Posted on 08/05/2012 5:20:21 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Two top space officials pledged Sunday afternoon to continue the exploration of Mars in years to come – regardless of whether NASA’s Curiosity rover survives its dramatic landing later tonight.
“We are committed to a Mars exploration program,” NASA Associate Administrator John Grunsfeld said.
...
“This is a message to the whole world: We are to dare mighty things, even if we might fail,” Elachi said. “Every explorer has had tough days. It was never easy.”
The officials conceded that much is riding on the success of the Curiosity mission tonight. Elachi called Curiosity “a very important element of the overall [space] program.”
NASA’s budget, like that of many federal government agencies, faces considerable uncertainty in the coming years. There have been suggestions that NASA could be forced to take entire Mars missions off the table, or at least postpone their launch. Grunsfeld insisted that NASA had not been forced to make such drastic moves – not yet, anyway.
And in the meantime, he said, “Curiosity has captured the imagination of the world” – like Apollo 11, the flight that sent the first humans to the surface of the moon, captivated him as a teenager.
“We’re about to do something that I think is just huge for humankind,” he said.
Also Sunday, with Curiosity on a near-perfect course for its scheduled 10:31 p.m. PDT landing, scientists said they had passed up a final opportunity to correct the spacecraft’s trajectory.
Curiosity was “very healthy,” said mission manager Brian Portock.
“In cellphone speak, we have a full set of bars,” Portock said. “The flight team is feeling really good about the spacecraft.”
The craft was winging its way toward Mars at more than 8,000 mph.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
jeeeezzzzzz.... bring a turd for the punch bowl why don’tcha.
I hope they converted from meters to feet at the appropriate times.
If it fails, they will blame a contractor.
Easy to be cavalier daring when it isn’t your hundreds of millions of dollars on the line.
Now ain't that a helluva thing to say just before landing?
Or are they about to "take Curiosity black" by announcing a crash and switching telemetry to military channels, so they can explore in secret?
It sounds like they know it’s a failure already.
Sure sounds like a lot of skid greasing going on.
yep. hope not though.
The last one bounced on Mars like a giant beach ball. This one is a lot more complex
Is that you, Richard?
If NASA disappeared tomorrow, no one would miss it but some aging Star Wars fans and the scientists who cash their paychecks no matter if their hideously expensive projects succeed or fail.
Lat me know when they quit looking for life and start building a base on the moon.
Do you think they will fire the bunch if it fails?
I got real tired of watching the Mars expert over the weekend.
You know, the guy with three earrings. What the hell does three earrings mean? Two on one side one on the other?
We used to say that was “try”, as in try-sexual.
Heck, he’ll try anything!
The new NASA credo: “ Failure...well, yeah. It is kind of on the table.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.