Curiosity - Mars Science Lab. - landing tonight

[Carl Beck]

I hope everyone will be able to watch NASA TV this evening/tomorrow morning - to see how the latest probe to Mars turns out. "Curiosity" is the largest and most complex probe set to Mar so far - it's about the size of a small car! It's due to land on Mars 9:30 - 10:30 PM CALIFORNIA Time this evening.

http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv

On a personal note:

Steve Lee - one of the Entry, Desent, Landing {EDL} Engineers on the project - started his Engineering Career working with me in the CAD Systems Dept. of Honeywell Space Systems, in the mid 80's. One of Steve's first assignments was to evaluate the AutoCad Software - to see if it was robust enough to use within the Design Services Dept. {at that point it was not}.. Now 25 years later - - one my daughter's first "Engineering Orientation for Freshman" courses at UF this summer - was to learn AutoCad. Needless to say it's come a long way since then and so has Steve.

http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv

BTW - nothing like this has ever been attempted - and only about 1 in 3 attempts have been successful... so fingers crossed! No matter what - we will have learned a lot!

FWIW,

Carl B.

Edited August 5, 2012 by Carl Beck

[psdenno]

I'll be watching! So many complex operations in the landing process with no room for error. The cable drop system is amazing.

Dennis

[Zedyone_kenobi]

We at NASA are very excited about this.

And also anxious. Talk about a million things that can go wrong, but if it works will be as significant as Hubble was.

Truly amazing engineering!!! We need something to inspire kids these days as NASA has been neutered by the white house. If this does not inspire a generation of kids, there is nothing left to show them for another 10 years.

[Gary in NJ]

I've been waiting for this for months. Yes, I'll be watching.

[grantf]

I have my eyes glued on another tab. getting sick of the outdated educational programing NASA is streaming.

It's nice to know others are exited about this.

[psdenno]

We at NASA are very excited about this.

Truly amazing engineering!!! We need something to inspire kids these days as NASA has been neutered by the white house. If this does not inspire a generation of kids, there is nothing left to show them for another 10 years.

My son just finished working on a different NASA project as part of his summer internship with a major contractor before heading back to college for his Junior year. While it was not quite as exciting as the Mars probe, it was quite unique and will be amazing to see when put in place.

Glad to see NASA is still plugging away in spite of all the budget cutbacks.

Dennis

[Jeff G 78]

I might try to watch, but I'm in the Eastern time zone, so it will be a late night. I love space exploration and hope that we get back on track with the NASA budget. Good luck little rover!

[grantf]

I think I have watched the 7 minutes of terror video 7 thousand times now.

[Carl Beck]

Wheels DOWN on Mars... !!!!! AMAZING...

Pictures Coming through... wheels on Mars

Did I mention that the entire System.. had never been tested? Couldn't be tested on Earth..!!

Edited August 6, 2012 by Carl Beck

[grantf]

It Worked!!!! yippy!!!

and pics already!!!!!!!!

[Jeff G 78]

Awesome! I can't wait to see what the rover can do.

[26th-Z]

Mid eighties AutoCad would have been version 2 or so running on an 8086 processor. Yes, we've come a l-o-n-g way.

Edited August 6, 2012 by 26th-Z