Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2011 00:53:23 -0800
Reply-To: neil n <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: neil n <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Some Comments about a Long Delayed Trip to the Atlantic Coast
of Central Florida and Places Onward
In-Reply-To: <8CE7F95978B0CC1-1DB0-F8AB@webmail-m060.sysops.aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
I realize I'm "over the Friday wire" on this, but....
Long "reads" for me are usually a chore; I'm not a strong reader. NOT the
case here. So well written and easy to read.
I assume from the "honeycomb" sound of stereo summed to mono VO (TV?) that
you took the time to compress the video. Thanks much for that. Footage from
camera looking down the side of the craft showing release of a stage
(don't-cha just love my tech terminology? < grin > ), with subsequent cut
away to long shot footage of craft, is SO cool. The entire footage had my
mind riveted to my iMac display.
It's impossible for me to imagine just how much sweat and emotion went into
this project.
You wrote:
"The engineering redundancy and performance margin built into the rover is
such that it can be expected to continue to explore the Martian Surface for
a decade." ....... "Due to budget cuts and the piecemeal
deconstruction of NASA and the Planetary Space Program. There will probably
not be another Mars probe within the coming decade. The proposed effort to
return samples from Mars for detailed study on earth may never take place.
"
If I'm not misunderstanding, such a shame. My heart goes out to you all.
May I share this video link? I assume it's "publicly" accessible, but you
may have intentionally not broadcast this link in an effort to reduce
bandwidth usage from server where the file is hosted.
Thanks much, and all the best,
Neil.
On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 9:43 PM, Frank Grunthaner <frankgrun@aol.com> wrote:
> Apologies for the verbose title, but I wanted to suggest the length of
> the journey and its possible historicity. Last Friday, my wife, Paula
> (known to older readers of this list as She Who Must Be Obeyed), and I
> transited to the Kennedy Space Flight Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, to
> witness the initiation of an adventure of discovery undertaken by so many
> of our colleagues in the launch of the Mars Science Laboratory to Mars. The
> launch was a thing of beauty wrought by science, engineering and
> technology. Mounted atop an Atlas/Centaur rocket - one of the most powerful
> launch platforms in the US arsenal, the two ton (1,800 kg.) rover carries
> the most extensive scientific instrumentation package ever sent outside our
> planet earth. The rover, built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory by many of
> our close friends, is designed to rove the surface of Mars for 1 Martian
> Year or more than 730 earthly days. The engineering redundancy and
> performance margin built into the rover is such that it can be expected to
> continue to explore the Martian Surface for a decade.
>
> The launch was spectacular and visceral! The visual beauty and the
> acoustic power unleashed certainly excited all parts of my conscious senses
> including the reptilian core of the brain as tears flowed and I had
> difficulty breathing. I am appending a link to a video made of the launch
> with the launch cameras. This video shows the full burn of the four solid
> fuel booster rockets and the jettisoning of same. It also shows the
> completion of the first stage burn, the ejection of the protective fairing
> from nose section and the firing of the second stage Centaur rocket. The
> launch went forward with digital clockwork precision. With the completion
> of the second stage burn, the trajectory of the spacecraft was so precisely
> aligned with that required, no near-earth course correction was required.
>
> All of us involved with the Mars Exploration Program were painfully aware
> of the fact that the delayed (by two years from its originally scheduled
> launch) launch of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) may well be the last
> attempt by our nation to reach beyond the earth in the search for the
> answer to the question as to "Are we alone in the Universe?" Due to budget
> cuts and the piecemeal deconstruction of NASA and the Planetary Space
> Program. There will probably not be another Mars probe within the coming
> decade. The proposed effort to return samples from Mars for detailed study
> on earth may never take place. The proposed search for Methane in the
> Martian atmosphere (joint effort with the European Space Agency proposed
> for 2016) is about to be cut from the President's budget for 2013. The in
> situ organic detection experiments planned for ExoMars in 2018 are likewise
> in jeopardy.
>
> On the two days prior to the launch, I walked the halls, assembly
> buildings and laboratories of the Kennedy Space Center. It was sobering to
> seen the extensive facilities standing largely unused. The most exciting
> thing I saw was the magnificent Saturn V Museum with the rocket that took
> men to the moon. I felt as though I was touring a section of the Great
> Pyramid at Giza, seeing the wonderfully preserved artifacts of a previous
> civilization. A view back to a time when we were a nation of vision and
> purpose.
>
> Time to retire.
>
> The link for the launch video:
>
>
> http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/videos/movies/msl20111126_launchOnNTV/msl20111126_launchOnNTV-1280.mov
>
> I guess I'll check out Disney World!
>
> Frank Grunthaner
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
> To: vanagon <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Sat, Nov 26, 2011 9:06 pm
> Subject: OT but congrats to Frank G. can't wait a week
>
>
> I beg indulgence from the mods, but I think that congratulations are in
> order
> for fellow listmember Frank Grunthaler on the successful launch of the
> Curiosity
> Rover. He is part of the team responsible.
>
> He sent me a couple of pics:
>
> http://shufti.wordpress.com/2011/11/26/aaa-around-another-airport-2/
>
> alistair
>
>
>
--
Neil n
65 kb image Myford Ready For Assembly http://tinyurl.com/64sx4rp
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