You gotta feel good for these guys - I've never seen scientists get drunk on live TV before.
----

NASA Rover Touches Down on Mars
By ANDREW BRIDGES, AP Science Writer

PASADENA, Calif. - A NASA rover plunged through the atmosphere of Mars and bounced down upon its rocky surface Saturday night, beginning a mission to roam the Red Planet in search of evidence that it was once suitable for life.

Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory let out whoops of joy and embraced one another as signals from the Spirit rover indicated it had survived the landing.

When the spacecraft stopped bouncing, the four-petaled lander that contains the rover was standing upright. That will make unfolding it easier, said Chris Jones, director of planetary flight programs at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"That is how we hoped it would land," Jones said.

___________________
FLUSHED THE JOHNS!

Eat it, Beagle.

Good day for NASA, but I'm still waiting for a manned trip somewhere other then orbit to get my space juices flowing.

Watch Pres. Bush's state of the union address in a couple of weeks. Rumor has it that NASA will be one of the themes - a return to the moon, and then to Mars. Finally!

That said, the NASA news conference just said that there will be pictures in a few hours. I'll catch em in the morning.

___________________
FLUSHED THE JOHNS!

i wish i had tv... , luckly i have my trusty computer to fill me in on the world, and my 2 fat cats right here to tell me all about mars. when i said fat i meant 18lbs, 15lbs.

___________________

Nasa TV live on the web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/nasatv/

___________________
FLUSHED THE JOHNS!

The official NASA sight:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html

Play by play as it happened:
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/...ustextonly.html

Live net coverage;
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html

Just awesome! And it landed upright - can't get much more of a perfect landing than that.

It was very exciting following each stage of the landing on the spaceflightnow sight. Unbelievable. Can't wait for the first pics...of rocks...and some sand .

Just cool.

They're just "downloading" the first batch of data (24megabits). 1 minute to go...

WOW! Here we go - the first pics coming now. Here's a screen capture from live NASA TV, overlooking the Mars landscape. Big rock and airbags over on the right in the first picture. The second pic is a mosaic of several.

(pics removed)

___________________
FLUSHED THE JOHNS!

Last edited by imokruok on Jan-04-2004 at 19:52

Some of the first images have been posted:
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/...0104image1.html
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/...0104image2.html
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/...0104image3.html
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/...0104image5.html
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/...image5_full.jpg <--- nice high detail panoramic image (not colour tho - first colour images expected sunday evening US west time)

Better high res of pics above from official NASA site:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/rov...P1502R000M1.jpg <-- same panoramic as above; probably best image so far.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/rov...d-p150x_pol.jpg

Super high res colour image part 1 (4mb jpg 2500x2750 pixels)
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gall...6a/PIA04995.jpg

Last edited by b1_ on Jan-07-2004 at 03:16

This looks like it until tomorrow. The rover is going to sleep until it makes contact with the NASA orbiter in a few hours. I'm goin' to bed - 2am here. Later-

___________________
FLUSHED THE JOHNS!

quote:

Originally posted by imokruok

AMERIKKKA #1! USA! USA! USA!

this is awsome though, a little more pricy than pathfinder, even if its two rovers instead of one. glad it made it... unlike last time

ps: pre-emtive conspiracy "THIS IS A HOAX AND WAS FILMED AT AREA 51"

quote:

Originally posted by NeoPhono Eat it, Beagle. Good day for NASA, but I'm still waiting for a manned trip somewhere other then orbit to get my space juices flowing.

Euro is now even with us. We lost one, they lost one. also I agree, we need manned missions, and convert those terrorist martians who killed the beagle to americanism

quote:

Originally posted by rizen Euro is now even with us. We lost one, they lost one.

Well, not quite. NASA's been there successfully before.

___________________
FLUSHED THE JOHNS!