DailyDirt: Mars Missions

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The successful landing of NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars will hopefully be followed by several years of fascinating data collection about our planetary neighbor. The mission has already gathered tons of useful radiation measurements on its journey that will give scientists a better idea of what kind of radiation levels a future manned mission would face on a similar trip to Mars. Here are just a few other interesting Mars-related missions to peruse while Curiosity performs its self-diagnostics before roaming around the surface of Mars. If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.
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Filed Under: curiosity, heat shield, india, mars, opportunity, rover
Companies: nasa


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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2012 @ 5:01pm

    Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars

    Let me see what spring is like on jupiter and mars

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2012 @ 5:07pm

    upper limit of life on Mars..?

    So is there any evidence so far that shows that there couldn't be vast life on Mars?

    There are all sorts of "artists depictions" of ecosystems that look like rainforests on Mars, but how unrealistic or realistic are those concepts?

    But maybe if we drill for oil on Mars... we'll find some fossil fuels... Drill, baby, drill!!!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Pixelation, 8 Aug 2012 @ 5:22pm

      Re: upper limit of life on Mars..?

      "Drill, baby, drill!!!"

      You worked really hard for that one.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 9 Aug 2012 @ 2:12am

      Re: upper limit of life on Mars..?

      The surface is bombarded with high-intensity ultraviolet radiation that would kill pretty much all Earth organisms. That radiation has also created a large quantity of peroxides over the entire surface that would react like powerful bleach with living cells, killing them.

      But apart from that, the question is still pretty much open.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 10 Aug 2012 @ 2:54pm

      Re: upper limit of life on Mars..?

      Just ask John Carter.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Wally (profile), 8 Aug 2012 @ 5:15pm

    Memories

    Hi have very fond memories of the hype surrounding the 1997 mars rover Pheonix in 1997. My dad and I watched it roll off it's ramp via dialiup modem.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2012 @ 5:39pm

      Re: Memories

      ... the 1997 mars rover Pheonix...


      You're a little confused on names:

      • The 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission had the Sojourner rover.

      • The 2007 Phoenix Mars mission was a stationary lander near the polar regions.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Wally (profile), 8 Aug 2012 @ 9:44pm

        Re: Re: Memories

        Oops, yeah, my bad, still watched the Mars Pathfinder. That's the result of speed reading on Wikipedia's charts. But still I have fond memories of sitting around our 13 inch monitor to watch an image the size of a postage stamp. My goodness technology has come a long way.

        Xbox 360 owners had fun with it. Their "game" from NASA was quite cool from what I heard.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    abc gum, 8 Aug 2012 @ 5:54pm

    Too bad several networks are claiming copyright upon the publicly funded NASA videos and getting them taken down.

    These people know no shame.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Wally (profile), 8 Aug 2012 @ 9:52pm

      Re:

      I love NASA. They've always made their works public domain and open for use. They are the only government agency anyone can trust because they don't pull shit lik that. Please do not politicize any articles by Micheal Ho. I think the idea with his articles are to break away from the debates and help us all connect in one way or another.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Michael Ho (profile), 8 Aug 2012 @ 11:32pm

        Re: Re:

        Wally,

        Thanks for defending these DailyDirt posts.... yes, they're meant to be a break from the usual political outrage around here.

        But sometimes there's no stopping the political debates....

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Wally (profile), 9 Aug 2012 @ 6:26am

          Re: Re: Re:

          Any time Michael Ho. While I cannot stop all political debates, I try to keep an open mind.

          I might add that some of your posts bring back a lot of fond memories.

          Pertaining to Mars, my 8th birthday, Central Ohio's infamous Science Museum, COSCI, had a Mars exhibit where you got tickets and had the opportunity to perform geological surveys of the surface of Mars. Average age of my group was 7. We got in and much to my mother's chagrin and in spite of the fact they over-booked our flight to mars, we had a good time.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            abc gum, 9 Aug 2012 @ 10:45am

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            Seriously, in what way was the comment political?

            link to this | view in chronology ]

            • icon
              Wally (profile), 9 Aug 2012 @ 11:24pm

              Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

              abc gum,
              I send you my deepest appologies. Initially my comment was a bit directed at you and I lashed out to everyone.

              As for your comment, it would have been slightly more appropriate (at least in my opinion) in the article pertaining to Cripps Company's takedown request of the footage. Your statement was not political and I do admit that. I just feared it would have attracted the attention of AC trolls.

              Michael Ho's articles are a break from debate.

              Michael, did you ever teach or have any relatives that taught 7th grade science?

              link to this | view in chronology ]

              • icon
                Michael Ho (profile), 10 Aug 2012 @ 5:11pm

                Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

                Wally,

                Uh, nope, I've never taught at the 7th grade level... undergrads, sure.

                And I don't know of any relatives who teach 7th grade....

                My surname is fairly common, though, so I'm sure there are plenty of teachers out there with my last name.

                link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 9 Aug 2012 @ 2:13am

        Re: They've always made their works public domain and open for use.

        That’s a requirement for anything published by a US government agency.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        abc gum, 9 Aug 2012 @ 6:20am

        Re: Re:

        I'm curious what you think is political about this problem.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Wally (profile), 11 Aug 2012 @ 10:00pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          Political may not be the right word for your post. I simply thought it was not right for this article. No worries, know what you mean abc gum.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2012 @ 8:25pm

    More wasted money.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Stephan Kinsella (profile), 8 Aug 2012 @ 8:51pm

    Waste of money

    Of course every cent spent by the state, including this schlock, is a waste of resources.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Wally (profile), 8 Aug 2012 @ 10:04pm

    My connection to Curiosity

    I feel sort of a connection to the whole Mars rover project because I'm from Ohio, US. The NASA Glenn research center in the city of Cleveland tested the airbag deployment system ^_^

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Kevin (profile), 9 Aug 2012 @ 5:13am

    Job done for us

    "Well here we are on Mars. Nothing we need to do to stuff up this planet"

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Aug 2012 @ 2:48pm

    OMG, there may have once been water on Mars!

    SFW?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Wally (profile), 9 Aug 2012 @ 11:30pm

    Landing

    Sorry folks. Found this on the Cheezburger Network and could not resist it.

    http://chzb.gr/Nl91eo

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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