Hi all,
Is anybody excited by the upcoming Mars Science Lab./Curiosity which (all things going great) should land itself on 6th August 2012 (some American standard time). I am literally counting the days when we have some pictures of what it shows (possibly we should get brilliant pictures and even videos with all the revolution in optics and transmission technology). Looking to pick people's brains about what they think ?
@Mods if this is not good here, please put it where-ever it deems to be the right place, I just have no idea where to put up the thread.
Update: The eagle has landed successfully
Background info. on the project :-
Mars Curiosity landing and overall mission
Another backgrounder about the mission.
Also a video which tells what we could find on Mars :-
KAT torrent of BBC Horizon episode about NASA and the Mars Mission.
The same torrent with english subs though on bitsnoop
Another torrent on Mars Landing, this time 'Discovery' is the culprit.
First images from Mars


Looking for two documentaries (premiering on 9th August on NGC) :-
a. Martian Mega Rover
b. Eight Years on Mars
Source

An upcoming open-source sci-fi game on space colonization theme.
Farcolony

~~ Video Here ~~

And pictures of curiosity's own shadow.
https://twitter.com/MarsCuriosity/status/232352290919567361/photo/1

Dunno how much time before we get color pictures (I know they have to do some image processing at NASA before we see the pictures in full-blown color).

Also I guess it will be around 24-48 hours before it takes its first tentative steps around Mars and starts doing real science.

Probably the first few hours will be spent testing systems and sub-systems to know/understand if all are working well as well as charging and re-charging of batteries and all so communication is good.

Although if I remember from last time there were a flurry oc pictures taken just after touch-down so people had a 360 degree view of the site, so guessing we should get those soon as well.

look the post before but no harm done :)

i saw it on the facebook page here if you want to share it on your facbook profile > Here

They say a lot of web sites have crashed because of all the traffic....

hmm.... I was guessing before but this confirms it.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20120803.html
It will take time for full color-images to come but still good.

@Bubanee many thanx for the photos and the support.

Nasa.gov is currently unavailable ...overloaded!!!

Look like thats all for now. Eight hours before they start operating the unit.

Well, goodnight everybody. It was an exciting thrill to watch this.

Another photo of the rover with one of the six wheels in the picture.

Btw does anybody if before landing did they push the new software in or not for landing procedures ? I do recall reading they were in two minds whether to push the new software for landing or not few hours before landing ?

At the back of the mind it must have played they crashed last time due to the feet-metre misadjustment in the software.

The actual science would be on these lines.

http://www.philly.com/philly/health/20120805_NASA_s_Curiosity_to_delve_into_the_mysteries_of_Mars.html?cmpid=138896554

Here's the same one without the dust and all.