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NASA Thread

AlirozAliroz
in Talk
So, given that we don't already have a thread for discussing NASA, and in honor of Curiosity and Opportunity's new sibling, this thread now exists.

OHMIGOSH ONLY 91 MINUTES!
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Comments

  • Imipolex GImipolex G
    Touch the cow. Do it now.
    This thing is moving at, what, two miles per second or so?

    that's....pretty fast.
  • AlirozAliroz
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    It's less than 10,000 miles away...
  • AlirozAliroz
    edited 2018-11-26 18:55:20
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    1 Hour and 7,767 miles left!

    (Sorry if this is a bit spammy, but this is the closest we'll get to watching one of the Apollo missions, and I'm just so excited!)
  • CrystalCrystal
    Munch munch, chomp chomp...
    Apologies far from necessary, I like seeing your enthusiasm.
  • AlirozAliroz
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    As far as I can tell, it's moving steadily at 2.3 miles per second (23 miles in ten seconds).
  • AlirozAliroz
    edited 2018-11-26 19:14:32
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    By my calculations, that's about 8280 miles an hour, or well above ten times the speed of sound (which is seven hundred something something miles an hour)!

    8000 miles is the diameter of the Earth, for reference.

    EDIT:  Less than 5,000 miles to go!
  • Imipolex GImipolex G
    Touch the cow. Do it now.
    Unfortunately I'll be at work by the time it lands.
  • AlirozAliroz
    edited 2018-11-26 19:39:46
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    4 minutes to Cruise Stage separation...

    You know, the Mars Polar Lander failed just after the Cruise Stage Separation.  

    ^ Imipolex confirmed for NASA employee.
  • AlirozAliroz
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    ATMOSPHERE ENTERED
  • AlirozAliroz
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    PARACHUTES DEPLOYED
  • AlirozAliroz
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    LANDING
  • AlirozAliroz
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    Confirmation that the probe is undamaged!

    FIRST PHOTOGRAPH!!!
  • glennmagusharveyglennmagusharvey
    WOOT!
  • Princess AlicePrincess Alice
    You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    OK this is actually totally awesome.
  • AlirozAliroz
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    image
  • AlirozAliroz
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    Also, for those of you who are interested: The first photo from Insight (the dust cap was still on, it'll come off).  You can see the bottom of the probe and the curved horizon (Insight landed in an incredibly flat plain, the Elysium Planitia).

    image
  • Imipolex GImipolex G
    Touch the cow. Do it now.
    Sometimes I think it's weird how other planets can look so much like earth, and yet not.
  • Imipolex GImipolex G
    Touch the cow. Do it now.
    Also dammit, now everyone knows I work for NASA.
  • AlirozAliroz
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    First Clear Image:

    image
  • glennmagusharveyglennmagusharvey
    it almost just looks like a cloudy afternoon over a sandy desert

    also is that a lens flare?
  • BeeBee
    Turns out Mars is just a balmy Tuesday in Hoboken.
  • vtkvtk
    embrace the confusion
    I think it's an image-sensor flare of some kind
  • AlirozAliroz
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    First sound recording from Mars, ever.
  • AlirozAliroz
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    InSight can be seen by satellites orbiting Mars!

  • Imipolex GImipolex G
    Touch the cow. Do it now.
    aww, a cute selfie!
  • AlirozAliroz
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    As of Yesterday, Opportunity has been declared dead, and its fifteen-year mission ended.
  • Princess AlicePrincess Alice
    You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    Fifteen years for a mission that was planned to last 90 days is pretty good, imo.
  • AlirozAliroz
    edited 2019-02-15 01:42:46
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    You don't understand, Opportunity and Spirit were my heroes as a child.  I remember them being launched, and I remember when they just kept going, and on the day that InSight was launched, the first thing my dad asked me was if InSight could run over to Spirit and "push him out of the dirt and brush off the dust, and save him".  Because, in this house, we never gave up on Spirit (I always hoped that Oppy would, after enough time, make it all the way to the other side of the planet where Spirit was, so one twin could save another).

    They represented the best of this century's exploration, of technology and endeavor and the great creativity of mankind.  They defied all odds, and all expectations, and shattered the limits imposed by entropy.  They, and Curiosity, and the Hubble represented the urge we all have for the heavens.

    And now the Hubble seems to be in trouble as well.

    End of an era.
  • eriophora ziaeriophora zia
    I have cut a caper with the dancing mad god
    I'd like to think that one day in my lifetime we'll retrieve Opportunity and fix him up again. 
  • AlirozAliroz
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    They discovered 20 new moons of Saturn.

    Well, not NASA, but still, it's a space thing.

    Also, thread rule:  Pluto is the ninth, final, and smallest planet of the Solar System.
  • vtkvtk
    embrace the confusion
    I hereby register my dissent to that thread rule
  • Imipolex GImipolex G
    Touch the cow. Do it now.
    on what grounds? your PhD in nudity?
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