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| Gale Crater |
PASADENA, Calif.—Precisely on time and target, NASA’s Curiosity rover touched down safely on Mars Monday to begin an ambitious two-year trek through a mountainous crater that promises to reveal whether the red planet was ever hospitable to life. LINK
The one ton, $2.5 billion Curiosity is the most scientifically equipped probe ever sent to another planet. It will begin an intensive search for signs that Mars may have once hosted life. Almost immediately upon landing, the Curiosity craft transmitted a series of photos to Earth showing its own wheels safely on the surface of Gale Crater near the equator of Mars.
Curiosity will make history, and no matter what it finds on its mission of exploration, we will be wiser and richer for the experience. I never tire of the vast complexity of the worlds around us and feel that their exploration tells us a lot about our planet and about ourselves. Even in tough economic times, the need to stretch ourselves is critical (“A man’s reach must exceed his grasp. Or what’s a heaven for.”- Browning) to keep pushing the learning envelope.
Congrats to all who were involved in this mission.
As we all know, we were once the leaders in Space. I for one am afraid that this is the last hurrah as to the greatness that was once NASA and our space program. I felt the goosebumps as I watched an amazing achievement last night and then began to wonder if this was it?
Our so called leader said the following.
"In a statement issued Monday shortly after the rover Curiosity landed, Obama said "Tonight, on the planet Mars, the United States of America made history."
He says the feat, which gives the space agency a much-needed boost, proves that even the longest odds are no match for American ingenuity and determination.
The president says the mission, which cost taxpayers $2.5 billion, shows that American preeminence "depends on continuing to invest wisely in the innovation, technology, and basic research that has always made our economy the envy of the world."
Yes, it was historic and so forth. But what in the hell does he mean by the last quote above? Invest wisely? This no count has gutted the space program and hell we have to now hitch rides with the Russians for God's sake! Invest wisely? This clown now wants to hitch himself to the efforts of true Americans who he has literally stabbed in the back? I almost wanted to puke when I saw this!
But man, what a great moment aside from Obama horning in! As one watched the raw emotion in that room as the events unfolded, the pride of a job well done was well deserved by all. To me, it is such a shame that under this President, the efforts of these great people in the end are rewarded with a kick in the teath.
Hurray for our side! Damn, we could of bailed out a lot of OWSers with that money.
President Obama gave the directive to NASA early in his presidency that their principal PR mission was to help Muslims to feel good about themselves since no Muslim nation engages in this sort of spectacular work.
I think that helping Muslims to feel good about themselves should NOT be a mission of NASA.
Yes, think of distributing that money to the unemployed OWS crowd so they would be able to stay unemployed, live at home and buy a lot more dope from Mexican Drug Cartels. Dumping all that money into the drug market would lower the cost for consumers in the USA, making life better for both the criminals and the addicts. Or you can send a space ship to Mars…
There are a lot of nameless people, many students who will be studying the research sent back and they all deserve our love and support.
Forgot about that one!
Yep, this one went off without a hitch! Congrats to JPL and all those who participated in the work! Now we stand to benefit from the research, and we WILL learn from this!
thanks for sharing.
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