Mars Rover "Spirit" About to Land

[dave29]

watch here http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/landing.cfm

just confirmed separation from carrier vehicle - about to enter Martian atmosphere.

good luck!

:toast:

[IndianaGreen]

1. I have been watching this since it came on at 8:30 PM ET

Keep fingers crossed!

I hope they don't meet the same fate as Beagle 2.

[dave29]

2. fingers are crossed!!!

Just listening in - so many things have to go right. These people are truly amazing. Throwing a metal container to another planet - and landing it safely. A bit of a challenge to say the least.

[dave29]

3. you watching on the net - or is being shown live on TV?

just curious

[IndianaGreen]

5. On the net

http://www.nasa.gov/ram/35037main_portal.ram

[SadEagle]

7. NASA TV...

... it's available online --- see http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/nasatv/, and at least Dish Network carries it as a 'regular' TV channel..

[IndianaGreen]

10. I am one of the COMCAST slaves

There is a cable monopoly in Indianapolis.

[dave29]

39. good 'ol Indiana

lived in Bloomington down the road for a while. Loved it :)

[SEAburb]

8. I'm watching it on TV.

UW2.tv in Seattle.

[DrWeird]

4. Ain't holed my breath.

I hope they did everything in the correct metric units this time.

[IndianaGreen]

6. They are worried about 40 knots gust of wind on Mars

Wait, my old boss Sean O'Keefe is on now!

[dave29]

9. well, we know it's on target this time :)

now - it's only the simple matter of landing ;)

[IndianaGreen]

12. 73 miles up, 12,000 miles per hour

entering atmosphere now!

[dave29]

11. Entering the atmosphere now!

fun begins

[dave29]

13. slowing down now

nominal condition

[IndianaGreen]

14. parachutes deployed, a bit later

heat shield separated!

[dave29]

15. parachute deployment

lander separation detected!

[IndianaGreen]

16. Bouncing on surface

this is it!

[dave29]

17. bouncing!!!

woohoo!

[TexasPatriot]

18. 10 minutes of bouncing and rolling

that just doesnt sound like fun...

[short bus president]

20. Shhhhhhh!

Don't tell my girlfriend that!

[dave29]

19. loss of signal from spacecraft

yikes

lets hope she survived

[dave29]

21. and I've lost my NASA tv feed

:(

[IndianaGreen]

22. I did too--turn to CNN

it is live!

[SadEagle]

24. here too.

had to run to TV, to turn NASA channel on.. But it's quiet now..

[DrWeird]

23. What? What's that noise?

Is that universal laughter ringing out among the stars?

[TexasPatriot]

25. i blame britney spears

a nuptual curse from the god of war!!!

[IndianaGreen]

26. It landed!

great!

[SEAburb]

27. signal has been recieved from rover, high five time //nt

<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[dave29]

29. wooohooo!!

damn, thats sweet. Could receive images within the hour :)

[IndianaGreen]

28. Safe landing. Signal received.

Everyone is happy and relieved!

[TexasPatriot]

30. cnn said pictures as early as 9PST

bad ass!!!

[Cooley Hurd]

31. From SpaceflightNow.com:

http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/status.html
0452 GMT (11:52 p.m. EST)
SPIRIT IS ALIVE ON MARS! A "very strong signal" is now being received from the Spirit rover from the Gusev Crater on the surface of the Red Planet!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[IndianaGreen]

32. NASA feed is back on

which is great because CNN just ended theirs.

[sonias]

33. cheers to spirit

Yeah!!!

Sonia

[IndianaGreen]

34. News conference in half an hour, 9:30 PM PT

NASA feed.

[dave29]

35. maybe they'll sneak us

some pics before then :)

[daleo]

36. Great news for a change

Maybe there is still hope for Beagle as well.

[IndianaGreen]

37. URL for NASA TV

http://www.nasa.gov/ram/35037main_portal.ram

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html

[Norquist Nemesis]

38. This was so cool!

I clicked and connected just as the room erupted with cheers! Can't wait to see some pics!!! :)

[dave29]

40. press conference starting

lots of happy folks

[IndianaGreen]

41. Press conference is on!

CNN and NASA TV

[IndianaGreen]

42. Standby for first pictures from Mars in 10 minutes (is now 2:07 AM ET)

Live on NASA TV:

http://www.nasa.gov/ram/35037main_portal.ram

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html

[dave29]

43. yes!

everything according to plan so far

[IndianaGreen]

44. engineering data will come in first, followed by thumbnail pictures

NASA TV standing by....

[IndianaGreen]

45. 24 megabits, 12 minutes of data

still waiting...

On edit: It takes 12 minutes to play back the data.

[dave29]

46. sounds like they got the optimal amount of data

they could have expected. Truly amazing.

We should know something in the next 10 minutes...

[IndianaGreen]

47. 2 more minutes to wait...

looking good.

[IndianaGreen]

48. Another 5 minute wait

it has to do with the fact there is no direct link between Earth and Spirit. NASA has to rely on the Mars orbiter.

[dave29]

49. Good ole Odyssey

been doing a good job over there for some time now - now will bring us first pictures from the surface in years

[IndianaGreen]

50. Here it comes!

data and pictures!

[Algorem]

52. Oh look!It's a reptilian with a tire iron!Oap!

[IndianaGreen]

51. Excellent pictures!

Fantastic!

[dave29]

53. check out first pics here

http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/040104image1.html

[Heyo]

54. I guess...

It might take a day or so for the first full color panormas to come in..

This thing is going to take LOADS of pictures..in addition to terrain... pics of martian sky.. martian sunset...martian sunrise...Earth from Mars.. what the martian sky looks like, etc... microscopic pictures of martian rocks.. it has a grinter tool to grind the surface off rocks...all kinds of really neat stuff.

-Heyo

[dave29]

56. indeed!

I can't wait

[IndianaGreen]

55. Excellent pictures

looks like our TV show is almost over. It is 5 AM on Mars.

[Moderator]

57. Kick!

:dem:

[proud patriot]

58. Here's a link to streaming video of the pictures coming in on NASA TV

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=982583

[dave29]

59. panorama

http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/040104image5.html