NASA to launch Curiosity rover 10:02 a.m. EST Saturday. - Watch live.
263 replies, posted
Why do they need to spin it?
30 seconds!
[editline]26th November 2011[/editline]
Seperate!
Oh, wow. Look at that.
Separation.
Now we wait 9 months.
Godspeed, Curiosity.
NASA has some nice-looking girls working for them
Ok show's over go home.
This has got to be an extremely rewarding day for the people that have been working on MSL for the past 7 years. Let's hope it gets on Mars safely.
[QUOTE=Dacheet;33446981]Why do they need to spin it?[/QUOTE]
So that it keeps its Orientation under the effect of Gravitational Tides.
Two, one, mic check.
Nice to see it go smoothly.
That's the first rocket launch I've watched for quite a while. It's an odd feeling, not knowing whether you'll see it go on its way to Mars, or watch an incredibly expensive firework.
Just hope it lands ok.
I'd watch the stream for either :v
Billion Firework show and spacecraft launch are about the same level of entertainment.
[QUOTE=Wormy;33447220]It is pretty cool what humanity can do together. I bet all the workers at NASA got a very high IQ.[/QUOTE]
I'm not sure IQ plays a large ball when it comes to doing the never done before, correct me if I'm wrong.
[QUOTE=doonbugie2;33447324]I'm not sure IQ plays a large ball when it comes to doing the never done before, correct me if I'm wrong.[/QUOTE]
It helps, though.
OP updated with videos of launch and separation for those that missed it.
FFFuuuuck I wanted to see this Live but I just woke up. :(
I had to tip-toe over my sleeping 20-year-old brother to watch this. Suck it up, boys.
Is there any way to follow its path to Mars on a live map?
I can't want for this thing to kill the cat.
[QUOTE=farmatyr;33450808]Is there any way to follow its path to Mars on a live map?[/QUOTE]
Not a map, and hasn't been updated since the 19th, but it's the best I could find.
[url]http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/whereistherovernow/[/url]
Hmm, apparently the data is available, idk where to find a nice image or how to plot it though.
[url]http://www.satobs.org/seesat/Nov-2011/0288.html[/url]
Edit: despite the post I found, there's nothing on the Horizons web interface for the MSL anyway. We'll have to wait.
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Revised: Nov 22, 2011 MSL Spacecraft / (Sun) -76
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/
BACKGROUND
Trajectory for launch Saturday Nov 26 15:02 UTC, with data beginning AFTER
Centaur stage separation, ~49 minutes after launch.
Launch site: Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
MISSION
Mars Science Laboratory is a rover that will assess over its 98-week
(1 Martian year) primary mission whether Mars is or ever was an environment
able to support microbial life. Four specific goals:
* Assess the biological potential of at least one target environment by
determining the nature and inventory of organic carbon compounds,
searching for the chemical building blocks of life and identifying
features that may record the actions of biologically relevant processes.
* Characterize the geology of the rover's field site at all appropriate
spatial scales by investigating the chemical, isotopic and mineralogical
composition of surface and near-surface materials and interpreting
the processes that have formed rocks and soils.
* Investigate past habitability (including role of water) by assessing
the long timescale atmospheric evolution and determining the present
state, distribution and cycling of water and carbon dioxide.
* Characterize the broad spectrum of surface radiation, including galactic
cosmic radiation, solar proton events and secondary neutrons.
MARS LANDING:
Time: 2012-Aug-6, 06:00-15:30 UTC
Site: 4.5 degrees south latitude, 137.4 degrees east longitude,
inside Gale Crater
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
* Launch vehicle : Atlas V-541
Height w/payload : 191 feet (58 meters)
Mass fueled w/spacecraft: 531,000 kilograms
* Spacecraft
Mass: 3,893 kilograms total at launch,
2,401-kilogram EDL system (aeroshell + fueled descent stage)
539-kilogram fueled cruise stage
Cruise vehicle (cruise stage, aeroshell, w/rover & descent stage)
Diameter: 14 feet, 9 inches (4.5 meters)
height: 9 feet, 8 inches (3 meters)
Rover name: Curiosity
Rover dimensions:
Length: 9 feet, 10 inches (3.0 meters) (not counting arm)
Width: 9 feet, 1 inch (2.8 meters)
Height at top of mast: 7 feet (2.1 meters)
Arm length: 7 feet (2.1 meters)
Wheel diameter: 20 inches (0.5 meter)
Mass : 899-kilogram rover
Power: radioisotope thermoelectric generator & lithium-ion batteries
SCIENCE PAYLOAD: 75 kilograms in 10 instruments
* Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer
* Chemistry and Camera
* Chemistry and Mineralogy
* Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons
* Mars Descent Imager
* Mars Hand Lens Imager
* Mast Camera
* Radiation Assessment Detector
* Rover Environmental Monitoring Station
* Sample Analysis at Mars
SPACECRAFT TRAJECTORY: pre-launch planning trajectory
Trajectory name Start Stop
---------------------------------------- ----------- -----------
msl_spk_cruise_1126-1502-tzero_v1_dsnsch 2011-Nov-26 2012-Aug-06
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