MTB on Mars

Today I diverge slightly from the normal things I talk about here to something more related on the periphery of my geek-dom. 

Curiosity the #MSL (Mars Science Lab) landed sucessfully on Mars last night, after launching from Kennedy Space Center in Florida back in November.  I got the priveledge/opportunity to watch the launch from on KSC at the Apollo Rocket facility.  It didn't have the earth shaking, unbelievable power of a shuttle launch, but it had more in some ways.  Hundreds or thousands of people who built it, put together everything and sent it on it's journey.  J herself works on the SAM module of MSL and is also part of the general science team for MSL and will be at JPL on and off for at least the next 3 months to help run the rover and SAM.  The level of stress leading up to this was almost unbearable.  The number of jobs riding on it landing was amazing.  This shows NASA still has the right stuff to push boundaries and be the leaders of America's Dream.  The EDL system alone was a feat of amazing engineering.  The rover is built by a ton of different groups putting together a nearly 1 ton monster.  Most people get nervous shipping their car across the country.  Now imagine shipping it to another planet. 

Not many people may know but when NASA and JPL were figuring out how to build the rover, they made a decision to go with Titanium for the arms that the wheels run on.  But back when the rover was under design in the early 2000's they didn't have the knowledge on how to work with Ti.  Well NASA instead went to experts at pushing the boundary of working with Ti.  Lynskey Bikes.  Yep, they went to mountain (and other bike) builders Lynskey to learn how to optimally weld and bend Ti tubes/etc used in the frame and power train of the rover.  Pretty cool.  I know a handful of people who ride Lynskey bikes.  Their bikes and the rover share some distant DNA almost. 

If you haven't yet go check out the photo's do it.  Here is my favorite showing a shadow of the rover. 

Click Here

I've been an space geek since my earliest memories with the shuttle back when it's tank was still white.  I remember the day Challenger explosion very clearly.  Sitting in the school library with all the other kids in shock.  Our 6th grade science teacher had been in the final 5 to be selected.  I remember seeing shuttles up close on the back of transports, fly overs in Florida.  Moving to Orlando and hearing the twin booms of it landing.  The first launch I saw, then the first night launch.  Amazing stuff.  Then Columbia happened while in Tallahassee.  No booms as it passed over.  Bad.  Space exploration is not safe, nothing is guaranteed except you are always taking a risk.  We must take risks in moving forward and advancing our selves, and our knowledge.  NASA has problems but it does a LOT of stuff right also.  So for now all I will say is

Go #Curiosity, #MSL, #SAM  go!

Weekend Fail

This weekend ended up as a cycling epic fail. Saturday wasn't bad but I had to go to a performance of my wife's up in College park. And she was feeling sick so I spent the rest of the weekend helping her a bit around the house. We threw out a ton of expired food (2+ or more years in some cases). We cleaned out a bunch of stuff and got the house caught up so she can have the maid service in this week for a full cleaning before she is out of town for the launch next week of the Mars Science Lab.

We did watch a really cool special on Spirit and Opportunity rovers from NOVA, Mars, Dead or Alive. VEry cool.

Missed out on EF. Kinda bummed but the extra rest was nice.

Had another awesome brunch also at 8407 Kitchen in Silver Spring. Tasty. Even had a Flying Dog Imperial Pumpkin. Pretty tasty. Not overly pumpkin flavored, but lots of spice.

Off Roading....on Mars

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl

Right now they are working on loading/mounting the SAM unit to the MSL (New Mars Rover/science lab).

This is one of the 2 major projects my wife is working on and eventually she will be interpreting data it sends back in a year or two.

The MSL is about the size of a mini cooper, 4x the size of the old rovers at least.