quote:

PASADENA, Calif. - In a show of technological wizardry, the robotic explorer Curiosity blazed through the pink skies of Mars, steering itself to a gentle landing inside a giant crater for the most ambitious dig yet into the red planet's past.

Cheers and applause echoed through the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory late Sunday after the most high-tech interplanetary rover ever built signaled it had survived a harrowing plunge through the thin Mars atmosphere.

"Touchdown confirmed," said engineer Allen Chen. "We're safe on Mars."

Minutes after the landing signal reached Earth at 10:32 p.m. PDT, Curiosity beamed back the first black-and-white pictures from inside the crater showing its wheel and its shadow, cast by the afternoon sun.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lynn G.

This is pretty darn cool:

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/165057706.html

quote:

PASADENA, Calif. - In a show of technological wizardry, the robotic explorer Curiosity blazed through the pink skies of Mars, steering itself to a gentle landing inside a giant crater for the most ambitious dig yet into the red planet's past.

Cheers and applause echoed through the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory late Sunday after the most high-tech interplanetary rover ever built signaled it had survived a harrowing plunge through the thin Mars atmosphere.

"Touchdown confirmed," said engineer Allen Chen. "We're safe on Mars."

Minutes after the landing signal reached Earth at 10:32 p.m. PDT, Curiosity beamed back the first black-and-white pictures from inside the crater showing its wheel and its shadow, cast by the afternoon sun.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lynn G.

This is pretty darn cool:

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/165057706.html

quote:

PASADENA, Calif. - In a show of technological wizardry, the robotic explorer Curiosity blazed through the pink skies of Mars, steering itself to a gentle landing inside a giant crater for the most ambitious dig yet into the red planet's past.

Cheers and applause echoed through the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory late Sunday after the most high-tech interplanetary rover ever built signaled it had survived a harrowing plunge through the thin Mars atmosphere.

"Touchdown confirmed," said engineer Allen Chen. "We're safe on Mars."

Minutes after the landing signal reached Earth at 10:32 p.m. PDT, Curiosity beamed back the first black-and-white pictures from inside the crater showing its wheel and its shadow, cast by the afternoon sun.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Trekgeekscott

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lynn G.

This is pretty darn cool:

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/165057706.html

quote:

PASADENA, Calif. - In a show of technological wizardry, the robotic explorer Curiosity blazed through the pink skies of Mars, steering itself to a gentle landing inside a giant crater for the most ambitious dig yet into the red planet's past.

Cheers and applause echoed through the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory late Sunday after the most high-tech interplanetary rover ever built signaled it had survived a harrowing plunge through the thin Mars atmosphere.

"Touchdown confirmed," said engineer Allen Chen. "We're safe on Mars."

Minutes after the landing signal reached Earth at 10:32 p.m. PDT, Curiosity beamed back the first black-and-white pictures from inside the crater showing its wheel and its shadow, cast by the afternoon sun.

From a science and space exploration point of view I would agree..

From the fact that it cost Billions to do...no so much.  I'm fine with exploring space, but quite frankly, we have people starving on earth and we're spending billions to sent a robot to Mars.

Perspective ruins this for me.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lynn G.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Trekgeekscott

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lynn G.

This is pretty darn cool:

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/165057706.html

quote:

PASADENA, Calif. - In a show of technological wizardry, the robotic explorer Curiosity blazed through the pink skies of Mars, steering itself to a gentle landing inside a giant crater for the most ambitious dig yet into the red planet's past.

Cheers and applause echoed through the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory late Sunday after the most high-tech interplanetary rover ever built signaled it had survived a harrowing plunge through the thin Mars atmosphere.

"Touchdown confirmed," said engineer Allen Chen. "We're safe on Mars."

Minutes after the landing signal reached Earth at 10:32 p.m. PDT, Curiosity beamed back the first black-and-white pictures from inside the crater showing its wheel and its shadow, cast by the afternoon sun.

From a science and space exploration point of view I would agree..

From the fact that it cost Billions to do...no so much.  I'm fine with exploring space, but quite frankly, we have people starving on earth and we're spending billions to sent a robot to Mars.

Perspective ruins this for me.

I see your point, and it's a good one. I would point out though that space exploration in the past has been the impetus for major technology gains that have found use throughout society. Of course I can't really come up with any good concrete examples off the top of my head. , but I know that the work that NASA scientists have done in the past has, by ripple effect, improved our day-to-day life here on earth.

quote:

LED’s
Artificial limbs
Ventricular assist device
Aircraft anti-icing systems
Improved radial tires
Chemical detection
Firefighting equipment
Water purification
Solar Energy
Pollution remediation
Invisible braces
Scratch resistant lenses
Memory Foam
Ear thermometer
Shoe insoles
Long distance telecommunications
Adjustable smoke detector
Safety grooving in concrete
Cordless tools
Water filters

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lynn G.

I did some googling and it turns out they've been reporting on spin-off technologies for decades, so there is a lot of information out there. Here is just a short list that I made from several different articles I found:

quote:

LED’s
Artificial limbs
Ventricular assist device
Aircraft anti-icing systems
Improved radial tires
Chemical detection
Firefighting equipment
Water purification
Solar Energy
Pollution remediation
Invisible braces
Scratch resistant lenses
Memory Foam
Ear thermometer
Shoe insoles
Long distance telecommunications
Adjustable smoke detector
Safety grooving in concrete
Cordless tools
Water filters

And there have been a ton of medical device advancements made from NASA technologies.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Toby Stumbo

Tang

quote:

ORIGINAL: RBIrving

As many have noted, in order to turn the economy around we need to develope new technology to manufacture.

Lost in the development at NASA is a new partnership with business. We need the businesses to join in the exploration and exploitation of space. These will require new technologies and manufacturing plants that can restore the American, even the world's economy.

I would say that the biggest problem we're facing right now is we don't have anything that rich people want to spend their money on, so they're either sitting on their money or spending it elsewhere. Space Travel and asteroid mining are ripe areas that can give the people of earth a new frontier to exploit.

quote:

ORIGINAL: thebigo

quote:

ORIGINAL: Toby Stumbo

Tang

Perv.

quote:

ORIGINAL: RBIrving

As many have noted, in order to turn the economy around we need to develope new technology to manufacture.

Lost in the development at NASA is a new partnership with business. We need the businesses to join in the exploration and exploitation of space. These will require new technologies and manufacturing plants that can restore the American, even the world's economy.

I would say that the biggest problem we're facing right now is we don't have anything that rich people want to spend their money on, so they're either sitting on their money or spending it elsewhere. Space Travel and asteroid mining are ripe areas that can give the people of earth a new frontier to exploit.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lynn G.

I'm not sure how this should be interpreted. In my dream early this morning I showed up at a Viking game carrying three large tubs of sour cream and a bolt cutter. No one thought twice about it and let me in the dome.

I didn't have an explanation for the sour cream but I knew why I had the bolt cutter. I was supposed to return it to its owner - Chris Kluwe's dad. For some reason he had loaned it to me and I needed to get it back to him. I was aware that carrying a bolt cutter around seemed odd - - - until I saw another guy with one.

Perfectly normal dream, right? Nothing to see here folks, she's not crazy.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lynn G.

I'm not sure how this should be interpreted. In my dream early this morning I showed up at a Viking game carrying three large tubs of sour cream and a bolt cutter. No one thought twice about it and let me in the dome.

I didn't have an explanation for the sour cream but I knew why I had the bolt cutter. I was supposed to return it to its owner - Chris Kluwe's dad. For some reason he had loaned it to me and I needed to get it back to him. I was aware that carrying a bolt cutter around seemed odd - - - until I saw another guy with one.

Perfectly normal dream, right? Nothing to see here folks, she's not crazy.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lynn G.

I'm not sure how this should be interpreted. In my dream early this morning I showed up at a Viking game carrying three large tubs of sour cream and a bolt cutter. No one thought twice about it and let me in the dome.

I didn't have an explanation for the sour cream but I knew why I had the bolt cutter. I was supposed to return it to its owner - Chris Kluwe's dad. For some reason he had loaned it to me and I needed to get it back to him. I was aware that carrying a bolt cutter around seemed odd - - - until I saw another guy with one.

Perfectly normal dream, right? Nothing to see here folks, she's not crazy.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lynn G.

Interesting story about Jeff Dubay in the Strib this morning. I had heard him say that going through an awful divorce was one of the reasons he experimented with crack cocaine, but I never knew that his wife left him for his own brother! How sad and horrifying. He ended up losing his entire family except for one sister.

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/191761841.html?page=1&c=y

I've been listening to Judd and Dubay quite a bit recently because I can't take KFAN anymore. I'm enjoying Dubay's takes on things again because he has strong opinions about pretty much everything, but it's exhausting to listen to him. He talks so fast and with such emotion behind everything (whether he's ticked or happy) that he wears out his listeners. He says he gets e-mails all the time telling him to slow down, and he's trying, but it's just in his nature to try to squeeze 8000 words into any free minute.

quote:

ORIGINAL: thebigo

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lynn G.

Interesting story about Jeff Dubay in the Strib this morning. I had heard him say that going through an awful divorce was one of the reasons he experimented with crack cocaine, but I never knew that his wife left him for his own brother! How sad and horrifying. He ended up losing his entire family except for one sister.

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/191761841.html?page=1&c=y

I've been listening to Judd and Dubay quite a bit recently because I can't take KFAN anymore. I'm enjoying Dubay's takes on things again because he has strong opinions about pretty much everything, but it's exhausting to listen to him. He talks so fast and with such emotion behind everything (whether he's ticked or happy) that he wears out his listeners. He says he gets e-mails all the time telling him to slow down, and he's trying, but it's just in his nature to try to squeeze 8000 words into any free minute.

What scum his brother is.