4 ms·

Where to watch Mars Curiosity Landing Online

36 points by littlesparkvt 14y ago

Pfhreak 14y ago
Does anyone have an idea of when this will occur? This article says 15:31, but provides no timezone. The wikipedia page says 05:31 UTC. I assumed the article is written by someone at NASA from the author tag "JULY 11, 2012 by WILLIAM in NASA" which suggests they are putting times in ETC... Edit: Further research shows the JPL saying 'just after ten pm, PST' which is in line with the 05:31 UTC touchdown.
- ChuckMcM 14y ago
  Note that it lands on August 6th "GMT" but it lands just after 10PM on the west coast on Sunday the 5th. That's why I'm having a "Welcome to Mars!" party that day. Drinks, snacks, and we'll watch the landing live on big screen TV courtesy of the NASA TV channel.
  - capnrefsmmat 14y ago
    Just after 10PM? Wikipedia gives the landing time as approximately 05:31 UTC August 6th, which is 1:31 AM EDT. I'd like to be wrong, since I'd like to stay up and watch, but I have work in the morning :( Also, I expect there will be quite some delay between actual landing and confirmation received by NASA, given Mars' distance from Earth.
    - ChuckMcM 14y ago
      Aye, sorry that your EDT, in PDT its 10:31 PM, and the 'fun' starts just after 10 (as in I believe the last big retro burn is around 10 and the final descent begins) now the telemetry from that maneuver will let us know if there is a chance it will make it (did you say 3000 "feet" per second or "meters" per second?)
- littlesparkvt 14y ago
  There's a countdown timer on the JPL page if that helps. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/
basicallydan 14y ago
For anybody else interested in the objectives of Curiosity (I wasn't sure so I checked) The MSL mission has four scientific goals: 1. Determine whether Mars could ever have supported life 2. Study the climate of Mars 3. Study the geology of Mars 4. Plan for a human mission to Mars Sweet! From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_rover#Goals_and_objectives http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_rover#Goals_and_objec...
- brunoqc 14y ago
  What would be the objectives of a human mission? I'm wondering if it's mostly an ego thing since the robots can do most of the science stuff.
  - greyfade 14y ago
    To do it. And while we're there, science the place up. There are still some experiments we can only do in person that can't be done with robots. I can imagine experiments relating to terraforming would be high on the list.
DiabloD3 14y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzqdoXwLBT8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzqdoXwLBT8 I'm going to be watching this several times a day until touchdown.
Achshar 14y ago
I am actually quiet sure there cannot be a live video feed. The best we can have is a twitter feed or maybe a live-blog from someone form NASA. I would have absolutely loved a video feed though.

36 points by littlesparkvt 14y ago

Does anyone have an idea of when this will occur? This article says 15:31, but provides no timezone. The wikipedia page says 05:31 UTC. I assumed the article is written by someone at NASA from the author tag "JULY 11, 2012 by WILLIAM in NASA" which suggests they are putting times in ETC... Edit: Further research shows the JPL saying 'just after ten pm, PST' which is in line with the 05:31 UTC touchdown.

ChuckMcM 14y ago
Note that it lands on August 6th "GMT" but it lands just after 10PM on the west coast on Sunday the 5th. That's why I'm having a "Welcome to Mars!" party that day. Drinks, snacks, and we'll watch the landing live on big screen TV courtesy of the NASA TV channel.
- capnrefsmmat 14y ago
  Just after 10PM? Wikipedia gives the landing time as approximately 05:31 UTC August 6th, which is 1:31 AM EDT. I'd like to be wrong, since I'd like to stay up and watch, but I have work in the morning :( Also, I expect there will be quite some delay between actual landing and confirmation received by NASA, given Mars' distance from Earth.
  - ChuckMcM 14y ago
    Aye, sorry that your EDT, in PDT its 10:31 PM, and the 'fun' starts just after 10 (as in I believe the last big retro burn is around 10 and the final descent begins) now the telemetry from that maneuver will let us know if there is a chance it will make it (did you say 3000 "feet" per second or "meters" per second?)
littlesparkvt 14y ago
There's a countdown timer on the JPL page if that helps. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/

basicallydan 14y ago

For anybody else interested in the objectives of Curiosity (I wasn't sure so I checked) The MSL mission has four scientific goals: 1. Determine whether Mars could ever have supported life 2. Study the climate of Mars 3. Study the geology of Mars 4. Plan for a human mission to Mars Sweet! From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_rover#Goals_and_objectives http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_rover#Goals_and_objec...

brunoqc 14y ago
What would be the objectives of a human mission? I'm wondering if it's mostly an ego thing since the robots can do most of the science stuff.
- greyfade 14y ago
  To do it. And while we're there, science the place up. There are still some experiments we can only do in person that can't be done with robots. I can imagine experiments relating to terraforming would be high on the list.

DiabloD3 14y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzqdoXwLBT8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzqdoXwLBT8 I'm going to be watching this several times a day until touchdown.

Achshar 14y ago

I am actually quiet sure there cannot be a live video feed. The best we can have is a twitter feed or maybe a live-blog from someone form NASA. I would have absolutely loved a video feed though.