Mars Exploration Thread -Evidence for Water Found

[California8429]

Woo

[Frodo]

We're expecting images from Curiosity. 

[Tender Branson]

The data signal from the orbiter is very strong they say ...

PS: And they already have a real-time picture from the surface.

[Lambsbread]

And it's on! So excited!!!

[Frodo]

And it's on! So excited!!!

With this level of excitement over a rover, you can just imagine the sheer thrill we will all have once an (American) astronaut walks on Mars.  

[Lambsbread]

And it's on! So excited!!!

With this level of excitement over a rover, you can just imagine the sheer thrill we will all have once an (American) astronaut walks on Mars.  

It'll be quite a milestone I feel an odd sense of American pride mixed with sheer energy. This is great.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Did anyone else notice Larry David in the NASA room?

Also, OH MY GOD! OH MY ING GOD!

[Lambsbread]

Did anyone else notice Larry David in the NASA room?

Was he actually there? I didn't notice. That's cool

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

What an awesome picture of the shadow of the rover after it landed... so simple yet so cool!

[Lambsbread]

What an awesome picture of the shadow of the rover after it landed... so simple yet so cool!

It really is symbolic. It may not look like much, but I'm jumping for joy. This is so great.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

The shadow makes it look a bit like R2D2.

[Lambsbread]

The shadow makes it look a bit like R2D2.

COVER BLOWN EVERYBODY RUN

[Frodo]

[Lambsbread]

Everytime I seen those photos, I geek the hell out. They're so awesome.

[Frodo]

[Lambsbread]

[Frodo]

And here are the first color photos from Mars:

[Lambsbread]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I SCREAMED

[Frodo]

We also got our first 360 degree color panoramic photo from the rover.

[dead0man]

[Frodo]

The rover is set to begin its primary mission and the reason why we sent it over to Mars in the first place -science:

NASA unveils Mars rover Curiosity’s travel plans

By Irene Klotz, Published: August 18

The first destination of NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity will be an area near its Gale Crater landing site, where three kinds of terrain come together in a striking and unusual way.

The rover’s primary mission is to reach the base of Mount Sharp — a three-mile high mound with layers of exposed rock — as it searches for the building blocks of possible Martian microbial life.

But the six-wheeled Curiosity will first visit a site in a different direction because of the three adjoining rock formations, which scientists say could help them better understand the history of the crater and of Mars. They named the site Glenelg after a rock formation in northern Canada.

[Frodo]

Streams Of Water Once Flowed On Mars; NASA Says Photos Prove It



by BILL CHAPPELL
September 27, 2012

NASA's Curiosity rover has found definitive proof that water once ran across the surface of Mars, the agency announced today. NASA scientists say new photos from the rover show rocks that were smoothed and rounded by water. The rocks are in a large canyon and nearby channels that were cut by flowing water, making up an alluvial fan.

"You had water transporting these gravels to the downslope of the fan," NASA researchers say. The gravel then formed into a conglomerate rock, which was in turn likely covered before being exposed again.

The agency's scientists presented their findings of the former streambed on Mars at a news conference today.

[Politico]

Neat. Too bad Obama has gutted NASA because their scientific research:

A) Contributes to economic growth by paving the way for future innovations in technology
B) Will be remembered long after most everything else happening right now

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Neat. Too bad Obama has gutted NASA

Gutted?

You must have a weird definition of "gutted".  NASA's FY 2010 budget was the largest it ever had. Granted 2011 and later are slightly smaller, but even so, the proposed NASA budgets of $17.7 billion per year are still larger than any pre-Obama administration budget.  Even in constant dollars only the Apollo-era budgets of 1963-9 were appreciably larger.