Hey Republican'ts, We're on Mars, Bitches!

Yes We Can!

[Nasa is showing off a high-resolution colour picture sent back by theMars rover Curiosity, detailing the mountain where scientists plan to focus their search for the chemical ingredients of life.

The image reveals distinct tiers near the base of the three-mile-high mountain that rises from the floor of Gale Crater, where Curiosity landed on 6 August.

Scientists estimate it will be a year before the rover reaches the layers of interest at the foot of the mountain, 6.2 miles from the landing site.]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/aug/28/mars-curiosity-high-resolution-pictures

Yes We Can!: Mars explorer Curiosity lands successfully

"NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has touched down on the surface of the Red Planet, completing a 154-million-mile journey, and marking the beginning of a new era in planetary exploration."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/06/mars-rover-curiosity-landing-live-updates_n_1742499.html?utm_hp_ref=daily-brief?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=080612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=NewsEntry&utm_term=Daily%20Brief

[They have the pictures to prove it: NASA successfully landed the Mars Curiosity Rover, its largest and most advanced unmanned exploration vehicle on target on the surface of the Red Planet at a time of 1:14 a.m. ET on Monday, August 6.

A few minutes later, the rover sent back its first images, one from a rear-facing black and white hazard avoidance camera (hazcam) on the rover’s body and the other from a front-facing one.

The rear-facing camera showed the rover’s wheel on Mars while the front-facing one showed its shadow across the surface of a shallow area of the planet where the rover landed known as Gale Crater. See both of them below in a composite image from NASA:]

http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/mars-curiosity-rover-lands-first-images.php

Mars Craft to Land 1:31 AM EST Monday

Whether it works or not, the Curiosity will land.  Gravity is funny like that.

[Computerworld - When NASA's newest and largest robotic rover lands on Mars early Monday morning, it will use a supersonic parachute, a tether and rockets to safely alight 350 million miles from home.

Seven minutes will elapse between the time the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere and the time it touches down on the planet's surface. NASA engineers say this will be the seven scariest minutes of the mission.

"Entry, descent and landing is referred to as the 'seven minutes of terror' because we've got literally seven minutes to get from the top of the atmosphere to the surface of Mars, going from 13,000 miles an hour to zero in perfect sequence, perfect choreography and perfect timing, and the computer has to do it all by itself with no help from the ground," said Adam Steltzner, a NASA engineer, in a video interview. "If any one thing doesn't work just right, it's game-over."

After a journey of more than eight months, NASA's SUV-sized robotic rover -- the Mars Science Laboratory, also known as Curiosity -- is set to land at 1:31 a.m. Eastern time on Monday in a 96-mile-wide crater.]
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9229925/NASA_s_Mars_rover_heading_toward_7_minutes_of_terror_?source=CTWNLE_nlt_dailyam_2012-08-03