Hurray for NASA and JPL

[W3RSW]

Curiosity has landed and sent back 64 x 64 test pix. How amazing is that, a sky hooked one tonner chock full of instruments?

http://www.nasa.gov/

[W1AEX]

Rick, you gotta love a mission where the design engineers label the landing procedure as "seven minutes of terror". What an amazing trip!

Rob W1AEX

[WA1GFZ]

USA #1!!!!!!

[WA3VJB]

I just hope the Martians don't get too upset that foreigners have landed a small atomic plant in their yard, and that it'll be driving around for a while.

And what if the United Nations symbol for nuclear hazard is interpreted as some kind of Martian Fast Food Delivery service. I mean, "hot to go" right?

"Who ordered wasabe?"

[W1RKW]

Here's JPL video that has some detail that has not been on the mainstream news:  http://lacanadaflintridge.patch.com/articles/getting-to-mars-seven-minutes-of-terror-video 

There are other videos of the project at the end of this video that are very interesting too. 

Quite a feat in robotics engineering if I may add. Human ingenuity at it's best.

A new Olympics event? Why not, afterall we have badminton and synchronized swimming as a sport.

[n2bc]

And... it's leaving Morse code footprints!

http://www.slashgear.com/curiosity-rover-tags-mars-with-morse-tire-tracks-06241847/

[WB2EMS]

Cornell had a live landing viewing event scheduled to start at quarter to midnight on Sunday. I decided to go since it's a piece of history and right in my backyard.

I figured it would be me and about 12 other geek in the auditorium. I was shocked to find the place practically standing room only - probably 500 people or more. Not just hard core geeks either. I saw whole families with small children there to be part of the moment.

There were 3 planetary scientists explaining the mission, the site selection, and the sequence of events to come with the EDL. After they finished, they switched to the live feed from JPL.

It was a pretty emotional moment for the whole crowd when they made the announcement from the telemetry "Safe on Mars!". I saw more than a few folks with tears in their eyes.

Pretty darned cool.