Here is command when Curiosity lands...such passion and unfettered joy after much hard, patient and intelligent work

nice!  time to break out the bubbley  (in non spill travel mugs)

"The billionaire genius who tony stark is based on wants humans on mars within 15 years"

Here's the place where you can read "Curiosity's Tweets"

(pray to our future Robot Overlords...may they never rust...)

A list of humanity's glorious attempts to send stuff to Mars

Golden apples in the sun:

(Looks kinda like parts of the OK i think i can just see trishcuit and Tabby...)

It's a triumph, for sure. but there's another side to all those happy faces. NASA is essentially a military research centre. From it's research come the spy satellites, the drone assassination aircraft, and the robotization that is already an important part of the battlefield, and will very soon be the major part.

And it's also for the profit of the defence industry. Spy drones are already for sale to governments and police departments all over the world. Say hello to the police state. And government, including China, Russia, and India are working on similar projects. So there can be no such thing as limiting.

It has so far made it possible for Obama to kill people at random in countries the US is not at war with (Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, at least). So much for congressional controls on making war.)

One of the characteristics of the mars mission is that the ship does some jobs with no human direction. It makes its own decisions. And that will be the next generation of war aircraft - planes that decide for themselves who to kill, and where.

And it's close, so close that it will likely be in service before the F35.

graeme,

I'm impressed, you managed to find a link between NASA and your current Purpose de vivre :3

I think that NASA's budget is terribly small -- around $10 bn US per year (source:  wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA).  I compare this to the DOD, 2009 was $680 bn US (source: wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States)

There are technological developments that arise from NASA, of course (I just don't know if the technological developments are intentional), like TANG, and microwaves...

(maybe these future self-aware robots are going to be our angels, oweing allegance to G_d -- ie humanity -- not to any one country...)

Thank you again for providing another view :3

Space is not an adventure. governments don't finance adventures.

I didn't struggle to find a link. It was always there and stated. The purpose of space vehicles was to develop space as a region for battle control. The major purpose of planetary rovers is to develop techniqes for the robotization of warfare. The purpose of jousts was to prepare men for war. The Sheriff of Nottingham put up prizes for archery to encourage archery as a leisure activity. The king needed archers. but couldn't afford to hire them and feed them for the long training period. Prizes were a cheap way of encouraging men to develop skills at their own cost and time.

When I was a kid, I joined Quebec Rifle Association; and every Saturday I could take my rifle to a shooting range to train and to win awards. This wasn't run by an organization that wanted to help kids. It was run by the army.

The first cadets in the British empire were the Sea Cadets. And that was not founded by youth workers. it was founded by, notably, British shipbuilders - about 1905 - who wanted to keep the navy in the public eye so the public would encourage seemingly endless contracts to the shipyards.

It's a safe bet that governments spend money only in their own interest. And very few governments are starry-eyed romantics about space.

Here's a link to a vid of the actual descent -- eat your heart out, Michael Bay!

A hearty cry to the naming of Curosity's landing site