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Author Topic: Curiosity Mission: Shutting Down 2016  (Read 131286 times)

MetalSlimeHunt

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Curiosity Mission: Shutting Down 2016
« on: July 31, 2012, 07:36:29 pm »

Oh yeah, the Curiosity rover of the Mars Science Laboratory is due to touch down on Monday. Assuming nothing goes horrifically wrong, Curiosity has landed on Mars! It will attempt to determine if Mars could ever have supported life, quantify the weather and geology, and gather information for a manned mission.

You also may remember that NASA allowed everyone on the internet the opportunity to have their name stored on the MSL's computer. EDIT: My name, and the names of thousands of others, are now on Mars!

Did I mention that the landing procedure is completely insane and has to be carried out solely by the judgements of a computer? EDIT: Crazy enough to work, it seems!

EDIT:

PARTY TIME!
« Last Edit: December 31, 2013, 06:39:53 pm by MetalSlimeHunt »
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Yoink

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Re: Countdown to Curiosity: 124 Hours Remain
« Reply #1 on: July 31, 2012, 07:44:13 pm »

So dem aliens kin find me an' do speeriments on mah backside?! Yew be all crazy inna head, friend!
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Jervill

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Re: Countdown to Curiosity: 124 Hours Remain
« Reply #2 on: July 31, 2012, 07:44:19 pm »

I really, really, really hope this lands successfully.  It should, but I can't help but be nervous about a new landing sequence in a non-earth atmosphere.
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Karlito

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Re: Countdown to Curiosity: 124 Hours Remain
« Reply #3 on: July 31, 2012, 07:47:14 pm »

This is one of their more ridiculous landings.

EDIT: Curse your ninjutsu OP!
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sneakey pete

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Re: Countdown to Curiosity: 124 Hours Remain
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2012, 08:22:05 pm »

You say that as if just getting to mars isn't insane.
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MetalSlimeHunt

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Re: Countdown to Curiosity: 124 Hours Remain
« Reply #5 on: July 31, 2012, 08:23:35 pm »

To be fair, I suppose the previous landing procedure was pretty crazy too, since it boiled down to "crash and bounce".
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Quote from: Thomas Paine
To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.
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No Gods, No Masters.

Megaman

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Re: Countdown to Curiosity: 124 Hours Remain
« Reply #6 on: July 31, 2012, 08:40:05 pm »

Eh, this will probably seem mundane in a thousand years.

(But it hasn't been one thousand years yet)
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MetalSlimeHunt

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Re: Countdown to Curiosity: 123 Hours Remain
« Reply #7 on: July 31, 2012, 08:42:05 pm »

So? We aren't going to get anywhere if we don't start off. Journey of a hundred miles, and all that.
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Quote from: Thomas Paine
To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.
Quote
No Gods, No Masters.

kaijyuu

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Re: Countdown to Curiosity: 123 Hours Remain
« Reply #8 on: July 31, 2012, 08:46:40 pm »

Eh, this will probably seem mundane in a thousand years.
I dunno, it's not like we call Columbus's journey mundane today.

Though I suppose this isn't as big as discovering a continent. Still I imagine it'll make an interesting footnote in the history books.
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Megaman

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Re: Countdown to Curiosity: 123 Hours Remain
« Reply #9 on: July 31, 2012, 08:48:28 pm »

So? We aren't going to get anywhere if we don't start off. Journey of a hundred miles, and all that.

Oi, I wasn't saying that it's not worth doing. That's like going back in time and killing your father because you already exist
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kaijyuu

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Re: Countdown to Curiosity: 123 Hours Remain
« Reply #10 on: July 31, 2012, 08:49:42 pm »

That's assuming a stable time loop instead of a multiple universes theory of time travel.
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Quote from: Chesterton
For, in order that men should resist injustice, something more is necessary than that they should think injustice unpleasant. They must think injustice absurd; above all, they must think it startling. They must retain the violence of a virgin astonishment. When the pessimist looks at any infamy, it is to him, after all, only a repetition of the infamy of existence. But the optimist sees injustice as something discordant and unexpected, and it stings him into action.

MetalSlimeHunt

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Re: Countdown to Curiosity: 123 Hours Remain
« Reply #11 on: July 31, 2012, 08:55:40 pm »

It is also assuming that time travel is not impossible.
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Quote from: Thomas Paine
To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.
Quote
No Gods, No Masters.

freeformschooler

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Re: Countdown to Curiosity: 123 Hours Remain
« Reply #12 on: July 31, 2012, 08:59:55 pm »

I'm pretty sure if the landing were any more ridiculous it would have to include time travel somehow.
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MetalSlimeHunt

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Re: Countdown to Curiosity: 123 Hours Remain
« Reply #13 on: July 31, 2012, 09:02:07 pm »

I've got it. If the MSL determines that Mars could have once supported life, we'll go back in time and build a huge complex full of supplies and scientific tools deep underground on Past Mars and then access it in the present. We won't have to transport the rovers at all because they will have always been there.

Unfortunately, the lack of such a complex already precludes its existence.
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Quote from: Thomas Paine
To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.
Quote
No Gods, No Masters.

Pnx

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Re: Countdown to Curiosity: 121 Hours Remain
« Reply #14 on: July 31, 2012, 11:14:45 pm »

Didn't they already find evidence of microbial life forms in frozen river beds?
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