Pressing On

Source: Space.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration
PRESSER: With great interest, this morning we watched the live press conference on NASA TV about the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory mission.
Have I mentioned I'm attending the launch?! ;)

Naturally, my ears were perked up for any word of a "slip" (that's mission managers' speak for postponement). Imagine our delight when NASA's Mars Exploration Program Director Doug McCuiston announced nearly straightaway that everything was on track for the Nov. 25 launch date. Hooray!

McCuiston said MSL is a quest to see if Mars "was ever habitable ... we're seeking signs of life," but that it's not a life detection mission," per se. McCuiston pointed out several ways MSL differs from previous Mars missions, and noted that size (about 2,000 pounds!) of Curiosity is one thing that sets it apart. He called MSL a "pioneering challenge" of high technology, with a larger-than-ever payload and more accurate landing parameters. He also noted that MSL is nuclear (rather than solar) powered and that it includes state-of-the-art scientific instruments. MSL is "moving us toward our ultimate goal of putting humans on the surface of Mars," he declared.

McCuiston called MSL's launch "the capstone of the Year of the Solar System," and said the mission involves things scientists "couldn't have even dreamed of doing 10 years ago. ... It's amazing how in a matter of 15 years (since the Spirit and Opportunity Mars probes) we have gone this far."  He predicted Curiosity will "excite and inspire the nation" and stressed that "the launch is just the beginning."

Next up was Ashwin R. Vasavada, a senior scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory  He called Curiosity "A scientists' dream machine." Vasavada noted MSL represents 200 scientists around the world and talked about its various instruments, including HD cameras, a Martian rock-obliterating laser, and a first-of-its kind drill. MSL will analyze samples taken for the minerals they contain and check them "element by element," looking for any organic material present.

Mars Science Laboratory project manager Pete Theisinger also spoke. When asked how long MSL would roam around Mars, he said the rover didn't have "any life-limiting consumables, per se," and noted its power source could last "a number of years. ... We should be good for an extended period of time."

Theisinger said MSL is undergoing final testing but as of now, it's "prepared to launch 25th of November, the Friday after Thanksgiving."

And because there's no such thing as too much info about Curiosity, I downloaded the new (63-page) press kit Mars Science Laboratory press kit. Link to PDF version of it here: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/MSLLaunch.pdf

MIDDAY MUSINGS: Not sure what the topic du jour was at your lunch table, but CJ, Annabelle and I were reading Russian news reports for the latest on poor Phobos-Grunt. With each passing hour, it's looking less and less likely that mission will get anywhere near a Martian moon.

With great interest we read a story on Russian Space Web that recounted the launch, what should of happened and what's going on now. It's not good. Bottom line is, as of right now, ground control cannot control that rocket.

Another story we read said Phobos-Grunt would be the most dangerous spacecraft to ever re-enter Earth's atmosphere. : /

SUNNY STROLL: We took time out to appreciate the (too few!) daylight hours by strolling through a small but nice little park in Shoreline.

In a far corner, the kids found a stick fort someone had started constructing.

The whole time we were in the woods, CJ was pretty sure some murderous psychopath was going to pop out. Not sure where that came from. I'm happy to report we survived our walk.

GONE MISSING: A story dominating the news up here really has CJ (and a whole lot of other people) rattled. A two-year old boy went missing, when his mother supposedly left him in her car when it allegedly ran out of gas. When she and her 4-year-old returned to the car, the two-year-old supposedly had been kidnapped or wandered off. (Oh, and when they "ran out of gas," supposedly they were on the way to the hospital, taking the sick-now-missing two-year-old.)

The holes in her story get bigger by the day. Things like, there WAS gas in the car. That, and there are eerie coincidences to the case and a Law & Order episode that aired the night before. (L&O was the mother's favorite show, per her estranged husband.)  

While watching the news tonight, CJ had LOTS of questions and I told him that it's clear there are suspicions about what the mother is saying and in a "best case" scenario, she left a sick two year old alone in a car on the side of the road for at least an hour.

"That is terrible mothership!" he proclaimed.

I would have to agree with him.