I know, just being lazy, also I don't actually frequent the nasa site much, and would have had to guess where the tv schedule was......

Bottom line is it's on too late for me....I need to be zzzzzzzzz at 11:30 EST. Oh well.

What time does the NASA tv coverage start ?

Stardust NExT 'Live' module is up and running on Eyes on the Solar System.

I was just pointing out that the forces on bouncing were not 40 G but a relatively benign 3 or 4 G's. That was probably due to the excellent performance and timing of the of the retro rockets. So in future it might be argued that airbags work well, within the limits of thier design. Of course there is always going to be a day when your not so lucky.

I just noticed it too. Cool.

I know you have to design with 40 G in mind, cause if it went to 4 G's and broke, you'd be kicking yourself in the backside for ever.
Also NASA HQ would not accept 4 G........

I seem to recall the landing shock of the MER's was only 1 or 2 G's as per the engineering assesment. I believe everything was tested to 40 or so G's but the landing profile was not meant to impart that much force.
On second thoughts I might be getting mixed up with Phoenix Lander, which touched drown pretty softly....

Yawn...that peice has enough, "proberblies, coulds, don't knows, virtualy no", to make it a waste of time reading.

It would have been more embarassing to have samples and a non built clean room back on Earth......

I wonder what the preliminary analysis consisted of ?

Thats odd, having a one time operation valve, not reversable by a command.

Have any of the original core mission team died ?

From the BBC....
"The Geminids consist of tiny particles ranging in size from a grain of sand to a pea shed by 3200 Phaethon, an object thought to be an extinct comet."

If only they would check thier facts before publishing.....shame. For those that don't know, it's an extint asteroid not comet.

Well if you look at a rainforest from the air it looks mostly boring old green.........

Not 100 % healthy though, as it did not make orbit.....

The old saying "hit it with a hammer" comes to mind...... :rolleyes
Needless to say a 1 million yen hammer.........

It looks like a mini Victoria, nothing new....., drive right on by it !

The pyro is a small explosive, it pushes a sharp shear edge to cut the cables. Remember if they were not cut the rover would have been a lander, so the system have to be very very reliable.


http://exploration.nasa.gov/documents/repo..._From_Pyros.pdf

I had never seen that before....boom !

When will the pictures be sent back ?

I installed the Eyes on the Solar System s/w at work .

Watches over shoulder for bosses........

I was indeed referring to the red straps in the clean room, I saw 2 of them.

Wow they have some big wheel tie downs on Curiosity.

Truely amazing.

Pluto's orbit is elliptical.

"Light takes between from 4.1 hours and 6.8 hours to travel from the Sun to Pluto" depending on the orbital position of Pluto.

The trick of course is to have the intact wheels still attatched to a 100 % functioning rover .