# Good Job NASA!



## Fireengines (Aug 6, 2012)

From someone who has followed America’s space program from the very beginning, A big High Five to NASA who successfully landed Curiosity, a car-sized rover, on Mars in a triumph for space exploration which could establish if life ever existed on the Red Planet.

_“What a fantastic demonstration of what our nation and our agency can do. I can only think of the words of Theodore Roosevelt: 'It's far better to do mighty things, even though you might fail, than to stay in the twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.'”_ …Dr Charles Elachi, Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.


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## Steve Busey (Aug 6, 2012)

It was a pretty amazing engineering feat to get it landed - looking forward to the science it generates!


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## wswem (Aug 6, 2012)

I worked at JPL until 2000...A great place with great people and GREAT projects...


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## jeff (Aug 6, 2012)

Since I work for NASA, I get special access to the raw data feed. The first image was a shock, but it probably explains what happened to the other 24 probes we've sent to Mars over the years...







:biggrin:


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## Displaced Canadian (Aug 6, 2012)

Hey Jeff, Are you going to ask if they will let you drive it. :biggrin:


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## Haynie (Aug 6, 2012)

Fireengines said:


> From someone who has followed America’s space program from the very beginning, A big High Five to NASA who successfully landed Curiosity, a car-sized rover, on Mars in a triumph for space exploration which could establish if life ever existed on the Red Planet.
> 
> _“What a fantastic demonstration of what our nation and our agency can do. I can only think of the words of Theodore Roosevelt: 'It's far better to do mighty things, even though you might fail, than to stay in the twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.'”_ …Dr Charles Elachi, Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.


 
I soooo wanted to watch the science channel's coverage. My back laid me out though and we don't have a TV in the bed room.

Amazing feat.


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## GoatRider (Aug 6, 2012)

This is the most incredible image I've seen yet:






The picture was taken by an imaging satellite orbiting mars.

http://www.universetoday.com/96639/...credible-image-of-curiositys-descent-to-mars/


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## Fireengines (Aug 6, 2012)

OK, someone explain if The atmosphere of Mars is less than 1% of Earth’s, how did the parachute inflate?


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## GoatRider (Aug 6, 2012)

It was going several times the speed of sound, that's how.


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## Texatdurango (Aug 6, 2012)

Fireengines said:


> OK, someone explain if The atmosphere of Mars is less than 1% of Earth’s, how did the parachute inflate?


Because in reality, the whole staged event, including the photo was probably pulled off in a remote area of Nevada where the atmosphere is eerily similar to the rest of the United States! :biggrin:


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## GoodTurns (Aug 6, 2012)

Texatdurango said:


> Fireengines said:
> 
> 
> > OK, someone explain if The atmosphere of Mars is less than 1% of Earth’s, how did the parachute inflate?
> ...



they were going to try that, but Nevada was too hot for their tolerances...Mars worked better....


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## PenPal (Aug 6, 2012)

Larry,

Also well done Canberra Australia who guided the vehicle in at Tidbinbilla Space Station.

Aussie Aussie Aussie.

I believe it is better placed during the latter part they had three dishes guiding it in.

They have played a key role so many times. Bit like pen making.

Kind regards Peter.


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## Grizz (Aug 6, 2012)

I'm all for exploration and scientific curiosity.

But the cost is not worth any outcome that can be found.  This is the time to quit spending money we don't have on frivolous things.


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## Texatdurango (Aug 6, 2012)

Grizz said:


> I'm all for exploration and scientific curiosity.
> 
> But the cost is not worth any outcome that can be found.  This is the time to quit spending money we don't have on frivolous things.



Frivolous....I think not!  For our first $800,000,000 we got an ink pen that would write upside down!  Just think for another mere 17,000,000,000,000 we will have a pen that will write under boiling oil. :biggrin:


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## wizard (Aug 6, 2012)

Fireengines said:


> OK, someone explain if The atmosphere of Mars is less than 1% of Earth’s, how did the parachute inflate?



Helium balloon under parachute?

Mars Exploration Program: Balloons


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## wswem (Aug 6, 2012)

Texatdurango said:


> Grizz said:
> 
> 
> > I'm all for exploration and scientific curiosity.
> ...


 
This mission will cost each American citizen $7.00.  To me, an ex-Nasa/JPL employee...it is well worth it !!  Stay tuned for GREAT pictures and videos from the MSL.  Remember its cheaper than going out to a movie !!!


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## TellicoTurning (Aug 6, 2012)

Grizz said:


> I'm all for exploration and scientific curiosity.
> 
> But the cost is not worth any outcome that can be found.  This is the time to quit spending money we don't have on frivolous things.



Hey, we need to keep exploring and house hunting... when we've completely messed up this planet, we're going to need some place else to live.... :biggrin:


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## GoatRider (Aug 6, 2012)

Texatdurango said:


> Grizz said:
> 
> 
> > I'm all for exploration and scientific curiosity.
> ...



NASA did not develop the space pen. 

snopes.com: NASA Space Pen


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## TomS (Aug 6, 2012)

*Latest from Mars*

Uh-oh......


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## ossaguy (Aug 7, 2012)

Now that's funny! Thanks for the laugh.


Steve


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## GoatRider (Aug 7, 2012)

This one pre-dates the pathfinder rovers, when NASA had just litho-braked several landers in a row.


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## Texatdurango (Aug 7, 2012)

GoatRider said:


> Texatdurango said:
> 
> 
> > Grizz said:
> ...



I didn't say they did.  I just mentioned that the only benefit we got from spending millions or billions on the space program was a pen, which was developed for the astronauts.  If we didn't have the space program, I doubt we would have the pen.

Now I'm sure someone will post a laundry list of things we gained from having the space program but it still remains a deep money pit for the tax payers in my opinion.  I think of these things every time I am driving down a stretch of interstate highway where it feels like a bumpy roller coaster ride.

And as far as the $7 per taxpayer goes, I'd love to see how that figure was derived.  I spent almost my entire career in aviation and at one point started doing a lot of bids and estimates and did my fair share coming up with data to support our bids and I got really good at justifying just about anything, hiding expensive little details and making expensive things look cheap!:biggrin:


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## wswem (Aug 7, 2012)

*Re: the $7 cost*

This is an excerpt from an article in the NY Times

"Charles Elachi, director of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which operates Curiosity and many of the other planetary missions, said it was well worth the money and compared the night’s exhilaration to an adventure movie. 
“This movie cost you less than seven bucks per American citizen, and look at the excitement we got,” Dr. Elachi said. "

For the complete article go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/06/science/space/curiosity-rover-lands-safely-on-mars.html

If ya wanna get TECHNICAL, I believe Dr Elachi miscalculated...2.5 billion dollar program, 300 million Americans = $8.00 and change per person. Still money well spent. Stay tuned to www.nasa.gov/msl for GREAT pics, videos, and findings...


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## Longfellow (Aug 7, 2012)

NASA didn't really do that. Somebody made it possible.


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## clapiana (Aug 7, 2012)

I don't get it either?

ok 1st to the moon was a race into space but trying to find life on mars why?

even if they found a skeleton in a dried up lake on mars now what?


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## GoatRider (Aug 7, 2012)

clapiana said:


> I don't get it either?
> 
> ok 1st to the moon was a race into space but trying to find life on mars why?
> 
> even if they found a skeleton in a dried up lake on mars now what?



It's not just "finding life". Finding out whether there is or is not life on another planet speaks to how life begins, and how it survives. It may help us understand how life on our own planet works, which will help us learn how to take care of it better. This will contribute to our own survival.

And science isn't about doing things for a purpose. We do it to find things out. We do not know what good will come of it, but it usually does, and in ways we didn't expect. As Ben Franklin may have said, "Of what use is a newborn baby?"

With your attitude, we'd still be living in caves.


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## The Penguin (Aug 7, 2012)

Texatdurango said:


> GoatRider said:
> 
> 
> > Texatdurango said:
> ...



Deep money pit? wow. the budget for NASA is so small it's a flea on the back of an elephant in comparison to all the other junk we spend money on.

and sure there's a laundry list of things we've gained from the space program that if left to private industry - we'd be paying a lot more for those items than we pay for them now.


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## jeff (Aug 7, 2012)

I read a thought-provoking fact this morning. The entire mission cost about $2.5 billion dollars over 8 years. The US spent $6 billion on potato chips just last year. 

This sort of robotic exploration seems like a reasonable expenditure for the science return and the impact on the economy. Compared to human spaceflight, it's practically free :biggrin:

Disclaimer: I work for NASA (but they don't own my opinions) :biggrin: 

By the way, they tested scale models of the parachutes and inflatable decelerator here, which is across the street from my office.


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## Haynie (Aug 7, 2012)

You either have the spirit of exploration or you don't.  It gets as political as religion and, well, politics.

Exploration has been called a waste of money/resources right from the beginning.  Probably back to the beginning when something said, "hey baby, I have this theory about sexual reproduction" and someone else said "NAH waste of energy".   I personally would like to see this get brought back to earth to explore the oceans.  I read somewhere that we know more about space than the oceans.


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## maxwell_smart007 (Aug 8, 2012)

Maps would still say 'here be dragons' if people didn't explore the world.  

We're like ants on a patio stone - there's a lot more to the universe to find out, answers to questions we haven't fathomed yet are out there waiting to be discovered!  

Andrew


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## TerryDowning (Aug 8, 2012)

I like CD/DVD Players, Mirrored sunglasses, pens that write upside down, reliable battery operated hand tools (Cordless drill drivers), gloves that fit properly, Not to mention Tang and all of the other great things we take for granted due to both  Pure and Applied Resaearch that goes on at NASA and it's contractors. Are there management issues, cost over runs and simple greed that drive up the costs? Absolutely, it is mostly a Government Operation. I would like to see an updated list of advances that have already or will (either directly or tangentially) improve my life. 

Since I pay my taxes I consider myself a share holder of NASA and I want to see a return on my investment (other than some really cool pictures) in the form of an annual shareholders report.

Just show me where my money is going and that I'm getting a return on my investment.


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## truckfixr (Aug 8, 2012)

Here's some interesting perspectives on the value/cost of our space program.

Freakonomics » Is Space Exploration Worth the Cost? A Freakonomics Quorum


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## Haynie (Aug 8, 2012)

maxwell_smart007 said:


> We're like ants on a patio stone - there's a lot more to the universe to find out, answers to questions we haven't fathomed yet are out there waiting to be discovered!
> 
> Andrew



Nope not a patio stone.  Explorer ants discovered that we are on a geode (only round rock I could think of).  That whole flat patio stone theory went out the window.:biggrin:


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## Dragonlord85 (Aug 8, 2012)

Here are just a few of the things we have today because of  NASA and the space explorations projects; *Advanced Lubricants, Aircraft Collision Avoidance, Artificial Heart, Automatic Insulin Pump, Breast Biopsy, Cabin Pressure Altitude Monitor and Warning System, Cardiac Pacemaker, Laser Heart Surgery, Self-Righting Life Raft. **These are just a small sample of products that were produced to help the space exploration that now help in our everyday lives. Without space exploration many of these devices or products may have not been made.*


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## PenPal (Aug 9, 2012)

Thankyou American Space Program.

My two Taig lathes came about as a NASA development of the Space program.

Simply delighted for the confirmation Neil gave of the real expenditure on potato chips in the United States per annum which sums up where we place our values.

Continue to be amazed at the Pen contributions versus general knowledge ratio on the IAP.

On an Aussie forum anyone keen on pens reads about pens in the pen Forum section other discussions are otherwise labelled in another forum. In my Woodcraft Guild we have multiple Special Interest groups that meet independantly during the month for those of us who seek like minded people. this forum has become quite the talk fest.

Kind regards Peter.


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