OT: Mars 2020 Perseverance Landing 2:15 PM EST
The Mars 2020 mission will be landing the Perseverance rover today. You can watch the stream online. Broadcast starts at 2:15 PM EST and the actual touchdown is expected at 3:55 PM. This rover is particularly interesting because it has a drone helicopter, which will be an interesting new way to explore other worlds.
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/landing/watch-online/
February 18th, 2021 at 1:33 PM ^
I always enjoy these things. Thanks for posting. And hopefully, NASA hasn't decided to use both English and Metric systems again and pile-drives Mars once more.
February 18th, 2021 at 1:48 PM ^
Back in the late 70s there was a lunar lander arcade game. Once you played it a couple of times and could safely land it, it got a bit boring. We then tried to see how fast we could get the lander going before it plowed into the moon.
February 18th, 2021 at 2:18 PM ^
My childhood cost-benefit analysis was not impressed with the value of this game. A quarter was a lot of money back then.
February 18th, 2021 at 2:22 PM ^
a similar game was free at the Science Museum, loved it but a poor comparison to the X-wing star wars game that had line/box graphics only.
February 18th, 2021 at 2:23 PM ^
Thanks, I just wasted 5 minutes at work playing this. And I plan on doing it the rest of the day.
http://moonlander.seb.ly/
February 18th, 2021 at 2:35 PM ^
You are most welcome. Thanks for the link...
"You created a two mile crater"
February 18th, 2021 at 2:36 PM ^
Asshole.
Shits addicting...
February 18th, 2021 at 2:52 PM ^
Brings me back!
February 18th, 2021 at 1:35 PM ^
Expanding our recruiting footprint. I hope this pays dividends like the satellite camps of years past.
February 18th, 2021 at 1:35 PM ^
prediction: the drone lifts gracefully from the rover and turns its eyes skyward toward the sun. there is something like a dark cloud hovering in sky, then a blinding flash, then silence.
the attack has begun.
February 18th, 2021 at 1:41 PM ^
When that happens to the drone, Perseverance will shake a robotic arm and yell at that cloud.
Problem solved!
February 18th, 2021 at 1:41 PM ^
I care far more about this than anything having to do with Michigan football or basketball at the moment.
February 18th, 2021 at 2:14 PM ^
This is really, really cool stuff, but not sure it is a better follow than our basketball program right now.
February 18th, 2021 at 2:23 PM ^
I thought the point of the mission was to find defensive tackles and corners.
February 18th, 2021 at 1:41 PM ^
Space is one of my big interests, even though I am terrible at anything math.
It is just so hard to wrap the human mind around the fact that we can barely explore our solar system and how much there is out there.
February 18th, 2021 at 2:17 PM ^
Especially if there are multiple universes in the cosmos. That is extremely ... impossible ... to fathom.
I mean, there are probably worlds with lifeforms the size of ants more intelligent than us. Maybe worlds where life forms are as large as our planet. Maybe worlds that overrate Izzo and MSU basketball more than Earths media!
What if our universe that we live in is simply a water droplet on a blade of grass on another, much, much larger Universe/Cosmo (whatever the hell you want to call it).
February 18th, 2021 at 2:21 PM ^
It's really hard to read hard sci-fi books from the 70s and 80s and realize how far we are behind their (and my) expectations.
February 18th, 2021 at 4:07 PM ^
I also am fascinated with space. I also find it fascinating that we are curbing fossil fuels to reduce CO2 on our planet yet there is a mad dash to get to Mars that has an atmosphere primarily composed of CO2 at 95%.
February 18th, 2021 at 6:43 PM ^
I don’t think our goal is to make Earth more like Mars. We just want to explore it.
February 18th, 2021 at 1:43 PM ^
drone helicopter? they aren't planning on peeping in the windows of martians i hope.....
February 18th, 2021 at 3:12 PM ^
Great. Intergalactic peeping toms...
February 18th, 2021 at 3:14 PM ^
the big question is what happens first, we piss the martians off, or infect them with Covid-19?
February 18th, 2021 at 3:14 PM ^
if the martians show up wearing masks, we'll know they've been watching us all along....
February 18th, 2021 at 5:09 PM ^
Oh, they've been watching.
Fortunately, they've reached the limit of what anal probing can teach them.
February 18th, 2021 at 6:55 PM ^
they've been here since at least the stone age:
that's the flint 'stone' age.
February 18th, 2021 at 1:46 PM ^
For anyone not able to watch on the internet, ABC will have live coverage starting at 3:30 and will also show a special at 10 pm this evening.
NASA TV coverage begins at 2:15 pm along with numerous websites such as Space.com.
Plenty of viewing options for space nerds such as myself.
February 18th, 2021 at 1:50 PM ^
What sort of visuals are folks anticipating from the coverage? Would love to get my first grader into it, but he won't sit there and listen to NASA engineers having a radio convo.
February 18th, 2021 at 2:38 PM ^
Looks like close to the landing (expected to occur 3:55pm EST) there will be a detailed visual (looked like video game-esque graphics) showing what's happening based on the real time data coming in.
February 18th, 2021 at 3:18 PM ^
Yeah... it's 15 minute time delay for the signal to get to Earth from Mars. So they cannot show a "live" entry.
Also, all the sensors are stored.
They may not deploy the camera mast until hours later... after the engineers have checked out the state of health of the rover.
But with that said, I'm dual screening NASA live on youtube right next to the Game Stop hearings shitshow.
February 18th, 2021 at 2:54 PM ^
There will be atmospheric entry where you’ll see the whole thing heat up from the air friction, there will be a parachute deployed. The powered descent will use thrusters to slow to a hover. Then the “sky crane” will lower the rover.
edit: I guess I should point out that it’s not clear what the camera will actually be able to show. Probably hard to take selfies while landing.
February 18th, 2021 at 2:06 PM ^
Also NASA TV - internet stream
https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#public
February 18th, 2021 at 1:57 PM ^
totally sweet. Thanks for the reminder!
I almost forgot and I'm dying to check this out.
February 18th, 2021 at 2:05 PM ^
Hopefully we get more detailed information about their transfer portal, particularly @ QB.
February 18th, 2021 at 3:51 PM ^
Well, hopefully QB because #10 is never going to be a DT.
February 18th, 2021 at 2:14 PM ^
Thanks for the heads up! Here's footage of Curiosity landing, 2012
February 18th, 2021 at 2:43 PM ^
Perseverance will land the same way Curiosity did, so it's a good primer!
February 18th, 2021 at 2:15 PM ^
That humanity can embark on such grand endeavors, yet we argue over wearing masks makes me marvel at the potential and fragility of humankind.
February 18th, 2021 at 2:42 PM ^
Maybe deny the advances of science to those who deny the advances of science...
February 18th, 2021 at 2:41 PM ^
Thanks for the reminder.
February 18th, 2021 at 2:46 PM ^
Real space nerds also know that Krispy Kreme is peddling a special doughnut for today only - the Mars Doughnut! If you can get to a KK today, pick one up for me. It's been raining ice in VA since 4AM, so I'm out of luck.
February 18th, 2021 at 2:57 PM ^
Great looking donut, it even has the polar ice caps and Olympus Mons, a 16-mile tall Martian volcano that has a base as large as the state of Arizona.
https://krispykreme.com/menu/doughnuts/mars-doughnut
February 18th, 2021 at 3:18 PM ^
Hello space nerds
February 18th, 2021 at 3:46 PM ^
HOW ARE THEY GETTING THE VIDEO OF THE OUTSIDE OF THE SHIP!? THE MARS LANDING WAS FAKED!!!
/s
February 18th, 2021 at 3:50 PM ^
The seven minutes of terror has begun! Good luck to Perseverance for a safe landing!
February 18th, 2021 at 3:57 PM ^
Safe touchdown!! Congrats to the Mars 2020 team!!
February 18th, 2021 at 3:57 PM ^
Well done nerds!!!
February 18th, 2021 at 3:57 PM ^
That was intense! Touchdown! Speed in space, bitches!
February 18th, 2021 at 3:58 PM ^
THat was awesome - thanks so much for posting.
February 18th, 2021 at 3:59 PM ^
Look at what we can accomplish when we work together
February 18th, 2021 at 4:25 PM ^
This isn't any different in kind from the work people do together every day. Still waiting on something that brings together the big We.