Re: [PLUG] OT: 7 minutes of terror, Curiosity landing on Mars 01:30 EDT Monday

["Lee H. Marzke" <lee@marzke.net>]

I lived in Orlando during the Apollo program, and got to see one Saturn V
launch and one Shuttle launch at the cape. ( Cape Canaveral back then )
I remember that the whole earth just shook from the viewing stand about
3 miles away for the Apollo.  I was only about 8 years old and I still
remember that launch.

However in Orlando back in the late 60's early 70's hardy a month went 
by when we didn't smoke trails going up day or night. There were all
sorts of un-announced military launches or commercial satellites going
up all the time and on a cloudless day you could see the un-mistakable
plume with no problem from Orlando.

Lee



----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ron Kaye Jr" <rekaye1005@verizon.net>
> To: plug@lists.phillylinux.org
> Sent: Saturday, 4 August, 2012 7:16:55 PM
> Subject: Re: [PLUG] OT: 7 minutes of terror, Curiosity landing on Mars 01:30 EDT Monday
> 
> the americans have gotten very good at this process.
> but the russians have not fared so well.
> 
> are you prepared to volunteer for the 1st manned flight.
> apparently you get to mars, with no plans for coming back.
> 
> i share your enthusiam for space exploration.
> i had just graduated from springfield high in 1969.
> my friends and i were touring the US in a trailer.
> i was visiting my cousin, on a huge naval vessel in san diego,
> first week of august.
> 
> neil armstrong became the symbol of the greatest accomplishment of
> mankind.
> it was an exciting time.
> we need to reengage as a nation in this inspirational activity
> 
> Ron Kaye Jr
> 914-7294734
> 
> On 08/04/12, Lee H. Marzke wrote:
> 
> 
> FYI,
> 
> NASA's Curiosity is scheduled to land on Mars at 01:30 EDT early
> Monday morning
> (Aug 6, 2012) after traveling over 500,000 miles. It's mission is to
> understand the
> 'habitability of Mars". In other words are their conditions that
> could have ever supported
> life on Mars ( not specifically looking for life itself )
> 
> View it at NASA TV: Live coverage begin 6PM EDT Sunday
> http://www.ustream.tv/nasa
>  
> 
> Re-entry (called the 7 minutes of terror ) begins with Curiosity
> hitting the atmosphere
> at 13,200 Mph and using a combination of head shields, and supersonic
> drogue chute
> to slow to 200mph, and retro rockets for the rest of the way. The
> rover is actually
> lowered on a 'sky-crane' to hang 7.5 meters below the rocket
> platform, and when
> the rover touches, the cables are severed and the rocket platform
> flies away from the rover to
> crash a short distance away. This keeps the level of dust and debris
> at the landing site
> to acceptable levels.
> 
> Landing is scheduled into Gale crater which has central 3-mile high
> mountain peak.
> 
> Three satellites that have been in orbit around Mars since
> NASA:Odyssey:2001
> ESA:MarsExpress:2003,
>  NASA:MRO:2006, etc. will relay the spacecraft signals back to earth.
> The communication will need to switch between these relay stations
> during re-entry, and it's possible that communication will be lost
> for
> for part or all of the re-entry. Communication
> delay is 14 minutes for the signal to reach earth from Mars, so when
> we get the signal
> that re-entry is beginning, the spacecraft's fate will have already
> happened 7 minutes
> prior.
> 
> The landing results may be known immediately at landing, or delayed
> up to three
> days if communication is lost.
> 
> Lee
> 
> --
> 
> "Between subtle shading and the absence of light lies the nuance of
> iqlusion..." - Kryptos
> 
> Lee Marzke, lee@marzke.net http://marzke.net/lee/
> IT Consultant, VMware, VCenter, SAN storage, infrastructure, SW CM
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
"Between subtle shading and the absence of light lies the nuance of iqlusion..." - Kryptos 

Lee Marzke, lee@marzke.net http://marzke.net/lee/ 
IT Consultant, VMware, VCenter, SAN storage, infrastructure, SW CM 
+1 800-393-5217 office +1 484-348-2230 fax 
+1 610-564-4932 cell sip://8003935217@4aero.com VOIP 


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