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Mars Landing live streaming

Migrated topic.
The landing was successful!!

This is an incredible feat considering all the aspects they had to take into account. I feel proud that we as the human race accomplished such an amazingly complex mission as this one.


Kind regards,

The Traveler
 
I almost missed it but I came in right during the parachute deployment :)

We are pretty amazing aren't we? :D
 
Spectacular. Can only imagine the wave of relief when the rover touched down safely and they didnt waste billions of dollars lol. Hope they make some findings.
 
I was listening to NPR the other day and they were saying there is a private organization that plans to colonize Mars by 2022....This I gotta see, 10 years to colonize Mars? By a private organization? This would blow my mind.
 
archaic_architect said:
I was listening to NPR the other day and they were saying there is a private organization that plans to colonize Mars by 2022....This I gotta see, 10 years to colonize Mars? By a private organization? This would blow my mind.
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Sure it will all happen as they say but after I become president of the US :D :D :D
 
^^They say it will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to send one person to Mars. If all the rich go to live on Mars then problem solved. ;)
 
endlessness said:
Debby Downer says: I'd wish we'd take care of a few other problems down here before spending all this money to go to mars.
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Message to Debby Downer:

The technology developed for this will maybe some day make it possible to expand the human race to other worlds. So even if we make a mess of Earth, we have a better chance of overall survival.

Also, when money is important then the 2.5 billion that this research costs is nothing compared to say, developing a new airliner (about 12 billion), developing a new line of cars (about 1 billion per car) or something like the worldwide defense industry (about 1.5 trillion).

Do we really need a new jumbo airliner that is only 5% more efficient? Or another car that looks slightly better as the previous one? Or enough weapons to annihilate all humanity? Or shall we take care of a few other problems down here first before spending it on ...?

:)


Kind regards,

The Traveler
 
Allow me to share this. I think it's a relevant read.

In 1970, a Zambia-based nun named Sister Mary Jucunda wrote to Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, then-associate director of science at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, in response to his ongoing research into a piloted mission to Mars. Specifically, she asked how he could suggest spending billions of dollars on such a project at a time when so many children were starving on Earth.

Stuhlinger soon sent the following letter of explanation to Sister Jucunda, along with a copy of "Earthrise," the iconic photograph of Earth taken in 1968 by astronaut William Anders, from the Moon (also embedded in the transcript). His thoughtful reply was later published by NASA, and titled, "Why Explore Space?"
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Read the letter here.
 
clouds said:
endlessness said:
Debby Downer says: I'd wish we'd take care of a few other problems down here before spending all this money to go to mars.
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stupid quote
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Care to explain your view and contribute to the discussion?

The Traveler said:
endlessness said:
Debby Downer says: I'd wish we'd take care of a few other problems down here before spending all this money to go to mars.
Click to expand...
Message to Debby Downer:

The technology developed for this will maybe some day make it possible to expand the human race to other worlds. So even if we make a mess of Earth, we have a better chance of overall survival.

Also, when money is important then the 2.5 billion that this research costs is nothing compared to say, developing a new airliner (about 12 billion), developing a new line of cars (about 1 billion per car) or something like the worldwide defense industry (about 1.5 trillion).

Do we really need a new jumbo airliner that is only 5% more efficient? Or another car that looks slightly better as the previous one? Or enough weapons to annihilate all humanity? Or shall we take care of a few other problems down here first before spending it on ...?

:)


Kind regards,

The Traveler
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Why are we thinking of colonizing other worlds, to ruin them too? I mean, really, we havent learned our lesson here, so whats the point of expanding? Interplanetary Mcdonalds delivery? Industrial garbage on all planets?

I dont think we need new cars (unless they were built and ran sustainably), billions for a new airliner with 5% efficiency is questionable but at least it has direct use for thousands of people every day, and the trillions budget for wars is absurd and unjustifiable in my opinion. 1.2 billion doesn't seem like much compared to some of those things but it could do a LOT if it was spent on education and/or health instead. It would have tangible effects on short, mid and long term basis, and would positively impact many more lives now than any mission to mars would.

The letter linked by vodsel has at least some thorough and justified reasoning but still faulty IMO. One of the reasons mentioned to defend the program to mars is that it will lead into improved technologies and that it will make more people interested in science and so on. First of all, this is a supposition. Secondly, the money didnt have to be spent in a mission to mars for that and having some potential distant long term benefits, it could be spend on science education or on projects related to sustainability (or both, how about financing the best ideas arising in schools related to science/sustainability?) for the same purpose and quicker direct rewards.

Thats how I feel at least ;)
 
endlessness said:
Care to explain your view and contribute to the discussion?
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Yes. I'll do it in 5 easy points.

1. Scientific progress: A lot of theories are put to the test with these kind of projects. This means that NASA (and other teams) will learn from this experience and build better robots that will deliver even better results here or in Mars or another planet or moon.

2. Inspiration: Many people around the globe are happy that humanity is able to land a robot on another planet, even poor people. And they are inspired to be better persons each day because they are realizing that what may seem impossible is possible with hard work and intelligence.

3. Solid evidence: Humanity gets proof about the conditions of other planets and determines whether it is useful to keep on exploring that place or not for specific purposes. If they are searching for minerals, resources or even life, they will have solid data about that specific place on a specific time.

4. World peace: Even if NASA executives say that this is a great achievement for USA, almost everyone with a brain knows that NASA is full of foreign talents as well. There are a lot of Indian, Asian and European people as well. This shows that no matter where you come from, you can help in the progress of the human understanding of the universe, and this is a good thing towards achieving world peace.

5. Truth is beautiful: With these kind of successful projects, Science scores +1 and Religion 0. And it gets a lot clearer for people that Religion is nothing but bullshit and that Science gets shit done. People are aware that there are a lot of problems "down here", and now "down here" includes Mars too.


"I have no special gift - I am only passionately curious" - Einstein
 
Valid points.

I dont agree though

clouds said:
1. Scientific progress: A lot of theories are put to the test with these kind of projects. This means that NASA (and other teams) will learn from this experience and build better robots that will deliver even better results here or in Mars or another planet or moon.
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May be. I cant help but think, though, that this hardly translates into something for people. The day we start harvesting some extremely important mineral from elsewhere I will think about it again. But even if that happens, I would ask: "and how much did it cost so far to get this? And how were the environmental costs till this day? etc.

clouds said:
2. Inspiration: Many people around the globe are happy that humanity is able to land a robot on another planet, even poor people. And they are inspired to be better persons each day because they are realizing that what may seem impossible is possible with hard work and intelligence.
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How many people is "many"? How many people are dis-inspired by such things thinking that the money could be spent elsewhere and become more disilluded by the conflicting priorities of mankind? Also, as mentioned in post above, I think we could possibly inspire more people and have direct tangible results by doing things down here instead, still related to science.

clouds said:
3. Solid evidence: Humanity gets proof about the conditions of other planets and determines whether it is useful to keep on exploring that place or not for specific purposes. If they are searching for minerals, resources or even life, they will have solid data about that specific place on a specific time.
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cost/benefit.... time will tell.


clouds said:
4. World peace: Even if NASA executives say that this is a great achievement for USA, almost everyone with a brain knows that NASA is full of foreign talents as well. There are a lot of Indian, Asian and European people as well. This shows that no matter where you come from, you can help in the progress of the human understanding of the universe, and this is a good thing towards achieving world peace.
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Such examples of cooperation didn't ever seem to help us. Since ever there are different nationalities working in unscrupulous business and projects too, or in wars. There are different nationalities working in other good projects also since ever. Seems world peace is indiferent to this.

clouds said:
5. Truth is beautiful: With these kind of successful projects, Science scores +1 and Religion 0. And it gets a lot clearer for people that Religion is nothing but bullshit and that Science gets shit done. People are aware that there are a lot of problems "down here", and now "down here" includes Mars too.
Click to expand...

I dont see how this has to do with religion, also I dont see how this is in any way specific to this project and not to just any scientific endeavor, some which may closer to us.
 
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