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Actually, wait, now I do have a few ideas...
Goddard would be a cool name for the MSL, since Goddard's ultimate goal was always to go to Mars... but he's already got that center in Maryland. Hmm... who in the history of spaceflight doesn't have anything named for them? Is there anything named for Korolev?
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There is a magnificent crater on Mars and another on the Moon named after him.Originally Posted by KaiYeves
I have said it before, but I nominate Bagnold for a name.
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After this Bagnold, I assume?
Almost all of the pioneers of space exploration have moon or Mars features, I was asking about spacecraft or centers on Earth.
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That is he. It's only a fraction of his achievements!
There was a tracking ship named Korolev, and RPO Energia was renamed in his honour. Also there is the Korolev museum.Almost all of the pioneers of space exploration have moon or Mars features, I was asking about spacecraft or centers on Earth.
Jon
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I say we call her Stefanyshyn-Piper.
Honored Member
Somehow, I don't think a Russian name will fly (sic).
But I really wouldn't mind 'Sheppard'.
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Sheppard would be good.
That would depend on the age of the judges.Somehow, I don't think a Russian name will fly (sic).
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News conference:
BA Blog: NASA chiefs to talk MSL
Perhaps it's a response to Alan Stern. (See topic NASA’s Black Hole Budgets.)Tomorrow (Thursday), NASA will hold a press conference to discuss MSL. That’s interesting in and of itself, but the people giving the conference are even more interesting: NASA’s top guy Mike Griffin for one, Ed Weiler, who runs the Science Mission Directorate (after Alan Stern left, primarily due to MSL cost issues), Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA HQ, and Charles Elachi, director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where MSL is being built.
These are heavy hitters, and not your usual scientists who participate in such events.
NASA TV Schedule:
NASA TV (or NASA TV Yahoo! source or high-resolution)December 4, Thursday
[1200 EST; 0900 PST; 1700 UTC] - NASA Mars Science Laboratory Update - HQ (Public and Media Channels)
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Looks ominous!
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I would expect it to be a 2 year delay (for time, not budget reasons. MSL is over, but NOT by the ammounts Alan keeps trying to make out - only by as much as New Horizons was, and a tiny ammount compared to JWST for example)
I'm happy with that - MSL needs to work - that EDL system will pave the way for future landers.
Established Member
2-year slip. As dj pointed out, it will be for "time" reasons - I presume (without any special insight) that it has to do with further work on the EDL system.
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MSL update press briefing on now.
NASA TV (or NASA TV Yahoo! source or high-resolution)
===
Introductions.
Griffin first.
It's a delay. 2011.
Was scheduled for autumn 2009. Problems with actuator motors and backlog of other work.
Work progressing well, except for motor problem. Has full confidence will be solved. Too much risk for 2009. A few months delay would probably be enough, but any slip means a two-year wait for next launch opportunity.
===
Edit: Planetary Society Weblog: Mars Science Laboratory is delayed two years
I'll leave it to the pro.A press briefing is happening now; I'll have more details after it ends.
Edit: Planetary Society Weblog: More details on the delay of Mars Science Laboratory
That did seem significant.Moving beyond MSL, there's the good news about the coming NASA-ESA collaboration on Mars exploration. That's such good news, and so significant, that I think I will cover it in a separate blog entry.
Edit: See topic NASA & ESA: Going together to Mars
Last edited by 01101001; 2008-Dec-05 at 01:43 AM.
Vulcan Administrator
Official press release:
NEWS RELEASE: 2008-226 December 4, 2008
Next NASA Mars Mission Rescheduled for 2011
WASHINGTON -- NASA's Mars Science Laboratory will launch two years later than previously planned, in the fall of 2011. The mission will send a next-generation rover with unprecedented research tools to study the early environmental history of Mars.
A launch date of October 2009 no longer is feasible because of testing and hardware challenges that must be addressed to ensure mission success. The window for a 2009 launch ends in late October. The relative positions of Earth and Mars are favorable for flights to Mars only a few weeks every two years. The next launch opportunity after 2009 is in 2011.
"We will not lessen our standards for testing the mission's complex flight systems, so we are choosing the more responsible option of changing the launch date," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Up to this point, efforts have focused on launching next year, both to begin the exciting science and because the delay will increase taxpayers' investment in the mission. However, we've reached the point where we can not condense the schedule further without compromising vital testing."
The Mars Science Laboratory team recently completed an assessment of the progress it has made in the past three months. As a result of the team's findings, the launch date was changed.
"Despite exhaustive work in multiple shifts by a dedicated team, the progress in recent weeks has not come fast enough on solving technical challenges and pulling hardware together," said Charles Elachi, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The right and smart course now for a successful mission is to launch in 2011."
The advanced rover is one of the most technologically challenging interplanetary missions ever designed. It will use new technologies to adjust its flight while descending through the Martian atmosphere, and to set the rover on the surface by lowering it on a tether from a hovering descent stage. Advanced research instruments make up a science payload 10 times the mass of instruments on NASA's Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers. The Mars Science Laboratory is engineered to drive longer distances over rougher terrain than previous rovers. It will employ a new surface propulsion system.
Rigorous testing of components and systems is essential to develop such a complex mission and prepare it for launch. Tests during the middle phases of development resulted in decisions to re-engineer key parts of the spacecraft.
"Costs and schedules are taken very seriously on any science mission," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. "However, when it's all said and done, the passing grade is mission success."
The mission will explore a Mars site where images taken by NASA's orbiting spacecraft indicate there were wet conditions in the past. Four candidate landing sites are under consideration. The rover will check for evidence of whether ancient Mars environments had conditions favorable for supporting microbial life and preserving evidence of that life if it existed there.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
For more information about the Mars Science Laboratory, visit: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
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Name NASA's next Mars rover
Not Colbert.MARS ROVER NAMING CONTEST
The essay contest is closed. Essays were submitted by January 25, 2009. Next up is the public poll.
WORLD-WIDE PUBLIC POLL - COMING SOON
Submit Your Votes: on or around March 23-29, 2009
Nine finalist names will be selected, 3 from each grade range: k-3, 4-7, 8-12. Give NASA your feedback by ranking your favorites among the 9 candidate names, and you may just help determine the Grand Prize Winner!
WINNING NAME ANNOUNCED: in late April / early May, 2009
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I wrote an essay and went with "Goddard" after all.
Established Member
Nothing personal against the people involved, but I don't like any of the names picked to the final nine. There had to be better suggestions than those!
CJSF
"In the nightgown of the sullen moon, How the windows lean into the room, In the nightgown of the sullen moon."
-They Might Be Giants
Established Member
I agree. My first reaction was "Ugh. I'm not even going to vote."
But now I'm wondering. Imagine the MERs didn't exist, and Spirit and Opportunity were in that list. To me, they might compare to the silliness "Wonder" and "Curiosity," and a few others. Would I feel the same about S&O? Now they seem so natural...I'll have to think about that, and then forget these names and hope that I am not offended by the one that wins!
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FWIW, I would have voted for Goddard.
Looks like they went with mostly (8 out of 9) generic words that mean something good, or at least have positive connotations.
Established Member
good point.
I would trust the engineers, they will land MSL no doubt. I only ever worry about the science instruments, that they will be digging in the correct places on Mars, or will understand the chemistry they detect. I remember being a physics major in 1976 and watching the Vikings that summer with baited breath. But it was ambiguous when the biology tests came out and I don't think they knew what they had discovered.
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Goddard: way better than the choices we get, Name NASA's Next Mars Rover :: Public Poll (voting form)
Those aren't rover names; they're perfume brands.
- Wonder
- Vision
- Sunrise
- Pursuit
- Perception
- Journey
- Curiosity
- Amelia
- Adventure
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Well, I didn't think I'd win, really. I never win anything. Not even that pet iguana I saw at the carnival that I've wanted since I was seven...
I voted for Adventure. Nothing like being to the point!
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Name NASA's Next Mars Rover :: Winners Announced
Oh, the suspense...The WINNING NAME FOR NASA's Next Mars Rover
& the GRAND PRIZE WINNER
will be announced in late April / early May, 2009
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Two Space review articles about the history of MSL
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1319/1
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1318/1
Jon
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I'm so used to calling it MSL that it will feel odd calling it by any of those names, even Adventure.
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From LPSC, some MSL news in Planetary Society Web Log: LPSC: Friday morning session on future missions
Ashwin Vasavada gave an update on MSL. No further descope of instruments is planned, but no augmentation either. They are making minor adjustments to sampling system to incorporate things that have been learned on Phoenix. They are working with the Phoenix team to prevent sampling problems and increase robustness; "pipe cleaners" are being considered in order to clean out gummed-up instruments. After the first half-year on Mars, MSL will go from a 7-day driving week to a 5-day week to save money. Also, with need to plan and study specific sites in detail, a 7-day driving week is unrealistic.More there.The descent aeroshell is the biggest EVER built, including the Apollo return aeroshells!!!
Also much more about other future missions. Lots of far out stuff.
Last edited by 01101001; 2009-Mar-28 at 05:08 AM.
Established Member
This is great news. This means they will have to explore possibilities of liquid water brines being the cause of the clumpiness of the soil. Other possibilities such as electrostatic charge being the cause will no doubt also be investigated.From LPSC, some MSL news in Planetary Society Web Log: LPSC: Friday morning session on future missions
Ashwin Vasavada gave an update on MSL. No further descope of instruments is planned, but no augmentation either. They are making minor adjustments to sampling system to incorporate things that have been learned on Phoenix. They are working with the Phoenix team to prevent sampling problems and increase robustness...
But investigating the liquid brine explanation means they will have to perform experiments with ice and salts/perchlorates in soil under Mars conditions and will confirm experimentally that on Mars liquid water brines can form at least in sufficient amounts to cause cohesiveness in soil, which by the way would also be enough to support viable microbes.
As I argued before the evidence is overwhelming that the very same thing happened during the Viking missions. So it is quite likely only minimally sized samples were able to reach the Viking biology experiments, and the conclusion of no organics on Mars becomes suspect:
Newsgroups: sci.astro, alt.sci.planetary, rec.arts.sf.science, sci.bio.misc, sci.physics
From: Robert Clark <rgregorycl...@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2008 06:47:30 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Mars Phoenix provides further evidence that Viking may have missed organics on Mars.
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.a...ff4f3f0bd1cf63
Bob Clark
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It was a pretty good session and a great end to the conference. In addtion to MSL (I don't remember anything about pipe cleaners!) the forcoming Jupiter mission was a highlight. The JGO-JEO mission is going to be very cool.
Last edited by JonClarke; 2009-May-22 at 12:18 PM.
Established Member
BTW, some nice pictures in this presentation (note: 4 MB PDF file). I recently saw the RTG humming quietly away in its temporary waiting place.
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Currently it says:
We must be getting close.will be announced in late May, 2009
Who will be named first, the new NASA administrator or MSL?
Vulcan Administrator
Flagship Mars Rover Gets Name: Curiosity
NASA's next rover, the Mars Science Laboratory, finally has its new name: Curiosity.
The name comes courtesy of Clara Ma, a 12-year-old sixth-grade student at Sunflower Elementary school in Lenexa, Kan.
"We have been eager to call the rover by name," said Pete Theisinger, who manages the JPL team building and testing Curiosity. "Giving it a name worthy of this mission's quest means a lot to the people working on it."
The rover is expected to launch in 2011.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
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