Comments on: Something Even More Amazing Than Curiosity on Mars

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 06:18:30 +0000

Spirit and Opportunity are indeed the l’il rovers that could. I look forward to the 10th anniversary celebrations in a couple of years when hopefully Oppy will still be functioning.

It kind of irked me the way NASA’s celebrations of the Curiosity arrival seemed to make out like Oppy wasn’t still there. There were constant references to “returning” to Mars with Curiousity even though thanks to Oppy they never left.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 02:11:13 +0000

I’d been thinking for a while about a better metric for the success of a Mars-exploration mission than its lifetime, and ground covered does seem to be it. Do you know how far Curiosity is designed to travel, how fast it goes, or how long it is expected to last? Do you have much information about the other half of its primary mission (to find where the water went on Mars), the one that checks the atmosphere? I heard a design recently got approval from NASA.

By: Matte

Matte — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 08:16:58 +0000

I’m surprised the Martians have not stolen the RTG, turned it into a bomb and sent it back to us by now!?
//Sarcasm off

Great post by the way!

By: Q

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 01:59:46 +0000

How many years it lasts matters less than how many observational hours it operates. Hopefully it will last a long time, but it is sure to return lots of stunning images and astounding data. All thanks to nuclear power.

Do you think the nuclear end of it is getting enough attention?

Also, maybe this will help raise awareness to resolve the chronic plutonium 238 shortage?

By: DV82XL

DV82XL — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 16:33:19 +0000

Let’s hope that the mission will get some good PR for the use of nuclear power in space missions. Something that will drown out the wailing of the Cassandras that seem to dog every launch of a nuclear device.