Spirit & Opportunity

Palomar · 2004-01-03 22:45:49

*Hey Josh! And they're waiting for more tones! Even my husband is watching this with relish! YIPPEE!!! Spirit, Spirit, RAH RAH RAH!!

--Cindy

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-03 22:52:23

She's safely landed!!!!!!!!!

OH MY GOD, that was so tense!!!!

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-03 22:56:30

Airbags have yet to deflate. That happens in a couple of minutes. Got a very strong signal. This is so great!

You should've been watching! It was one of the most tense momments I've ever witnessed.

Palomar · 2004-01-03 22:56:56

*YAAAYYY!!! Yep, heard the cheers erupt from the TV as they were waiting for tones indicating she was okay, stopped bouncing, and ran like crazy to see the action in the control room. Yippee!!!! Near instant gratification!

And it's so great to share this with others, here at the message boards. My husband is happy about it as well!

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-03 23:05:57

Man! We're in a perfect position to recieve pictures in the next 45 minutes, too! This would be the best possible outcome! There should be a press conference soon.

PS fixed my avatar.

Stu · 2004-01-03 23:06:37

That was UNBELIEVABLY tense and cruel!! The high of the initial signal, then that awful "Everyone be quiet!" and the minutes of silence after... you could see the worry etched on everyone's faces, just awful... I was feeling physically sick here, I swear...

My audio went out at the crucial moment, so when I saw everyone leaping about and hugging that was when I realised the signal had been detected...

Excellent job JPL, fantastic!!

Some crucial times ahead yet, but wow, what a night...

Time for a calming cuppa I think.

Stu

Bill White · 2004-01-03 23:09:24

Man! We're in a perfect position to recieve pictures in the next 45 minutes, too! This would be the best possible outcome! There should be a press conference soon.

PS fixed my avatar.

Will there be pictures tonight, still?

Mad Grad Student · 2004-01-03 23:09:30

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It brings back the glory days of the Pathfinder mission. I know someone will say that it brings back the glory days of the Vikings, but I'm far to young to have existed then. I'll just stick with the biggest Mars success of my time, Pathfinder.

I'm very happy about Spirit landing safely. Now there are several events that must follow cleanly for it to be spectacularly succesful in my opinion. First, the petals must deploy okay. Second, each and every hinge and unfirling mechanism on the robot must function properly to get the rover moving and carrying out experiments properly. That hinge on the arm HAS TO WORK!!! I want to see some images of Mars rocks up close, and especially the microbes that (probably) live inside!

Extremely good news that Spirit's okay. All we need is a success with Opportunity and the Beagle will be redeemed. Although we could use some better names (Spirit? C'mon).
:laugh:

Stu · 2004-01-03 23:16:50

Just think...

If you were standing beside Spirit right now, you'd see the Sun half-way up in the western sky, bathing everything in a warm, peach-hued light and casting long shadows behind you, the lander, the airbags, and every jagged rock around you. Although you couldn't see it because of the glare of the Sun, Earth would be just a hand's width above the horizon, minutes away from slipping out of view...

When the Sun gets a little lower, the sky will darken from orange to brown, then, eventually, a rich blue... Earth will have long set by the time the airbags have fully deflated and Spirit's solar arrays have deployed, but as the rover unfolds like a butterfly from a chrysalis, Venus will be shining above the western horizon, brighter than it looks from Earth after sunset right now... possibly even bright enough to cast a reflection on the solar panels...

Wow, I wish I was there...

Stu

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-03 23:17:47

Bill, that has yet to be determined. But it looks like it's possible. I certainly hope so. I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep tonight waiting for images tomorrow.

There should be a conference soon.

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-03 23:19:20

Mostly through the airbag retraction. Should be done in 10 minutes.

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-03 23:33:29

The conference is starting. Oh man. This is great.

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-04 00:04:34

Question from conference (if you guys aren't watching, I don't know what to say, it's really really charming, I'm just so happy): "What are the chances that we'll have images tonight?"

Answer: "11:30"

So yeah, Bill, if you're in a good timezone, and you don't work/go to church tomorrow, it's worth staying up for! I know I am!

Just an hour and a half away.

Palomar · 2004-01-04 00:14:28

*I'm currently watching the conference on FOX. They're taking questions from the media now. Fantastic!

Imagine how much *more* pumped we'd be if this were a manned mission (when, oh when!?). Holy shades of Apollo, Batman!

It's been a great evening.

And the best thing is...we get a repeat (hopefully just as successful) of the anxiety, anticipation and excitement 3 weeks from tonight with Opportunity!

--Cindy

P.S.: Thanks for fixing your avatar! :;):

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-04 01:08:20

Odyssey just passed over and we're getting data! Yes! We're getting the pictures soon! Oh my god. I'm so happy. Guys. Someone shoot me with some valume.

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-04 01:20:57

I hope I'm not the only one seeing this stuff. The images haven't come down quite yet, but I was just observing, the age and diversity of this imaging team is just awesome. Lots of pretty young people (probably mid 20s early 30s). Lots of smiling faces. Lots of ethnic cultures. I love this. And those girls aren't have bad, hehehe. We should have images soon.

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-04 01:32:58

Bill Nyes little compass/calibration data... omg, it just showed from the lander!! Just this second! Man, you guys better be watching NASA TV! The panaroma image just came down! Aaah!

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-04 01:34:22

This is the greatest thing I have ever seen in my life.

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-04 01:39:06

Holy crap! There's this huge boulder by the rover, not even three or four feet in front of it! We've landed on pretty much a flat plain (with very few rocks), this is so great. That image is fantastic, too. The Real Media stream does not give this justice. You want to see this on a TV screen.

I lack Stu's elequoence, but just imagine me saying something beautiful now...

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-04 01:43:35

Correction, the boulder is at the rear of the rover. The mosaic image just arrived. This is just awesome. I'll post as soon as an image is available on the site.

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-04 01:52:08

One of the first pictures: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera … mage2.html

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-04 01:56:07

This is probably the sexiest image that came down early on (when I was freaking out earlier): http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/040104image1.html

(They all came in in succession, one would pop up, and another one would pop up, etc. It was beautiful.)

Stu · 2004-01-04 01:56:34

Thanks Josh! Sitting here trying to see something - ANYTHING! - on my 2"x2" Real Player window, and I can hear lots of cheering and "Wooo!!" ing but can see nothing! Thanks SO much for the link to the pic, you gave me my first view of Gusev, I appreciate it :-)

Stu

Hazer · 2004-01-04 01:57:40

Booyah!
The Spirit has LANDED.

I am very, very happy!

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-04 01:59:24

Here's a link for a directory with images that are being added frequently:http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/images/

All the "firstimage" pictures are from the text update link that I linked here earlier on. It seems everyone is relaxing now, hopefully full screen images will be available soon (since everyone is done celebrating!).

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#26 2004-01-03 22:45:49

Re: Spirit & Opportunity

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