No. 92 - 21/7/12
Hey I forgot about these…
The space shuttle Enterprise during Space Fest, which was on the deck of the Intrepid. I can’t even tell which part of that sentence is the most awesome.
Something to think about, there
Yep.
For all those who can seriously, at such a moment of profound technological triumph, find themselves saying things like “Surely this money could have been spent better on something else”: please note that you’re not thinking this through.
Brief example: the Space Shuttle. Just a few of the bits of tech developed for the Shuttle have since been spun off into such down-to-earth uses as bloodless surgery, lenses that correct human eyesight without looking like Coke bottle bottoms, artificial heart valves that never wear out, and more advanced pregnancy monitoring than was even dreamed of twenty years ago. And this is just in the physical/medical mode. Don’t even get me started on engineering. The Shuttle program is all through your life and you don’t even know it.
What Mars exploration will do for us in the next ten years: too soon to tell. The possibilities are staggering. But to say “this money could be spent better” implies both an intense lack of understanding of what has been done so far, and a huge misunderstanding of the phrase “value for money”, because NASA is better value for money than almost anything else the United States has ever done.
Concerned about spending money better? Give up potato chips.
Thank you.
Hey, look, more good points
But seriously, get up and look around your house. Look outside. Think about your daily commute. Think about any hospital you’ve ever even looked at. See how many of these things you would be loathe to live without.
Also, space ice cream. I’m just sayin’
Scinerds: Mars Curiosity Rover Resource List
The Mars Curiosity Rover will be the largest man-made object ever to land on another planet, and it’s predicted to touch down on Sunday August 5 or Monday August 6, depending on where you are—just hours away.
Landing Time:
- 10:31 p.m. US Pacific Standard Time
- 1:31…
oh here, something that’s actually official
Where Do I Go to Watch Curiosity's Mars Landing?
I.e., the question you’ve all been asking yourselves.
If you haven’t been… get with it, man.
So why do we care about landing on Mars?
One obvious reason is that it’s a bitch of an event, as indicated by the Seven Minutes of Terror a craft must go through to reach the surface. The US has succeeded in 6 out of 7 Mars landings, which is 6 more than any other country. Curiosity will also be the first rover to land on difficult terrain, which goes to show the great leaps and bounds NASA has achieved since it started sending rovers to Mars.
But most importantly, thanks to Curiosity’s size (roughly ginormous, compared to previous rovers; in fact, ginormous enough to carry multiple chem labs), we will be able to hunt around for the ingredients of life. Overall, Curiosity will be examining the history of the planet, with an eye out for any carbon-y goodness that may indicate there was once life on Mars.
The Space Shuttle “Enterprise” stands on Kenndey Space Center Pad 39A highlighted against the darkened Florida sky during testing of the high-intensity lighting system. The banks of xenon lights are used during lanuch preparations. (2/6/1980)
photo: KSC/NASA via archive.org
