Well, here we go, this thread has been more than a decade in the making.

 

Early Monday Morning, a small metal object will come screaming into the atmosphere of Mars. Not directly involved in this project, but everyone who works in any way for NASA has a lot riding on this. This is the next rover to land on Mars. The thing is a behemoth. Size of a small SUV. More scientific instruments than any of us can count. It will literally drive around Mars firing a gigantic nuclear powered space laser at rocks.

 

Landing is at about 1:30 a.m. early Monday morning, EST. I'll be awake unless the coffee gives out. It'll take about 15 minutes round trip for the message that the rover has landed and is functioning to reach Earth after the actual landing. Can find tons of links about it for watching or updating status beforehand:

 

http://eyes.nasa.gov/index.html

 

Nasa TV live stream:

 

http://www.ustream.tv/nasa"" target="_blank"> http://www.ustream.tv/nasa

 

And of course, if you haven't seen it, the 7 minutes of terror video. The craziest f***ing thing I've ever seen? The Skycrane.

 

Be happy to talk about it more if someone can tell me what to talk about.

That was awesome.

 

Balta, have they practiced this stuff here on Earth? That seems like an awful lot of stuff to do without much margin for error.

That was awesome.

 

Balta, have they practiced this stuff here on Earth? That seems like an awful lot of stuff to do without much margin for error.

How do you define "Practiced"?

 

It's like going to land on the moon. You test every system you can a hundred different ways, but it's seriously impossible to "launch the spacecraft, fly it for 9 months, and then land it going through an atmosphere of Martian density" without actually going to Mars.

 

You can test a lunar module, test every rocket, test every computer system and seal a hundred different ways, but until you actually land on the Moon, you always worry that something will go wrong.

 

Every engineer who has ever worked on this thing loves it and says it'll be great. Every scientist who works on the project is scared s***less because it looks like...the craziest f***ing thing any of us have ever seen. And literally the future of the planetary program rides on this.

A gigantic nuclear powered space laser.

 

Is there any chance we blow up Mars?

A gigantic nuclear powered space laser.

 

Is there any chance we blow up Mars?

 

Is that what you remember, Quaid? It is just a memory we implanted in you

A gigantic nuclear powered space laser.

 

Is there any chance we blow up Mars?

No. Even if it crashes, the radioisotope thermoelectric generator is rated to sustain a high velocity impact without exposing anything. It has to be otherwise they'd never allow us to launch the things, since any time you launch, "Crashing back into earth after the rocket explodes" is possible.

 

The gigantic laser is capable of vaporizing a couple millimeters deep into rock each shot. Useful for getting rid of dust coatings, analyzing rocks at a distance, and if we happen to run into an angry Martian, defending the rover.

That landing looks crazy, what are the odds that thing makes it?

That landing looks crazy, what are the odds that thing makes it?

The engineers who built the thing say 100%. They say it has a substantial margin for error beyond anything they could conceive. We wouldn't have built the thing otherwise. This should not be as risky as it looks.

 

And like I said, every one of us will be scared ****less until we get the signal that it's alive.

How long will it be traveling along Mars and how much ground will it cover?

How do you define "Practiced"?

 

It's like going to land on the moon. You test every system you can a hundred different ways, but it's seriously impossible to "launch the spacecraft, fly it for 9 months, and then land it going through an atmosphere of Martian density" without actually going to Mars.

 

You can test a lunar module, test every rocket, test every computer system and seal a hundred different ways, but until you actually land on the Moon, you always worry that something will go wrong.

 

Every engineer who has ever worked on this thing loves it and says it'll be great. Every scientist who works on the project is scared s***less because it looks like...the craziest f***ing thing any of us have ever seen. And literally the future of the planetary program rides on this.

 

Well right, i mean circumstances permitting. The parachute opening at that speed, for example. I'd assume they somehow tested that.

 

You shall find many things on our home.

I wish I worked for NASA.

 

Why this big crazy Rube Goldberg landing instead of the airbags they've used before?

How long will it be traveling along Mars and how much ground will it cover?

 

You have to think it is there to stay, until it runs out of juice like the other rovers

Is that what you remember, Quaid? It is just a memory we implanted in you

 

Give those people ay-uh!

I wish I worked for NASA.

 

Why this big crazy Rube Goldberg landing instead of the airbags they've used before?

Weight.

 

The MER rovers were basically the limit of what the airbag system could do. That video should explain that because of Mars's atmosphere, slowing down is a real big problem; there's not enough atmosphere to slow down. If you want to do a big mission, of the sort that could do sample return or, like this mission, send an entire organic chemistry lab, you need more weight than that system can take.

 

Some scientists I know have argued that, especially given how expensive developing this system has been, we'd have been better off doing a couple more MER-style, small rovers, to other interesting sites on the planet, but that doesn't interest/challenge the engineering community, and pushing the engineering to its limits to develop technology is a part of these missions as well.

How long will it be traveling along Mars and how much ground will it cover?

 

 

You have to think it is there to stay, until it runs out of juice like the other rovers

The "Prime mission" for MSL is set to be 1 Martian year. The goal is to land in a safe area close to a very interesting mountain, named after a late faculty member I have actually met (Mount Sharp), and drive up it.

 

Unlike the other rovers though, this rover isn't solar powered. It's powered by a "Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator" or RTG, which is the same power source that has been used on missions like Cassini and the Voyager missions. If you've followed the news on these...you'll note...despite Cassini being launched nearly 20 years ago and Voyagers being launched in the late 1970's, they still have power. RTG power sources decay very slowly and aren't reliant on the sun.

 

Meaning...if the wheels hold out, there is no reason why MSL cannot be a 10+ year mission, assuming it lands. Unlike the MER rovers, it can operate in the winter, it doesn't need to point itself at the sun for the winter to keep alive. Unlike the MER rovers, it can drive farther and faster, and can even plot its own path to avoid some obstacles to increase daily driving distance. Power will not be an issue for a decade plus, whereas the MER rovers kept needing lucky wind gusts to clean off their dust, otherwise dust could kill them.

 

This device is an absolute marvel.

Is that what you remember, Quaid? It is just a memory we implanted in you

 

Quuaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiid

...firing a gigantic nuclear powered space laser at rocks.

I have actually secured an artist's rendition of this.

 

The engineers who built the thing say 100%. They say it has a substantial margin for error beyond anything they could conceive. We wouldn't have built the thing otherwise. This should not be as risky as it looks.

 

And like I said, every one of us will be scared ****less until we get the signal that it's alive.

25 seconds in it says 0 margin for error

25 seconds in it says 0 margin for error

And that's a slogan in there for how it sounds to the public, not an actual estimate of the likelihood of failure.

 

Technically there has to be some margin for error since 2 centimeters would make no difference, if that's how it was considered.

Awesome. I'm excited for this. Going to check this out on Sunday night. I assume it is still scheduled for like 10:30 PM PST?

Cool. I'll try to remember to follow as it happens.

And that's a slogan in there for how it sounds to the public, not an actual estimate of the likelihood of failure.

 

Technically there has to be some margin for error since 2 centimeters would make no difference, if that's how it was considered.

 

Yeah, NASA stuff is low factor-of-safety because they spend a huge amount of time validating everything so that they can keep the weight down, but it still isn't zero.

Awesome. I'm excited for this. Going to check this out on Sunday night. I assume it is still scheduled for like 10:30 PM PST?

Yes. Lucky PST folks. The first message will take about 15 minutes, so we'll hear from it by 10:45 PST.

I'm not staying up until 12:30 to find out if it smashed into Mars or not.