Watch Mars Landing LIVE
NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity to
make Mars Landing EARLY Monday morning, August 6th, around 12:31am CDT
Watch full
coverage starting Sunday evening
Post Date:
Saturday, August
04, 2012
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credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Scroll
below for the latest UPDATES…
--While we wait, here are some fun facts from
NASA--
Curiosity - Robot Geologist and Chemist in
One!
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The above artist's concept features NASA's
Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars'
past or present ability to sustain microbial life.
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Curiosity will land near the Martian equator
about 10:31pm, Aug. 5th PDT (12:31am August 6th EDT).
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In this picture above, the rover examines a
rock on Mars with a set of tools at the end of the rover's arm, which extends
about 7 feet (2 meters). Two instruments on the arm can study rocks up close. A
drill can collect sample material from inside of rocks and a scoop can pick up
samples of soil. The arm can sieve the samples and deliver fine powder to
instruments inside the rover for thorough analysis.
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The mast, or rover's "head," rises
to about 6.9 feet (2.1 meters) above ground level, about as tall as a
basketball player. This mast supports two remote-sensing science instruments:
the Mast Camera, or "eyes," for stereo color viewing of surrounding
terrain and material collected by the arm; and, the Chemistry and Camera
instrument, which uses a laser to vaporize a speck of material on rocks up to
about 23 feet (7 meters) away and determines what elements the rocks are made
of.
[Now that’s some really cool stuff!]
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NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division
of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science
Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington
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Curiosity's Seven Minutes of Terror
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UPDATES:
Saturday, August 4th
…..
Curiosity
Closes in on its New 'Home'
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Saturday,
August 4th, 2012
6:20pm CDT
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With
Mars looming ever larger in front of it, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory
spacecraft and its Curiosity rover are in the final stages of preparing for
entry, descent and landing on the Red Planet at 10:31pm PDT Aug. 5th,
(1:31am EDT Aug. 6th). Curiosity remains in good health with all systems
operating as expected. Today, the flight team uplinked and confirmed commands
to make minor corrections to the spacecraft's navigation reference point
parameters. This afternoon, as part of the onboard sequence of autonomous
activities leading to the landing, catalyst bed heaters are being turned on to
prepare the eight Mars Lander Engines that are part of MSL's descent propulsion
system. As of 2:25pm PDT (5:25pm EDT), MSL was approximately 261,000 miles
(420,039 kilometers) from Mars, closing in at a little more than 8,000 mph
(about 3,600 meters per second).
…..
UPDATES:
Sunday, August 5th
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Earlier
afternoon…
Mars Science Laboratory Mission Status Report
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PASADENA,
Calif. -- NASA's Mars
Science Laboratory spacecraft is healthy and right on course for a landing in
several hours that will be one of the most difficult feats of robotic
exploration ever attempted.
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Emotions
are strong in the control room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif., as the hours and miles race toward touchdown of the car-size Curiosity
at about 10:31 p.m. PDT tonight (about 1:31 a.m. Aug. 6, EDT).
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"Excitement
is building while the team is diligently monitoring the spacecraft," said
Mission Manager Brian Portock of JPL. "It's natural to get anxious before
a big event, but we believe we are very well prepared."
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Descent
from the top of Mars' atmosphere to the surface will employ bold techniques
enabling use of a smaller target area and heavier landed payload than were
possible for any previous Mars mission. These innovations, if successful, will
place a well-equipped mobile laboratory into a locale especially well-suited
for this mission of discovery. The same innovations advance NASA toward
capabilities needed for human missions to Mars.
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Controllers
decided Sunday morning to forgo the sixth and last opportunity on the mission
calendar for a course-correction maneuver. The spacecraft is headed for
its target entry point at the top of Mars' atmosphere precisely enough without
that maneuver.
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Later
today, mission controllers will choose whether or not to use a last opportunity
for updating onboard information the spacecraft will use during its autonomous
control of the entry, descent and landing. Parameters on a motion tracker were
adjusted Saturday for fine-tuning determination of the spacecraft's orientation
during the descent.
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At the
critical moment of Curiosity's touchdown, controllers and the rest of the world
will be relying on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter to provide immediate
confirmation of a successful landing. Odyssey will turn to point in the right
direction beforehand to listen to Curiosity during the landing. If for any reason
that turn maneuver does not work, a successful landing cannot be confirmed
until more than two hours later.
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The
landing will end a 36-week flight from Earth and begin at two-year prime
mission on Mars. Researchers will use Curiosity's 10 science instruments to
investigate whether Martian environmental conditions have ever been favorable
for microbial life.
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Written by Guy Webster –
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif
Guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov
/ agle@jpl.nasa.gov
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-- 11:40pm CDT
--
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All is looking good for Curiosity and she is still
on track for a landing in about 45 minutes. NASA TV is covering it live right now so click on the link a check
it out!
Fingers
Crossed!!!
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-- 12:35pm CDT --
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Celebrating Successful Mars Landing
Of Curiosity
NASA/JPL Ground
Controllers react to learning the Curiosity Rover had landed safely on Mars and
begun to send back images to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Image Credit:
NASA/Bill Ingalls
The first historic image from MSL Mars Curiosity - Courtesy of NASA TV
We have a SAFE
LANDING and on time and our first images from the Lander.
YEAH!!!!!\THE
GOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The 2nd historic image from MSL Mars Curiosity - Courtesy of NASA TV
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Watch Mars Landing LIVE at…
…………………………
* Keep up with the Latest Mission Info…
(LOTS of
videos, images, info and more at JPL link)
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Curiosity
Landing Coverage
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The NASA
TV broadcast schedule is:
(All times
are EDT if I’m correct but you might check in an hour earlier in cased I
missed it. OR… just watch the reruns when you get a chance… lol)
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Saturday,
Aug. 4th
9:30am - Prelanding Update and Entry, Descent and
Landing (EDL) Overview News Briefing
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Sunday,
Aug. 5th
9:30am - Final Prelanding Update News Briefing
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3:00pm - NASA Science News Briefing
8:30pm to about 11:00pm - Landing Commentary No. 1
No earlier than 11:15pm - Post-landing
News Briefing
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Monday,
Aug. 6th
12:30am to 1:30am - Landing Commentary No. 2
9:00am - Landing Recap News Briefing
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Fingers crossed for a successful Mars landing!!!
And I cannot wait for the first images to be sent back to earth, from mars, by
this wonderful piece of machinery that has been made possible by pure American genius. (The first Mars pictures expected from
Curiosity will be reduced-resolution fisheye black-and-white images received
either in the first few minutes after touchdown or more than two hours later.
Higher resolution and color images from other cameras could come later in the
first week. Plans call for Curiosity to deploy a directional antenna on the
first day after landing and raise the camera mast on the 2nd day.)
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Shooting
for the GOLD, NASA!
Make it so…
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AubreyJ………
ROMNEY2012
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All above info
compiled from the NASA.gov website
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