASA budget cuts - no matter who wins the next election.

    NASA's budget as a fraction of federal spending is 0.48%. That's the lowest it's been since 1960. And it's getting smaller.

    Dig on this:

    Curiosity project budget: USD 2.5 billion

    Cost of "War on Terror" so far: USD 1.36 trillion and counting (yes that's one thousand three hundred and sixty billion)

  3. Cheap Mission by ThePeices · · Score: 5, Informative

    What amazes me is how cheap the entire MSL mission is...

    The entire budget was only 4 days in Iraq/Afghanistan, or approx USD$2.5billion.

    NASA's entire budget is less than what the US Army spends on air-conditioning in Iraq/Afghanistan ( USD$20 billion ).

    I. Kid. You. Not.

    1. Re:Cheap Mission by radio4fan · · Score: 5, Informative

      And which mission is the one trying to prevent another entire generation in that region from falling under the control of a bunch of medieval-minded religious thugs...

      Neither. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have exactly as much to do with women, education and religious freedom as they have to do with exploring Mars.

      Which is to say, nothing at all.

  4. Re:Freaking incredible. by the+gnat · · Score: 5, Informative

    Director Bolden, on his meeting with Obama on NASA strategy, mission: " ...perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math and engineering."

    This was one throwaway line by a federal bureaucrat in a single substance-free interview, where he was obviously trying to pander to his audience. (And the White House very quickly corrected him, as has been pointed out previously.) Do you really believe that anything NASA has done since then has been designed to further this supposed goal? Please, explain how the Curiosity mission has been corrupted to soothe the feelings of Muslims.

  5. Re:Freaking incredible. by MtViewGuy · · Score: 5, Informative

    What is totally amazing about that image is not only do you clearly see the shading of the parachute itself, but you also see _in the same picture_ the protective heat shield cover falling away from the lander, too. In short, one of the most amazing images ever produced by NASA. (thumbs up)