This morning I stayed up for something wonderful, I was one of those goofy geeks who didn’t go to sleep until he knew the fate of the Curiosity rover. I had been hyping the landing on my school’s Facebook page and getting pretty excited about the whole thing and the “Seven Minutes of Terror.” If you don’t know (since my local newspaper seems to think the Colt’s kicker’s decorating tips is more important than landing a robot on another planet)- NASA sent another robot to Mars to take a look around. Curiosity is about the length of a Mini Cooper and had a very complex series of things that needed to happen so it could land safely. The issue to me was FTL communication (the Ansible, if you read Orson Scott Card) hasn’t been invented or stolen from aliens yet, so it takes around 14 minutes to talk between Earth and Mars. While watching the pregame and then the whole (as someone put it) nerdspeak, it seemed like they were setting us up for failure. They kept mentioning how difficult it was and how without communication we wouldn’t know what was happening. Luckily, the stars were in alignment, careful planning worked out and amazingly there was a happy ending. While many people stood out (mohawk guy) it was a great demonstration of geeks in action and the power of getting enough dreamers in one room. Following the ustream broadcast (I have 300 channels and NASA TV isn’t one of them?!?! How did this happen?) along with Facebook & Twitter it seemed like almost everyone was either sleeping or nervously following what was going on. Some tweets more serious than others:
- It would cost $60 billion to start a human Mars colony. Our wars in Iraq, Afghanistan & Pakistan have cost over $3.4 trillion. @dresdencodak
- Once more, without the clear dust cover. Here’s the “fisheye” pic from my rear Hazcam http://twitpic.com/ag43lt @MarsCuriosity
- Internet, you win this round. I’ll be back later, but thanks so much. Now going to celebrate with all my friends and team! @tweetsoutloud
- There is a lot of really bad hair at NASA. @dbwildo
- NBC paid $1.3 Billion for Olympics rights. Queen’s diamond jubilee cost £3 Billion. Curiosity cost $2.5 Billion. RT@scottmcloud
- “Oh, you won a gold medal for running 100 meters? We just landed a car on Mars.” Nerds:1 Jocks:0 RT@christopheeerrr
- Whoa. Whoa. Did that guy just say “go to Europa?” I distinctly remember being told in 2010 to “attempt no landings there.” @pvponline
- I have never been happier for a room full of strangers as I am for these JPL engineers. @davekellett
- I’m safely on the surface of Mars. GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!! @MarsCuriosity
- Man! Real time CG graphics! To think: we went to the Moon with the computing power of an abacus rubbed vigorously on a shag carpet… @AH_AdamHughes
- It does seem weird that Earth is sending a flying saucer to Mars. RT@AH_AdamHughes
Technology (and geekdom) brought this event to life. As someone pondered- What would be possible if NASA could get $30 billion through Kickstarter? All I kept thinking about was being a kid in Boy Scouts and visiting JPL right after Viking landed. The great thing about kids is their sense of wonder & imagination, the sad thing about kids is their lack of understanding when it comes to making something happen. I thought when my dad was trying to explain how difficult it was to get a probe to Mars, “It must not have been that hard- launch a rocket, have it land.” I didn’t have the experience of watching failed launches or memories of Apollo 1 or even Apollo 13. That perspective is important, but needs to be combined with youthful optimism. Last night I saw a room full of little kids who had grown up but never lost the spark. I am shocked to say that some times I am proud to be an inhabitant of the Earth, and sometimes interesting times are amazing.