Mars Reconaissance Orbiter: Primary mission imaging begins!

Originally posted by jra
What instruments should they use then exactly? What type of life should they look for specifically?

Instruments that could actually determine if Earth like life exists on Mars? Why are you asking obvious questions when i have repeatedly told you that they stopped sending equipment that could detect life after the Viking missions?

Umm I hate to break it to you, but the Saturn V's are no longer in use, they haven't been since the 70's and they will never come back in use.

Well they were in use back then and there was no reason to ever stop using them. What is your motive in denying the possibility that these superior lift vehicles could have been used at the time?

So it's not an option. Your only options are the Atlas and Delta Series of rockets as well as the Shuttle, but it's probably cheaper to go with the other two.

Yawn. This is getting tiring and i wonder how long your going to set up straw men like these.

You're going to have to wait for the Ares V if you want something similar to the Saturn V in terms of heavy lifting.

But i don't get to ask why it's no longer in service i suppose?

Ummm... ok... So are you avoiding the question then? Because sending things to other planets isn't a simple task.

marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov...

I don't have to watch a video to tell you that the failure rate ( USSR/ESA/NASA) was far too high thus the 'jokes' about the martian ghouls. The type of knowledge you need to send a rocket to mars ( given you get it off the ground) is centuries old and can be calculated on a pocket calculator given you know the formula's. It's NOTHING like throwing a dart 50 million mars and hoping to hit.

Twice.
Anyway I apologize to spacedoubt for continuing to drag this thread off it's original subject. Hopefully everyone has continued to keep up to date on the latest MRO releases themselves. There should be another release today some time.

Why apologise when you deliberate complicate reality by claiming that camera's with higher resolutions could have been sent from the very first day? Why claim that they have been actively searching for life since Viking considering the absence of such specialist on the science teams of these missions? Stop pretending that this thread is going off topic due to anything but your own actions.

Stellar

Originally posted by StellarX
Instruments that could actually determine if Earth like life exists on Mars? Why are you asking obvious questions when i have repeatedly told you that they stopped sending equipment that could detect life after the Viking missions?

I'm just wondering what those instruments would be exactly, that's all.

Well they were in use back then and there was no reason to ever stop using them. What is your motive in denying the possibility that these superior lift vehicles could have been used at the time?

I never denied that they could have been used back in the day. But the way you wrote your post, it sounded like you saying NASA should use them now, which just isn't going to happen.

So it's not an option. Your only options are the Atlas and Delta Series of rockets as well as the Shuttle, but it's probably cheaper to go with the other two.

Yawn. This is getting tiring and i wonder how long your going to set up straw men like these.

How is that a straw man argument? Unless you know of some other current US launch systems that i'm not aware of or forgot?

But i don't get to ask why it's no longer in service i suppose?

Why the Saturn is no longer in service? Well the Apollo program was canceled due to the costs. So the Saturn V was also canceled along with it. NASA had to find cheaper ways to space and the Shuttle was supposed to do that, but that doesn't turn out completely as planned either.

The type of knowledge you need to send a rocket to mars ( given you get it off the ground) is centuries old and can be calculated on a pocket calculator given you know the formula's. It's NOTHING like throwing a dart 50 million mars and hoping to hit.

You should work for a space agency or start your own, it sounds like you should have no troubles at all, if all you need is a pocket calculator.

I don't want to know what he has in his pocket that he is calculating with, but NASA never found positive proof of life in Mars. The experiment on Viking was inconclusive and not one scientist has proven otherwise.

The current Rovers went to look for evidence of Water in the past on Mars and they found what they were after. They also have added a significant amount to what we now know about the conditions on Mars. They have lasted far longer than was hoped for and have produced amazing results. It is too bad that some apparently can't see that due to anger and conspiracy theories.

The MRO primary mission images keep adding to that information and have yielded spectacular results. With the information we are getting NASA, and the ESA can better target future missions.

Originally posted by jra
I'm just wondering what those instruments would be exactly, that's all.

Instruments that could detect life based on our current understanding of it?

I never denied that they could have been used back in the day. But the way you wrote your post, it sounded like you saying NASA should use them now, which just isn't going to happen.

It's interesting how you come to conclusions that best suits your dismissive attitude. Why on Earth do you presume that i am not aware which launch vehicle's are still in use or the payloads they could have easily gotten to Mars?

How is that a straw man argument? Unless you know of some other current US launch systems that i'm not aware of or forgot?

You are pretending that the decisions NASA made were sound and in the interest of sound science. Why work with such inferior science equipment due to weight and cost limitations when the shuttle is so grossly inefficient?

Why the Saturn is no longer in service? Well the Apollo program was canceled due to the costs. So the Saturn V was also canceled along with it.

Why cancel the heaviest lift vehicle you have thus insuring problems for later science missions? The Shuttle is far more inefficient than the Saturn's were and we should not be so easily fooled by these official pronouncements of the reasons for the cancellation of the APOLLO program and it's infrastructure.

å Second, to paraphrase Dr. George Mueller at a NASA history conference held in Washington in recent years, we “got the shuttle we have today from the ‘Bureau of the Budget Design Bureau’” that NASA did not want and that was not cheaper than Saturn 5.

www.space.com...

Could have had Walmarts on the Moon i tell you!

www.transterrestrial.com...

And the possibly cheaper alternatives or general disagreements which then turn into almost agreement...

www.space.com...

selenianboondocks.blogspot.com...

NASA had to find cheaper ways to space and the Shuttle was supposed to do that, but that doesn't turn out completely as planned either.

And they very well knew how it would have likely turned out and still they kept right on wasting money.

You should work for a space agency or start your own, it sounds like you should have no troubles at all, if all you need is a pocket calculator.

I am just quoting the supposed experts so take up the issue with those who originally made these remarks.

With NASA's budget ( even the post Nixon one) the US could have easily colonized and or weaponized the moon some decades ago and anyone who claims Mars missions could not have given us far better data , and we know they are not releasing all the far higher resolution images they did manage to get, is just denying history as we know it.

Stellar

Stellar

Just thought I'd bump this old thread instead of making a new one.

It looks like the HiRISE camera on the MRO is failing



This is really disappointing. I hope some sort of solution is found or that it doesn't grow any worse. I love seeing the data that the MRO sends back and I'd hate to see it's mission get cut short.