MSL Cruise Phase Options

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Okay, we're off and running! Please post all comments relating to MSL's transit to Mars here.

[MarsEngineer]

No news is good news indeed!

We are watching cruise stage temps (most look great) - we had to turn one heater off because it was getting a tad warm. A few other things we are watching and learning about. Nothing like real telemetry. Otherwise very boring! Boring is good.

I am happy that everything is so darn nominal (knocks on wood). I am getting the "shift handover' summary from the ops flight director now. Nominal. Nominal. Nominal. (even the word makes me sleepy.) (But I am getting off-nomially sick of too many peanuts. Normally we have one jar but today there were at least three being passed around the cruise MSA. )

We will try to keep things boring until Aug. We still have oh so much to do - Test the final EDL flight software, test/finish the final surface software, there are more bugs still to uncover no doubt.

We may do the spin down to 2 rpm tomorrow (per "nominal" plan - that word again). Still talking about it. May want to wait for the temps to settle down first.We will have to do TCM-1 one of these days (first trajectory correction maneuver). We have weeks but it would be great to get it done sooner than later. Lots of cruise checkouts to do too.

Did you enjoy that launch as much as I did? It is very surreal to see stuff that you have had your hands on being pushed up and up into the sky like that, knowing it is not likely to return to Earth any time soon.

By the way, perhaps someone has mentioned this, Peter and I had your miniaturized names and signatures put on the back of the rover (next to the camera targets). If you were a Martian with very very good eyes you would be able read 12 million names and many thousands of signatures simply by leaning over the rover and reading.



-Rob