Space Exploration,astronomy & Cosmology

This is a good slow mo of the landing last night!

 

John Insprucker is getting a bit of a reputation as a legendary SpaceX webcast host. He is one of their leading engineers.

 

Scott Manley's take on what caused SN9 to switch to "Boom-Mode"...

 

I was just about to post this, very interesting take as usual by him. He now seems to think it was a engine problem. Interesting to hear about the FAA issues as well.

 

Meh, it's just a scratch. They can buff it out.

 

A question for debate.

Would you volunteer for one of the early 'colonizing' missions to Mars ?

Its 2030, say, and you re in your late twenties and passed for fitness, mental and physical. ( I would fail on all three fronts but this is all hypothetical obviously)

You have to go for at least 10 years, but the chance of coming back alive is very high by this time , but obviously still a risk.

 

Yep, another 7 minutes of terror coming up! Scott Manley did a video on Perseverance the other day, again very interesting. For Curiosity in 2012 they had the MARDI decent camera which took pics as it came down and landed, this was fascinating. Apparently this time, they have video, sound and multiple cameras which should be fun.

 

When I see the Rovers I cant help but anthropomorphise them and get all tearful that they are out there alone, pushing the boundaries of humanity's quest beyond our planet. Only to end up being recycled for baked bean cans for future Mars colonies pining for a taste of home.

 

I'd like to think they'll be preserved, and maybe one day brought home & put on display in the Smithsonian. I suspect you're probably right though. Too useful for raw materials.

 

Despite Elon's optimism, I can't see people on Mars any time soon. I think there could well be manned visits to the red planet within the decade, but only to orbit & then back again. Landing & getting off again is a huge challenge and a lot of infrastructure would need to be in place before we attempt it. I suspect we'll see a semi-permanent presence on the moon first, then on to Mars.

 

But realistically, if you are going to Mars, it makes no sense to take along at least some infrastructure that would be used later. I don't think we'll be seeing multiple trips per year and at least until they have a faster form of travel - you'd really need to be looking at what you want there when you go back in 5 years time. There's also no point in sending people that far just to look at it from space. If people go, they are going to land on it.

The interesting part will be whether or not robotics has advanced enough in that time to basically build structures on their own. We aren't quite in a position to program them and click start without some sort of monitoring and adaptability to the conditions which are known to Mars - quakes, storms with little to no warning etc. I don't think you can create the infrastructure without it - as humans cannot be expected to build basic elements of a civilisation every few years. Especially with any water source potentially underground and the surface temperature unviable.

 

The main challenge will be creating the CH4 rocket fuel on Mars, so they can fly the Starship back. They will need to find a large pool of easily mineable water for the H2O. The CO2 they can get from Mars atmosphere.

The logistics of flying there, landing safely and taking off is what the current SN launches are all about. I can see that being complete with in several years.

 

The much maligned Beagle. All we did as a country was mock Pillinger, when we should have ben celebrating his ingenuity. Yes it failed, but so does a great proportion of what NASA attempts, at far greater costs. Space exploration is very hard.

Would love to be here in the future too, just see what we ve achieved. Like Musk says, that off planet colonisation is actually imperative in case we do fxck up this one.

 

Am excited about tonight.

Are we expecting to see live video? ( albeit it 7 mins delayed)

 

Nasa's official YouTube goes live with coverage at 7.15pm our time. Wouldn't count on anything on the news channels, maybe CNN at a stretch.

 

Sky at Night special?

EDIT: No. Returns in April.

 

Just under an hour and a half until Nasa's Perseverance rover attempts to land on the surface of Mars following the '7 minutes of terror'

The feed below is live, although I'm not quite sure if it is as live, or factors in the delay in signal from Mars. Either way, confirmation of landing (or crashing) should come around 20:55 our time.

Live animation feed

Nasa feed

 

Just over 5 minutes until cruise stage separation now, we won't get confirmation of that until roughly 11 minutes later.

 

So far so good.

 

Heat shield has separated!

 

Come on PARACHUTE!!!

 

It's down! Success!

 

TOUCHDOWN

 

Im genuinely tearful.

Come on humanity!

Along with creating vaccines for Covid, we've shwon what humanity can do when it works together.

 

First Image has come down already!

 

Have they found Matt Damon yet?