Just heard the word on the radio - Curiosity stuck the landing perfectly! First pictures even now rolling in. Unlike other landers that had to do a bit of unpacking/checkout - Curiosity is already active from the moment it touches down.
Fantastic!!!
EDIT:
From Gizmodo: Some live commentary/blogging. Here's a snippet at the end.
Fantastic!!!
EDIT:
From Gizmodo: Some live commentary/blogging. Here's a snippet at the end.
Quote:[i]Comments on reverse chronological order. Local Pacific Coast time.[/i]
10:41 — Needless to say, everyone is happy here.
10:39 — TOTAL SUCCESS BY NASA. These guys are moving all of humanity forward, developing incredible technologies that will affect us all. More importantly, this mission may finally solve the mystery of the life in Mars, further advancing our understanding of the Universe and our place in it. If there's anything more important than that, I don't know what is.
In other words: ASK YOUR CONGRESSMEN FOR MORE MONEY FOR THESE PEOPLE.
10:38 — Another image coming in: the shadow of Curiosity on the surface of Mars. Things just can't go better than this. It's incredible.
10:36 — High resolution images are coming now. The wheel of the rover is safe on the surface of Mars. These engineers are true heroes.
10:35 — More images are coming in! What a relief. Oh my god. The emotion here is uncontrollable. I'm tearing up myself.
10:34 — FIRST IMAGE IS IN. We can see the ground and the wheel. Holy fuck!
10:33 — IMAGES ARE COMING DOWN! This has been a complete success. Data is strong!
10:32 — IT LANDED! IT LANDED!
10:31 — Getting teary now. This is too much. People here are extremely excited.
10:31 — The skycrane is flying! THE SKYCRANE IS FLYING! ALL SYSTEMS NOMINAL!
10:30 — Curiosity is slowing as expected. Thermal shield has been jettissoned!
I am going to end every phrase with a slammer now!
! < that's a slammer
10:29 — PARACHUTE DEPLOYED! WE ARE DECELERATING! Congratulations Douglas and parachute team!
10:28 — Vehicle is now at Mach 2. All going good. Heart beat tones keep coming in!
10:27 — Are you alive Curiosity? I imagine you down there, waiting patiently as we receive your signals, sent over the last seven minutes. You are good girl. Let's talk again soon.
10:26 — Connection is good. Data coming in! All good!
10:26 — Now we are going to get the heart beat tones, which will tell the control if all is going good.
10:25 — The spacecraft is getting into the atmosphere now. This means that, right now, therover is on the surface of Mars! We just don't know if it's a pile of smoldering metal or if it's working and good.
GET TERRORIZED.
10:24 — Curiosity has switched antennas as expected.
10:23 — FOUR MINUTES TO ENTRY.
10:20 — Space has started to feel the atmosphere. The thrusters are firing to put the capsule in the right position for entry.
I NEED PEANUTS (the people in Mission Control are having these now. It's a tradition). Some people here too. GIMME SOME PEANUTS, GODDAMNIT.
10:16 — Everything is going good. I hope I keep repeating this phrase a lot in the next seven minutes.
10:15 — CRUISE STAGE SEPARATION. And the crowd goes wild.
10:14 — Signal seems good. "Things are looking good"—they said. My keyboard, on the other hand, looks wet.
10:13 — Cruise stage separation happening in one minute. Sorry about the confusion before. I JUST GOT CONFUSED, OK?
Going out to scream. I need my pills.
10:11 — It's happening, people. "We have started venting". I'm referring to the spacecraft.
10:07 — Confirmed: Cruise stage—the part with the solar panels—has [i]NOT been successfully jettisoned yet. People here started to scream (for something else).[/i]
10:06 — Everything is in position. All looks good so far except my veins. I'm transforming into the Hulk right now.
9:58 — The worst thing would be when the "tones"—as NASA calls the signals sent by the spacecraft during the re-entry—start to arrive to Earth. When the first tone arrives, signaling the entry into Mars' atmosphere, the rover would be already on the ground!. We wouldn't know its actual state until seven minutes later. Perhaps even more.
