Mars lander

[kiwigeo]

Stuff the Olympics.....at around 3pm today there's something far more interesting happening:

http://www.theage.com.au/national/when- ... 23o57.html

[kiwigeo]

Touchdown!!!!!

As a Geologist Im looking forward to seeing what this little machine is going to uncover....its landed in a huge crate with a mountain in the middle of it. This should present a nice stratigraphic cross section to check out.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/7419823/ ... -for-rover

[nnickusa]

Must be one bigass crate to have a mountain in the middle of it

Seriously, this is a cool mission, and I'm keen to see what happens.....

[kiwigeo]

"Gale crater is 96 miles (154 kilometers) in diameter and holds a layered mountain rising about 3 miles (5 kilometers) above the crater floor. The ellipse superimposed on this image indicates the intended landing area, 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) by 15.5 miles (25 kilometers). The portion of the crater within the landing area has an alluvial fan likely formed by water-carried sediments. The lower layers of the nearby mountain -- within driving distance for Curiosity -- contain minerals indicating a wet history. "

[Steve]

Very cool. You will have to excuse my ignorance, but are these impact craters or are there old volcanic craters on Mars too?

[kiwigeo]

Very cool. You will have to excuse my ignorance, but are these impact craters or are there old volcanic craters on Mars too?

Mars has both impact craters and volcanism in the form of basaltic lava flows and volcanoes.

Interesting to note that the Gale Crater where Curiosity has landed was named after Walter Gale...an amateur Australian astronomer.

[Nick]

Didn't have to go all the way to mars to look at a volcano http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7426862 ... central-NI

No, just saw the first pictures back from the rover, all exciting stuff when you think of where they are coming from. You're thinking of the geology side of it but I'm fascinated by the engineering of it all.

[Steve]

You're thinking of the geology side of it but I'm fascinated by the engineering of it all.

...and I work in mapping, so I'm keen on the look of the landscape - there's something for everyone here

[kiwigeo]

Didn't have to go all the way to mars to look at a volcano http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7426862 ... central-NI

No, just saw the first pictures back from the rover, all exciting stuff when you think of where they are coming from. You're thinking of the geology side of it but I'm fascinated by the engineering of it all.

White Island is getting active as well. Lucky I wasnt doing the Auckland-Chch flight this week.

[kiwigeo]

Had to laugh at this: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/sci ... 23r38.html

This is good.......science is about to suddenly become "cool".

[Paul B]

No way did I think that thing was going to land like the way they said it would, just way too many variables. Thought that sky crane thing was never going to work! Wow, watched it all happen online. How good was that! Everything went exactly how they said it should. Now that is great engineering!