| Spacecraft Portraiture |
[Aug. 6th, 2012|09:00 pm]
Nicodemus
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This is a spectacular image.
This is a view of Curiosity* descending toward the surface while the parachute was still attached. What is mind-blowing is that this photo was taken by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. A spacecraft orbiting Mars took a picture of another spacecraft descending! Science! :)
*technically not the mission name but how everyone knows it |
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Yes! I was thinking of engineering as a science discipline. (And computer science, too!)
This is one of the most awesome pictures I've seen.
Edited at 2012-08-07 08:06 am (UTC)
It's even more impressive to look at when you consider that it's a SUPERSONIC parachute!
Yes, definitely. They had to send instruction up to the orbiter several days in advance for taking this picture, so someone (or several someones, most likely) was doing some impressive math and trajectory computations.
Math is hard, but it makes for some really cool stuff.
Everything about this is so awesome. Was fun to watch the landing "live" online too. I heard there was a crowd in Times Square changing "Science", what would have been cool to see!
Thx for sharing, hadn't seen that one!
If you blow the image up even larger, you can see Calamity Cougar sitting on the surface of Mars in his lawn chair, drinking a brew and talking to his pink flamingo while he waits for the probe to land.
Would he then take the rover, beef up the suspension, put on balloon tires, and turn it into a monster truck? | |
