[Utah-astronomy] Do the NASA folks seem a little too excited to anyone but me?
Hi all, What am I missing?: Why are all these NASA folks so hyper-excited about this lander? Yes, it's cool that Spirit is safely sitting on Mars--and sending back neat pictures--but haven't we been "here" before? (Viking 1 and 2, nearly 30 years ago) Are all these hyper-excited NASA folks simply too young to remember that this has all been done before--and the first time 'round it was done with "30 year old" technology, no less? (now _that_ was something to get excited about) :-) There must be many good reason(s) why the NASA folks are acting as if they've done something miraculous and ground-breaking here, but in my ignorance I don't know what those reasons might be. Can y'all gently help me understand what all the rah-rah'ing is about? Chris
I'll start the list: 1) New site to explore. 2) Site appears to have been underwater at one time. 3) Lander can do more science. 4) Lander has much better vision. 5) It moves (we'll be able to see what on the other side of the rocks). 6) We did it! Patrick Chris Clark wrote:
What am I missing?: Why are all these NASA folks so hyper-excited about this lander? Yes, it's cool that Spirit is safely sitting on Mars--and sending back neat pictures--but haven't we been "here" before? (Viking 1 and 2, nearly 30 years ago)
Are all these hyper-excited NASA folks simply too young to remember that this has all been done before--and the first time 'round it was done with "30 year old" technology, no less? (now _that_ was something to get excited about) :-)
There must be many good reason(s) why the NASA folks are acting as if they've done something miraculous and ground-breaking here, but in my ignorance I don't know what those reasons might be. Can y'all gently help me understand what all the rah-rah'ing is about?.
Has anyone tried this site/program(free) "NASA has released Maestro, a public version of the primary software tool used by scientists to operate the Mars Exploration Rovers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Anyone can download Maestro for free from mars.telascience.org and use it to follow along with the rovers' progress during the mission. You can use Maestro to view pictures from Mars in 2D and 3D and create simplified rover activity plans. During the mission, updates will be released for Maestro containing the latest images from Mars." http://mars.telascience.org/
Also added to what Patrick said, Don't forget that NASA is still smarting over the Challenger incident almost a year ago. They needed a victory on this scale. Jim --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Find out what made the Top Yahoo! Searches of 2003
I agree with Jim. I feel that the public (and even NASA) have been a little worried about the dangers of space travel since Columbia. The success of Stardust in collecting comet particles and the lander on Mars will do wonders in rebuilding confidence for NASA. I saw a news report on TV last night and they newscasters reported on both the Stardust and Spirit projects and were very excited them both. Now we can focus on the rewards of space projects and not just the dangers. And besides, it looks like those folks at NASA get to keep their jobs.. <grin> -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+pjohnson=xmission.com@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+pjohnson=xmission.com@mailman.xmission.co m] On Behalf Of Jim Gibson Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2004 9:00 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Do the NASA folks seem a little too excited toanyone but me? Also added to what Patrick said, Don't forget that NASA is still smarting over the Challenger incident almost a year ago. They needed a victory on this scale. Jim _____ Do you Yahoo!? Find out what made the Top Yahoo! <http://search.yahoo.com/top2003> Searches of 2003
participants (5)
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Chris Clark -
Jim Gibson -
Patrick Wiggins -
Paul C Johnson -
William Biesele