Quote from tristancliffe :

I'd rather have 5 Mars missions than 25 Olympics.

I'd rather have 4 mars missions and 5 Olympics.


Anyway, first hi-res picture is up!

http://www.nasa.gov/images/con ... in_pia16013-full_full.jpg

Those little mountains look shopped

Can go through the landing in real time in a 3D simulation here: http://eyes.nasa.gov

And MSL panorama from today: http://www.nasa.gov/images/con ... in_pia16029-full_full.jpg

Not the same robot, but here's Opportunity's panoramic view of Mars from the past few months.

http://panoramas.dk/mars/greeley-haven.html

Quote from tristancliffe :

I'd rather have 5 Mars missions than 25 Olympics. At least the Mars missions have the potential to enhance scientific understanding.

Have you got any good conspiracy theories Racer? You're paranoid and deluded enough to know of a few

Olympics are nice, my TV wasn't turned on in past month, and now it's permanently on, I just do my everyday activities, and every time I look at tv, there's someone doing sports. Thats nice. The same goes for athletics championships.

Don't get me wrong - I like the Olympics a lot, and do not consider it a waste at all (although the timing could be better for the economy, but maybe the long term view is that it'll help anyway). So yes, let's compromise on a few Mars missions and a few Olympics then. In an alternative life I wouldn't have given up triple jump when I was 18 and could have emulated Mr Edwards...

The point I'm making is that the London Olympic's is a wonderful event, BUT, the cost of the Mars lander is only 1/5th of that cost.

BUT the Mar's lander is considered a waste of money and NASA have been shut down and there are no other mission's planned.

The Olympic's have given us, humanity, what precisely ?

The Space Program pushes the bounds of human achievement and knowledge, it's also given us velco, WD40, etc etc etc.

What is the best use of resources ?

Is that clear enough ?

see as soon as you start speaking english instead of twat youre perfectly understandable
and stangely reasonable as well

Quote from Shotglass :

see as soon as you start speaking english instead of twat youre perfectly understandable
and stangely reasonable as well

u made me read his post D:
(i usually never bother to...)

Quote from Racer X NZ :

The point I'm making is that the London Olympic's is a wonderful event, BUT, the cost of the Mars lander is only 1/5th of that cost.

BUT the Mar's lander is considered a waste of money and NASA have been shut down and there are no other mission's planned.

Considered a waste of money by who, you? Permission to laugh, please. There aren't any missions planned because commercial companies(such as SpaceX, SNC and XCOR) are taking over with the help of NASA themselves. The Falcon Heavy and the SLS programs are our only hopes of ever reaching Mars with humans onboard at this point in time.

Continue your bullshit elsewhere instead of spreading it like cancer in threads that aren't to YOUR particular liking.

Quote from hp999 :

Considered a waste of money by who, you?

He already established that it wasn't by him.


I'm undecided whether the idea of corporate-owned space exploration is worse than government-owned space exploration. I think it's a case of better the devil you know.

"Would you like to know more?"

Quote from Crashgate3 :

He already established that it wasn't by him.


I'm undecided whether the idea of corporate-owned space exploration is worse than government-owned space exploration. I think it's a case of better the devil you know.

I'm in the same boat, though I do think the positive outweighs the negative in this case, hence why I'm leaning towards the "not much difference between the two" option. I'd much rather see tax dollars go towards something that's actually useful, which would eventually help humans expand to other places instead of cooling camps in Afghanistan and Iraq. Needless to say, Curiosity is a step towards the goal.

Then again, it's the US... "because we can, that's why."

The best way of pushing the boundaries in mars exploration that I have heard was outlined by Robert Zubrin in The Case for Mars. National governments provide incentive for private space companies to explore space by way of prizes, for example the first company to successfully land a crew on mars and return them to earth would be given 20 billion USD split between several nations. This eliminates the problem of cost overruns rampant in government space programs.

The Case for Mars is an excellent book about all aspects of human mars exploration.

11 MB picture, 10000 * 5904:
http://www.nasa.gov/images/con ... 16051-fullportal_full.jpg

Slide show:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19263053

QTVR animation, requires a QTVR player (e.g. QuickTime, FreePV):
http://www.nasa.gov/mov/676313main_malinQTVR_large.mov

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/c ... d_scientists_on_the_mars/

:bacon:

Quote from Racer X NZ :

The Olympic's have given us, humanity, what precisely ?

The Space Program pushes the bounds of human achievement and knowledge, it's also given us velco, WD40, etc etc etc.

The Olympics also push the boundaries of human achievement. Any time you explore new territory, you learn new things. Medically, science is learning about the boundaries of the human body and how to optimize it by training athletes as well as they know how.

It is easy for one to think that one area of investigation is more valuable than another, but that is delusion because it is by definition impossible to predict what any line of investigation will yield in the future. If that were not the case, investigation would not be needed. Therefore, the only way to benefit fully is to investigate, fully.

I think this is sort of like art......people don't think about the value of art before they make it, they just have an impulse to do it, and during the process we often realize something important...either it being technical or philosophical.

If anything it has given people inspiration and hope, very important unless everyone believes in god.

Curiosity shot a rock with a laser the other day! I can't wait for real-life REPUBLICAN SPACE RANGERS.

So awesome and wierd pictures.

Quote from MadCat360 :

The Olympics also push the boundaries of human achievement. Any time you explore new territory, you learn new things. Medically, science is learning about the boundaries of the human body and how to optimize it by training athletes as well as they know how.

It is easy for one to think that one area of investigation is more valuable than another, but that is delusion because it is by definition impossible to predict what any line of investigation will yield in the future. If that were not the case, investigation would not be needed. Therefore, the only way to benefit fully is to investigate, fully.

I thought some would like to see what I meant here, and this video popped up in my subscriptions tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8J6ov48rG0

Without athletes trying to perform their best, would this research exist?

Quote from TexasLTU :

images

They don't look so unfamiliar (don't know exactly what I expected, but...)



This one is cool, you can zoom image to the finest details
Wander if they'll find some fossil remainings

Wonder when the first man / woman will step on mars!
Looks like a desolate, harsh place tho!