Call me a nerd. It doesn't really bother me. But if you're going to call me a nerd, wait until a moment that really deserves it. This is one of those times.
I may be a science fiction addict and Star Trek geek, but today I'm totally excited about a real-life piece of science; the newest Mars rover.
Nasa's collaboration with CalTech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has produced many of the mars rovers, most notably Spirit and Opportunity, two rovers launched in the early 2000s. Their most recent project, the Mars Science Laboratory rover, named Curiosity (aka "the Curiosity rover") has been one of my real-life science geek objects of geek-dom for quite a while now. I was reading blog posts and watching videos about it back in 2010 when it was just beginning construction, at the same time that I was keeping up with JPL's valiant attempts to free the Spirit rover from a sand pit. Now we have less than a month to go until Curiosity's landing on Mars, and public awareness of the project is ramping up. I just thought I'd post this little video released by JPL, part of their "The Challenges of Getting to Mars" series.
Seriously, I feel for the guys at mission control. Seven minutes of fingernail-biting nervousness; watching the telemetry come in, and knowing that no matter what happens, it's too late to do anything.
Those guys deserve some credit for this project, no matter what the outcome.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
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