A picture of Perserverance being lowered by the sky crane system
A picture of Perserverance being lowered by the sky crane system
At first thought, the landing system being used comes across as total Larry Lightbulb. But considering the monumental issues that you have to face getting on that surface, well, it's friggin elegant.
We (well some of the smart ones at least) hurled a smart car sized robot 300 million miles through space and then dropped it from a friggin' rocket crane down to another planet and it did all that while we just watched with an 12 minute delay. If you don't think that's amazing then you just can't be impressed.
Excellent video of the actual landing- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4czjS9h4Fpg&ab_channel=NASA
In reply to alfadriver (Forum Supporter) :
that is an awesome video.
First recording of wind on Mars-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtNeZ0u3onw&ab_channel=VideoFromSpace
So here is the chute. They have the specific patterns so they can watch frame by frame and make sure everything opened properly and as they planned (not being able to fully test the system as Earth gravity and atmosphere is very different from Mars.)
Reddit also seems to think there is a hidden message in the panels. Morse code or binary or some such.
Mr_Asa said:Reddit also seems to think there is a hidden message in the panels. Morse code or binary or some such.
Prolly only if ya play it backwards! 
The helicopter phoned home, said it survived. They don't plan on flying it for another month, which means I'll prolly die to death of fatal anticipation. WE'RE GONNA FLY A FREAKING DRONE ON ANOTHER PLANET. Yeah I can't wait to see them vids...
My brother works on the radio the orbiter uses to communicate with earth. He seems kind of bitter about the helicopter. He said it was a "gimmick added late in the project as a PR stunt". I think it was a really good idea, lol. It has helped drive press coverage and public interest, which is importamnt for support for science.
In reply to WilD :
If the PR stunt ends up getting a lot of public support which then translates into NASA budget, then it was probably worth it. Let alone how cool it will be to scan the surface up close like that.
THAT'S EVEN COOLER
I thought the slots in the wheels on the last rover spelled out JPL in morse.
When I was a kid it seemed like people could care less about what was going on with the space program. It was always "Oh, another shuttle launch, ho-hum".
Now it seems lke people are actually interested in what's happening. I'm glad to see the change.
I was catching up with a good friend of mine who works at NASA Ames research center as a fabricator and technician. He has built some really cool custom parts for our various car projects over the years.
He is super humble, so I asked asked him if he worked on the this project. The answer is yes. He was the lead fabricator and assembler for the heat shield and the thermal management hardware. "So parts you built are not just sitting in my garage right now, they are also on the surface of Mars?" "Yeah I guess so."
I told him I was going brag on his behalf to everyone I know since he never will.
I am curious, besides WilD, does anyone have friends or relatives who worked on this?
Did any of you work on it personally?
In reply to Type Q :
my next door neighbors brother works at JPL , does that count ?
You need to have him give you a few small pieces to glue to your car , they you can brag about how the other half of that part is on MARS......
Not this, but I've fabbed and done QC work on waveguides used in communication satellites, but not this.
It was kind of a trip watching that first rocket launch, knowing my initials were on parts going into space
In reply to Type Q :
I have an uncle that works at JPL. From what I understand of his job though I don't think he's directly working with any of the hardware. He did say if I ever finish school above a certain GPA that he can get me a paid internship. No chance I'd ever get wife to move to CA though. Not that I'd want to.
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