Set the alarm for 10:15 last night so I could make sure I "tuned in" to the landing of the Mars Rover, Curiosity. It reminded me of being awakened by my mom to watch a splashdown or a lift off or a moon landing. NASA was streaming live video of the Surface Ops Center as the craft decelerated, deployed its parachute, and then came to a landing on the surface of Mars. Wow! You should have seen the people there! One guy couldn't even stay still while they waited. He paced in the two-step-wide area behind his computer. Cheers and smiles and jumping up and down! An eight year project came down to last night.
Well--I guess that isn't entirely accurate. Curiosity is now going to start sending data back to Earth. Two pictures came back last night--one shot from the front, the other shot from the back so you can see the shadow of the rover on the Martian soil. These were low resolution photos to test the camera. More photos with better resolution will come in today or tomorrow. Once the Mars dust settles! So cool!
--Just checked the NASA site and there is at least one high res picture that has come back. Apparently they have to wait for a satellite to get to the right place to transmit them. If you want to check them click here.
1 comment:
See how I planted the seed! lol
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