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Great Mars Picture...
- Thread starter Sup3rknova
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Fantastic achievement. Seven minutes to go from 20,000kph to 0. I think the thing that boggles my mind is that when NASA heard the signal from the capsule that it was starting it's landing sequence, it had already been on the ground for 7 minutes - Mars is that far away.
By the way... it's more INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION-INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION-INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
NASA had the help of several, if not many countries, who provided key knowledge and key technologies. NASA could not have done this without their help. I would bet money that in the photo uploaded, at least one of those engineers is not American. It is a (nearly) unique trait that American media will assign all credit to "America" on these multinational projects.
NASA has earned and deserves recognition for pulling this project together. I don't think any one else could have coordinated and funded a project of this size. But let us also give credit to the numerous other nations who were asked by NASA to provide the key technologies and knowledge that NASA needed to pull this off.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION RULZ
By the way... it's more INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION-INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION-INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
NASA had the help of several, if not many countries, who provided key knowledge and key technologies. NASA could not have done this without their help. I would bet money that in the photo uploaded, at least one of those engineers is not American. It is a (nearly) unique trait that American media will assign all credit to "America" on these multinational projects.
NASA has earned and deserves recognition for pulling this project together. I don't think any one else could have coordinated and funded a project of this size. But let us also give credit to the numerous other nations who were asked by NASA to provide the key technologies and knowledge that NASA needed to pull this off.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION RULZ
A couple of people during the conference did acknowledge the other countries that supplied help to NASA, but it's still a primarily American mission, and Curiosity was built here in the States.
It was great to see well over a hundred thousand people watching NASA's live stream, and that doesn't include other streams or anyone watching via Xbox Live.
Good to know our $2.5billion-worth of tax money went to something awesome.
Here is a different picture, showing Curiosity's parachute descent during its 7 minutes of terror.
https://twitter.com/MarsCuriosity/statuses/232510435440603136
Higher res: http://twitpic.com/ag8j1w/full
Here is a different picture, showing Curiosity's parachute descent during its 7 minutes of terror.
https://twitter.com/MarsCuriosity/statuses/232510435440603136
Higher res: http://twitpic.com/ag8j1w/full
No question is primarily an American project, and that NASA is properly acknowledging the contribution of it's international partners. My quibble was with the OP's chest thumping. There are 10 science packages, from the USA, Canada, Spain, and Russia. NASA used the antennae array in Australia to stay in contact. That is 5 countries that have contributed important technology to the project that I can name off the top of head, simply from news coverage. This doesn't count all the engineers and scientists from other nations who are simply hired by NASA to fill important jobs. I am not bring to take any thing away from NASA.... they are the best at what they do. And one of the ways they do that is by asking other nations to contribute to the project as well.
I am looking forward to seeing what they can dig up. This is going to be an exciting couple of years for Mars news.