You overslept, burnt your breakfast, spilt coffee down your shirt, and stumbled into work looking a wreck—a bit like every other Monday morning, just ten times worse. But that’s OK, because you have an excuse: last night, you were watching history being made. More »
After “seven minutes of terror” involving guided entry, parachute and powered descent, and even a sky crane, NASA’s Curiosity rover has successfully touched down on the surface of Mars. Better yet, the 2,000lbs (900kg) science lab has established communications with Earth and is sending back telemetry along with the first pictures of Gale crater. These initial grayscale images are only 256 x 256 pixels in size but show Curiosity’s shadow on the Martian soil. Peek at our galley below and stay tuned for updates.
Update: Hit the break to check out a video of all the “seven minutes of terror” highlights.
Continue reading NASA’s Curiosity Mars landing successful, first pictures trickling in (video)
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NASA’s Curiosity Mars landing successful, first pictures trickling in (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 02:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Less than an hour ago, NASA accomplished a new feat of engineering supremacy with the landing of the Curiosity Rover to the surface of Mars – and the first photos from that craft have been sent back to Earth already. As it was revealed about and around the landing sequence for this craft, the delay between the tech on the planet now and us here at home on Earth is about 14 minutes. What we’re seeing now are photos taken from the Curiosity River and projected back to our planet in less than a half hour – fresh as we’ve ever seen them!
What you’re seeing are some rather dusty images straight from the Curiosity Rover as it’s touched down on the planet Mars. These are the first bits of data we’ll be receiving from the planet that’ll be able to be made sense of by the masses. For all information regarding new forms of life, little green men, and signs of water, we’ll have to wait a bit longer.
You’re seeing shadows of the rover as it sits on the surface of Mars as well as images of its wheels. There are only a few small images at the moment, but more are certainly on the way from NASA very soon. The reason the view right now is so very dusty is that the area surrounding the craft is essentially one massive cloud of debris blown up by the landing sequence. Subsequent shots of the surface of the planet will be clearer – we hope!
Have a peek here at these rather tiny images and stick around as much more lovely versions and future shots appear. And have a toast for NASA – we’ve just lived through history!
[via Mars]
First Mars photos projected back from Curiosity Rover is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
5 days ago, we talked about how NASA will be broadcasting the Mars landing of the Curiosity Rover live at New York’s world famous Times Square. Well, since good things always come to those who wait, we have word that NASA’s Curiosity Rover has just landed on Mars, where its descent-stage retrorockets made their mark, guiding it for a safe landing on the Red Planet’s surface. The use of nylon cords helped lower the rover to the ground in the “sky crane” maneuver. Once the spacecraft’s electronics sensed an imminent touchdown, the connecting cords were severed, while the descent stage managed to fly itself out of the way. It landed sometime in mid-afternoon – which was approximately around 3 p.m. local Mars time at Gale Crater. Now, the continued search for extra-terrestrial life continues. Do you think that Curiosity will be able to handle the tasks that has been set before it, and what new discoveries will be made before this decade is over? [NASA page]
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: NASA and Microsoft release Mars Rover Landing game, NASA’s Viking robot found life on Mars in 1976?,
You watched the launch, bit your nails over computer simulations and even played the game, and it all comes down to today: NASA’s Curiosity rover is about to land on Mars. The $2.5 billion vehicle has been en route to the red planet for eight months, and in a few short hours will spend seven terrifying minutes blindly making its way to the Martian surface — only to make NASA scientists wait another full seven before reporting on its success or failure. The rover is flying solo.
That doesn’t mean we can’t be there in spirit, however: NASA TV will be broadcasting the event on Ustream, offering commentary from the minds behind the rover, as well as audio from mission control. The Curiosity Cam, which runs from 11:30PM until 2:00AM EDT and 3:30AM to 4:30AM EDT, will offer commentary from the scientists and engineers behind Curiosity, while a second feed (at NASA JPL Live, which runs from 11:30PM onward) will play audio from mission control. If all goes to plan, NASA will be able to share an image from Curiosity’s navigation cameras, confirming its safe arrival on the Martian surface. Sounds like a hell of a show to us.
Read on to view the Curiosity Cam right here or check out the source links below to prep your evening (or early morning) viewing for yourself. Let us know your own thoughts on Curiosity’s landing in the comments.
Update: Touchdown confirmed! The entire sequence went perfectly to plan, and rover Curiosity is now on the surface of Mars and sending telemetry data.
Update: NASA’s press conference is now happening live.
Continue reading Watch NASA’s Curiosity rover touch down on Mars, live at 1:30AM EDT
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Watch NASA’s Curiosity rover touch down on Mars, live at 1:30AM EDT originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Aug 2012 22:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Mars Curiosity Rover landing is kind of a big deal. There are going to be seven terrifying minutes as the $2.6 billion vehicle executes its wildly complicated descent to the surface. Can you think of a better reason for a party? More »
Welcome to the weekend, everyone! We’re about ready to dive into the weekend ourselves, but not before we deliver the evening wrap-up. As with every other day this week, today gave us some more news about Apple’s patent trial with Samsung, with Judge Lucy Koh interviewing each and every one of the jurors to make sure they weren’t being swayed by any outside influences. Apple’s senior VP of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller took the stand today to convince the jury that the iPhone’s design was unique, while the company’s legal counsel did its best to make sure that Samsung didn’t share any iPhone sales numbers. Judge Koh also said that Apple wasn’t allowed to keep its customer survey results a secret, so Samsung did get a bit of news that could help it out as the trial progresses.
Speaking of Samsung, it seems that the company is gearing up to announce something, but we’re not entirely sure what. At first, Samsung said that the Galaxy Note 2 will be getting a reveal at its August 29 press event, but later backtracked on the statement. The company did begin teasing its planned reveal for its August 15 event, however, and that one seems to be Galaxy Note related.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus both received Ice Cream Sandwich today, while the HP TouchPad is now (partially) running Jelly Bean thanks to an unofficial port of CyanogenMod 10. HTC was in the news a bit today, as it warned that in Q3 it will experience an drop in revenue of up to 23%. On the more optimistic side of things, it appears that the HTC One X+ may be heading to T-Mobile soon, so at least there’s that.
After hearing that Microsoft was planning to drop the Metro branding for Windows 8 and Windows RT earlier in the day, the company went ahead and officially ditched the branding this afternoon. A pair of Sony cameras were leaked today, and OUYA has announced that it will be partnering with iHeartRadio to bring streaming radio to everyone who buys the Android-based game console.
EA had its fair share of headlines today, announcing The Sims 3 Seasons and filing a lawsuit against Zynga for copyright infringement. Electronic Arts claims that Zynga ripped off The Sims Social with The Ville, and the publisher didn’t have any problem accusing Zynga of theft in the complaint it filed. Finally, NASA is gearing up for Monday’s Curiosity rover landing, and you can bet that tensions are high as we head into the weekend.
As always, we have a few original articles we encourage you to check out, such as these interviews with Colin Farrell and Bryan Cranston from Total Recall, which is in theaters today. We also take a closer look at the leak of the final build of Windows 8, and wonder why stuff like this surprises anyone anymore. Enjoy the weekend, folks!
SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: August 3, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
The Mars Curiosity hasn’t even made it to Mars yet and it’s already made a discovery that vital the future of manned space travel: The exact type of radiation astronauts would likely encounter on their way to the Red Planet. This is so freaking awesome. More »
After NASA’s Curiousity attempts its tension-fraught landing on August 5th, you’ll be able to get one yourself in the form of this Hot Wheels die-cast model. The 1:64 scale buggy will reproduce the gutsy rover’s nuclear motor, drill, cameras and laser, while being a galaxy away from the $2.5 billion price tag, at a mere $1.09 or so. The real six-wheeled deal will need to hit all its marks perfectly when it attempts to land in a few days, with a complex sequence involving an atmospheric entry, parachute deployment, retro rocket firing and final crane-style drop. So, if you do end up with the toy version, hopefully it’ll be a good souvenir of a Spirit-like success — and not some other unmentionable Mars excursions.
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Robots
Mattel casts NASA Curiosity rover die with new Hot Wheels toy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Aug 2012 07:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
We’re just days away from the Curiosity rover’s touchdown on the surface of Mars, and with the historic event quickly approaching, NASA has started thinking about the future. Specifically, NASA chief Charles Bolden is thinking of manned missions to the red planet, which are planned to occur sometime in the 2030s. The US has been talking about manned missions to Mars for quite some time now, but when the moment finally arrives, Bolden says that the US won’t be going it alone.
“I have no desire to do a Mars landing on our own,’ Bolden told USA Today. “The U.S. cannot always be the leader, but we can be the inspirational leader through international cooperation in space exploration.” Bolden also said that any future trips to the moon will likely be based around international cooperation as well, meaning that the US is pretty much finished making advances in space exploration on its own.
Indeed, Bolden may not have much of a choice in the matter anyway. With NASA’s funding continuously getting cut, we’ll need to rely on scientists from other nations to get the job done. Even if money wasn’t an issue, a mission to Mars is a monumental undertaking, and it would serve well to have the world’s top minds working together on the mission instead of making it a US-only party.
For now, however, the focus remains squarely on the Curiosity rover and its landing on Mars, which is set to go down on August 6. We’re less than a week away from touchdown, and thankfully, NASA isn’t keep all the excitement to itself, announcing earlier this week that it will be live streaming the entire landing. Be sure to check out our story timeline below for more information about the Curiosity rover and Mars in general!
As Curiosity rover touchdown nears, US says it won’t go to Mars alone is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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