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NASA's latest Mars Rover launched on 11/26/2011

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USMCnBNSFdude
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28 Nov 2011, 12:48 pm

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QCNsKricls&feature=topvideos_science[/youtube]

wikipedia wrote:
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) mission with the aim to land and operate a rover named Curiosity on the surface of Mars. The MSL was launched November 26, 2011, at 10:02 EST and is scheduled to land on Mars at Gale Crater between August 6 and 20, 2012. The rover Curiosity, attempting a more precise landing than ever attempted previously, is intended to help assess Mars' habitability. Its primary mission objective is to determine whether Mars is or has ever been an environment able to support life but it will not look for any life itself. It is also intended to analyze samples scooped up from the soil and drilled from rocks.


I'm stunned I didn't hear of this until today.

Any thoughts?



theimperiousdork
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28 Nov 2011, 12:52 pm

I was kind of wondering if they are doing this to see if Mars can be occupied by human beings or what not. But given the current circumstances, I don't think it'd be a success.


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USMCnBNSFdude
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28 Nov 2011, 12:59 pm

You don't think what would be a success? Landing humans? In that case, yeah it probably won't happen because of bad budgeting and over-complication of things. But I think it's totally possible.



DemonAbyss10
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28 Nov 2011, 1:02 pm

Id laugh if because they aren't really looking for life this time around, but whether it is habitable or ever was, that they actually find something extremely important this time around. It would just be ironic, because thats how s**t is. Its comparable to finding the TV remote AFTER you stopped looking.


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theimperiousdork
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28 Nov 2011, 1:07 pm

USMCnBNSFdude wrote:
You don't think what would be a success? Landing humans? In that case, yeah it probably won't happen because of bad budgeting and over-complication of things. But I think it's totally possible.


That can be one factor, but given the distance between the Sun and Mars, as well as the current conditions on said planet, human habitation would be difficult at this point. Human life on Mars, IMO, might be possible, but after millennia.


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MsMarginalized
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28 Nov 2011, 1:20 pm

With the economy in the dumps like it is...the US Gov. deficit where it is & US citizens joining the land of the 3rd world (think of those new folks living out of their cars & all the stories over Thanksgiving of more & more "food insecure" US citizens) I just have to ask:

WHY THE BLEEP ARE WE SPENDING MONEY ON SPACE EXPLORATION?

Public education spending has been cut, cut, cut. Our local Police dept. has had to lay off 40+ patrolmen, even the Federal Government has had to push their budget just to be funded for day-to-day expenses.

There is NO NEED for us to lead the world in space exploration (and I'm also beginning to wonder about all of our FOREIGN AID dollars??? Especially the money paid lately to PAKISTAN.....they harbored a mass murderer & flaunt western values at every chance they get.)

Let's just keep US dollars at home, helping US citizens (& all those illegal aliens that made it in the borders.)



ruveyn
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28 Nov 2011, 6:08 pm

theimperiousdork wrote:
I was kind of wondering if they are doing this to see if Mars can be occupied by human beings or what not. But given the current circumstances, I don't think it'd be a success.


The only two extra terrestrial bodies in the Solar System that humans could possibly in habit are Mars and the Moon, provide water is found on the Moon. If not, the Moon will have to be resupplied from Earth which is feasible but expensive.

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28 Nov 2011, 11:19 pm

MsMarginalized wrote:
WHY THE BLEEP ARE WE SPENDING MONEY ON SPACE EXPLORATION?
It's not like they got the money for this last month and decided to build a rocket - this will have started long before the current problems and had long gone past the stage where to abandon it would be more expensive and more of a waste than to continue.

As to why are we exploring space? Because it's what man does. It's one of the reasons we no longer live in caves.


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ruveyn
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29 Nov 2011, 4:45 am

Cornflake wrote:
MsMarginalized wrote:
WHY THE BLEEP ARE WE SPENDING MONEY ON SPACE EXPLORATION?
It's not like they got the money for this last month and decided to build a rocket - this will have started long before the current problems and had long gone past the stage where to abandon it would be more expensive and more of a waste than to continue.

As to why are we exploring space? Because it's what man does. It's one of the reasons we no longer live in caves.


What is your opinion of the GPS system. That is based on set of 24 satellites in very precise orbits. That is work in space.

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ruveyn
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08 Dec 2011, 11:32 am

theimperiousdork wrote:
I was kind of wondering if they are doing this to see if Mars can be occupied by human beings or what not. But given the current circumstances, I don't think it'd be a success.


If they find water on Mars then it is possible to built long-term human habitats on that planet.

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