Originally published at: What to know before Perseverance lands on Mars | Boing Boing
…
2 Likes
It really is astonishing. Sending a small craft from here to there, reasonably confident that it will land safely, and it will then transmit data back here from there, across millions of miles, so that we can dig in the dirt. I’m in awe.
10 Likes
Rocket powered space crane, woooooooo!
1 Like
Yep - and the US is still the only country to manage a successful landing and return useful data from the surface.
The USSR had one successful landing with Mars 3, but it only (briefly) returned garbage.
Europe has tried twice, Beagle 2 landed safely but failed to deploy its solar panels and unstop the antenna; and Schiaparelli performed a spectacular lithobraking without returning anything.
In a few months, China is going to land its first rover on Mars. If they manage it, it will be a spectacular achievement on their first attempt.
4 Likes
I believe the robots are the future; program them well and let them lead the way.
I would like NASA to spend much less on human travel. Let Richard Branson take people to Mars. We should be sending robots to Mercury to build factories.
4 Likes
This US Mars Mission has something cool in it: a helicopter!
4 Likes
Yes, I agree!
Well, I wouldnt mind if they took back some bucks from SpaceX etc and returned to being a public agency
I think I’m starting to lose you…
Lost me.
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
