Mars Science Lab (MSL)

[JensAyton]

I suspect there'd be no shortage of qualified volunteers who'd jump at that, given regular re-supply.

…And several (non-governmental) projects pushing that way, most recently a reality TV concept. I can just imagine the fun when their viewership drops, they can’t renew season 5 and suddenly don’t have the budget to send more food drops.

[Tricky]

next we'll send the boffins!

'Twill be another ten or twenty years before we send people there. There are a lot of barriers to overcome before that happens, like protecting the astronauts from radiation and getting them home (our current technology just gets them there, on a one way ticket).

Feh! We could have been there by now. All down to politicians who are too afraid to make the leap.

ESA is a mess of different nations all vying for their own piece of the action. Russia has lost interest. The USA clings to the fact it hasn't lost an American in space. Technically correct but backward looking. As for the newly formed UKSA, it's like a baby trying to quote Shakespear, entirely possible but prone to failure.

[CommRLock78]

Feh! We could have been there by now. All down to politicians who are too afraid to make the leap.

Maybe. There are a lot of obstacles: effects of weightlessness for six months, radiation, fuel for a return trip, dust and dust storms, finding water, low local gravity, even possible psychological effects of seasons which last twice as long as on earth, never mind the tremendous price tag...

ESA is a mess of different nations all vying for their own piece of the action. Russia has lost interest. The USA clings to the fact it hasn't lost an American in space. Technically correct but backward looking. As for the newly formed UKSA, it's like a baby trying to quote Shakespear, entirely possible but prone to failure.

baby trying to quote Shakespeare
I hadn't heard of the UKSA, but it'll be nice once the recession lifts to see how the different agencies fair, and what projects will come up.

[Tricky]

Feh! We could have been there by now. All down to politicians who are too afraid to make the leap.

Maybe. There are a lot of obstacles: effects of weightlessness for six months, radiation, fuel for a return trip, dust and dust storms, finding water, low local gravity, even possible psychological effects of seasons which last twice as long as on earth, never mind the tremendous price tag...

All tested by the old USSR. As for the price tag... can the price of progress be quantified?

ESA is a mess of different nations all vying for their own piece of the action. Russia has lost interest. The USA clings to the fact it hasn't lost an American in space. Technically correct but backward looking. As for the newly formed UKSA, it's like a baby trying to quote Shakespear, entirely possible but prone to failure.

baby trying to quote Shakespeare
I hadn't heard of the UKSA, but it'll be nice once the recession lifts to see how the different agencies fair, and what projects will come up.

UKSA is the UK Space Agency.

[CommRLock78]

All tested by the old USSR. As for the price tag... can the price of progress be quantified?

Absolutely not, but I'm a realist, and I know from first hand experience that there are those in America that would rather keep the money in their pockets (this place did, after all, manage to vote this arse into office, not just once, but twice )

UKSA is the UK Space Agency.

Yeah, I looked it up immediately (though I had a suspicion that's what it was )
Again, it will be interesting to see what all these agencies are capable of once the recession has lifted .

[NigelJK]

Couldn't resist posting this

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/inte ... 2080637126

[JensAyton]

Via Charles Stross on the Twitternets:

[CommRLock78]

Resources for the Enthusiast

• NASA - Mars Science Laboratory
• NASA - Image Gallery
• Mars Science Laboratory: Images

(Great pic, Ahruman, and a great point, too )

[Smivs]

And a reminder that things don't always work first time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hvlG2JtMts

[Smivs]

This is nice...first HD 360 degree panorama of gale Crater

[CommRLock78]

This is nice...first HD 360 degree panorama of gale Crater

Excellent find, Smivs, thanks for sharing . It's amazing to think that those hills, which look so earth-like, are actually on another planet altogether; can't wait for when we send a rover to Titan .

[CommRLock78]

Watched this last night; a good Nova indeed:
http://video.pbs.org/video/2303491567#

Edit: It's too bad Mars wasn't a larger mass planet, and it would be living still today. A larger mass would have meant that the planet's interior wouldn't have cooled thus keeping a molten core to drive a magnetosphere to protect itself from the solar wind.