OT: Mars mission

[UcMiami]

Not sure how many space junkies are on this board, but I find myself checking out Perseverance's twitter feed every day. I think it is fabulous and fascinating:

https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1362948845944987648%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2021%2F02%2F20%2Fworld%2Fmars-ingenuity-helicopter-update-scn-trnd%2Findex.html

 

[Topsail]

I too am a space junkie. I watched a PBS show on The design of Perseverance and its mission last week. I found it fascinating how Perseverance will drop it soil/ rock samples in those tube to be picked up by a future mission and brought back to Earth.

 

[Scud49]

Thanks - great stuff. I've been reading the articles as they pop up in my news feed, but haven't checked their Twitter feed - matter of fact, didn't know they had one...! When does the drone take its first flight..?

 

[UcMiami]

Thanks - great stuff. I've been reading the articles as they pop up in my news feed, but haven't checked their Twitter feed - matter of fact, didn't know they had one...! When does the drone take its first flight..?

They're looking for a good spot to drop it off right now. Sometime soon as they are keeping it warm and charged with the rovers energy so it will fly as soon as the rover moves away.

 

[Monte]

Since its inception, NASA has spent $650,000,000,000.(that's BILLION)

 

[eebmg]

Any good recruits?

 

[Veteran]

I worked for an aerospace company. Among other things we built an important component of the International Space Station. But we also built a part of the Sojourner, which was the first Mars Rover that landed on The Red Planet back in the late 90's. The rover was tiny - probably not much larger than a bankers box (Perseverence is about the size of an SUV). As a contractor to that project we were each allowed to submit a bunch of signatures from family and friends. They were then shrunk down onto a micro dot which was affixed to the lander that the rover eventually drove off of. So right now my signature is sitting somewhere on the surface of Mars. It's about my one and only claim to fame.

 

[Kaizen]

 

[bluedevil]

Since its inception, NASA has spent $650,000,000,000.(that's BILLION)

Our tax dollars at work for a few pounds of rocks..

 

[cohenzone]

Our tax dollars at work for a few pounds of rocks..

We need to know if there a place to go if our planet stops doing the job.

 

[bluedevil]

We need to know if there a place to go if our planet stops doing the job.

As long as there is cable I'll go there.

 

[UcMiami]

Since its inception, NASA has spent $650,000,000,000.(that's BILLION)

So less than last years Department of Defense budget (and we would never have known about Tang orange drink if not for NASA and John Glen taking it into space.)
62 years of existence. Lots of innovation developed by NASA including our first communications satellites.

 

[Bama fan]

Our tax dollars at work for a few pounds of rocks..

You are forgetting all the things we developed as a result of our space program, like Tang!

 

[Skeets]

Since its inception, NASA has spent $650,000,000,000.(that's BILLION)

Add up all the stimulus spending over the last 13 or 14 years and $650B starts to look like a rounding error.

 

[ShmiCO]

You are forgetting all the things we developed as a result of our space program, like Tang!

Then there's all that technology in your smartphone that is directly derived from science instruments designed for space. Without NASA we'd still be doing chemical photography.

 

[Bama fan]

Add up all the stimulus spending over the last 13 or 14 years and $650B starts to look like a rounding error.

Or maybe like a down payment on the F35 stealth fighter that is too expensive to fly! Or maybe a littoral combat ship or three that is not much good at combat or littoraling.

 

[ScuderiaDiU]

My son works at SpaceX in CA. I am hoping to finally get a tour this summer. Damn covid!

 

[Biff]

And over the edge we slip....