DailyDirt: Exploring Mars

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Over the next few years, we should be learning quite a bit more about our Martian neighbors. The Curiosity Rover is just starting out, but if it performs as well as its predecessors, then it should provide tons of interesting data about Mars and its geological history. When Curiosity ceases to function, maybe we'll be more willing to send manned missions, but robots seem to be doing a pretty good job so far. Here are just a few interesting tidbits on the red planet. 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, esa, exploration, mars, nasa, odyssey probe, satellites, space, spacecraft, unmanned


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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Sep 2012 @ 5:06pm

    Woah, what- ohh.

    I read that as Exploding Mars...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    That Anonymous Coward (profile), 11 Sep 2012 @ 5:10pm

    Someday I hope to troll as well as Curiosity...

    http://www.lolroflmao.com/2012/08/14/goes-to-mars-draws-a-dick/

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Sep 2012 @ 5:14pm

    Re: Woah, what- ohh.

    No one has a Death Star just yet... but don't piss off the Emperor or Vader.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. icon
    Wally (profile), 12 Sep 2012 @ 3:50pm

    Re: Re: Woah, what- ohh.

    ...or claim that you are on a diplomatic mission to said planet.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Wally (profile), 12 Sep 2012 @ 3:52pm

    Russia.....

    "The Mars Curiosity Rover isn't the only spacecraft to try to land on an astronomical object in our solar system. At least twelve other unmanned crafts have hit moons, asteroids or other planets: the Soviet Union's Luna 9, NASA'a Surveyor 1 on the moon, the Lunokhod 1 on the moon, Russia's Venera 7 on Venus, Soviet Mars 3, the Viking 1 and Viking 2 spacecrafts on Mars, the Mars Pathfinder, the NEAR Shoemaker on an asteroid, Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the Huygens probe of Titan, Japan's Hayabusa probe, and the Mars Phoenix lander."

    They forgot the Lunokhod 1 and Lunokhod 2....the former still works.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Jezsik, 12 Sep 2012 @ 4:24pm

    Sending people to Mars is such a bad idea

    As a longtime fan of science fiction, I really want a colony on Mars (or anywhere in space). However, the cost and technological requirements of getting someone to Mars and back is mind bogglingly big. I would much prefer to see that money invested in robotics. Look at the technology benefits we derived from the cold war. Imagine the spinoffs from robotic missions! We could make machines that are mostly self sufficient and capable of carrying out multiple tasks unsupervised. Look at the current domestic robotic situation; we have an anemic vacuum cleaner that rarely cleans a floor. Is that the best we can do? So many mundane jobs could be carried out by robots if we had the technology to make it happen. Investing in robotic exploration will reap great rewards.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 12 Sep 2012 @ 5:35pm

    What I got out of the third headline

    "11-year-old...probe...Curiosity...more...exploring..."

    link to this | view in thread ]


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