Author Topic: MSL Curiosity Landing Events in your local area (Viewing Thread)  (Read 14654 times)

Offline luke strawwalker

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I'm going to be in the KSC/Orlando area when Curiosity lands, on vacation.  A friend of mine is going to a special event at JSC back home in Houston to see the Curiosity landing on Mars... is anything similar going on in the Orlando/KSC area?? I'd LOVE to attend any such event with my seven year old daughter if I can... I think it would be really good for her! 

I'd appreciate any tips or links anyone could provide... I haven't been able to find anything myself online. 

Thanks!  OL JR :)
« Last Edit: 07/31/2012 02:38 pm by Chris Bergin »
NO plan IS the plan...

"His plan had no goals, no timeline, and no budgetary guidelines. Just maybe's, pretty speeches, and smokescreens."

Offline Chris Bergin

July 31, 2012

Sarah Ramsey
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1694
[email protected]

RELEASE: 12-257

DARING NASA MARS MISSION BROADCAST LANDS IN TIMES SQUARE

WASHINGTON -- The Toshiba Vision screen in New York City's Times
Square will become the largest East Coast location for the public to
see live mission coverage of Curiosity, NASA's most advanced
planetary rover, as it lands on the Martian surface at 1:31 a.m. EDT
August 6.

The Toshiba Vision screen will broadcast NASA TV coverage beginning at
11:30 p.m. EDT August 5 and continuing through 4 a.m. EDT the next
day. Programming will originate from Mission Control at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory's (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. The rover is on a
precise course for a landing beside a Martian mountain to begin 2
years of unprecedented scientific detective work.

"In the city that never sleeps, the historic Times Square will be the
place for New Yorkers to participate in this historic landing," said
John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate. "When you think of all the big news events in history,
you think of Times Square, and I can think of no better venue to
celebrate this news-making event on Mars."

Getting Curiosity to the surface of Mars will not be easy. During a
critical period lasting only about 7 minutes, the MSL spacecraft
carrying Curiosity must slow down from about 13,200 mph (about 5,900
meters per second) to allow the rover to land on the surface at about
1.7 mph (three-fourths of a meter per second). For the landing to
succeed, hundreds of events will need to go right, many with
split-second timing. All are controlled autonomously by the
spacecraft.

Prominently positioned below the world-famous New Year's Eve ball in
Times Square, the Toshiba Vision dual LED screens will allow viewers
to see the action from Mission Control, including receipt of the
first signal from Mars following a successful landing. "We're pleased
the Toshiba Vision screens will offer a unique view of this great
scientific achievement, the landing of the rover Curiosity on Mars,"
says Eddie Temistokle, senior manager of corporate communications and
corporate social responsibility for Toshiba America Inc.

Visitors to Times Square can hear the audio portion of NASA's coverage
along with other listeners around the world by tuning in to the
online radio station Third Rock Radio. This is the first time Third
Rock Radio will provide live coverage of a NASA event. Third Rock
Radio can be streamed from the NASA homepage at and on smart phones
and tablets through the Tuneln mobile app.

In the first several weeks after landing, JPL mission controllers will
put the rover through a series of checkouts and activities to
characterize its performance on Mars while gradually ramping up
scientific investigations. Curiosity then will begin investigating
whether an area with a wet history inside Mars' Gale Crater ever has
offered an environment favorable for microbial life.

The mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate
in Washington. Curiosity was designed, developed and assembled at
JPL.

NASA centers around the country, including NASA Headquarters in
Washington, will be open for landing events. Many science centers
also are opening for events focused on the Curiosity landing. To find
events near you, visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/QtmuY7

Third Rock Radio, produced under a NASA Space Act Agreement with RFC
Media of Houston, was created to inspire young Americans with an
interest in science/technology and the benefits of space flight and
exploration. Listeners can find the audio broadcast at:

http://www.thirdrockradio.net

Information to watch and participate in Curiosity's landing is
available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/mars

Follow the mission on Facebook and on Twitter at:

http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity

and

http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity


Toshiba's massive dual LED signboards, known collectively as "TOSHIBA
VISION," serve a variety of promotional and public-service functions.
For more information on the TOSHIBA VISION LED signboards please
visit:

http://www.facebook.com/ToshibaInnovation

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Offline wholmeswa

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Museum of Flight in Seattle has a MarsFest 2012 activity from 6:30PM to 11:30PM Pacific.

Event details are at http://www.museumofflight.org/event/2012/aug/11/marsfest-2012

Wayne Holmes

Offline PahTo

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...and I convinced UWTV to carry NASA TV pretty much the whole day and night Sunday-Monday so the Puget Sound region can enjoy this event.  Great to see it in NYC/Times Square!

EDIT:  that's UWTV2 (ch 76 on most carriers).
« Last Edit: 07/31/2012 07:45 pm by PahTo »

Offline robertross

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I'm so glad I have Monday off :)

This is going to be epic!

Offline edkyle99

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Is it the the "seven minutes of terror" moniker that is the root of my uncertainty, or is it the engineer inside my head telling me that it all seems too complicated, too outside the bounds of flight experience? 

Dangling a $2.5 billion nuclear powered rover on a lanyard beneath a set of firing rocket engines?  I suppose that kept whoever came up with the thrill-ride title for this adventure - a title readily embraced by the media in case you haven't noticed - awake at night! 

 - Ed Kyle

Offline ugordan

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Is it the the "seven minutes of terror" moniker that is the root of my uncertainty

MER and Phoenix had their own seven minutes of terror and corresponding PR videos.

Dangling a $2.5 billion nuclear powered rover on a lanyard beneath a set of firing rocket engines?

Does dangling a solar powered rover encapsulated in airbags (which are to be dropped from several stories high) under a set of firing rocket engines put your mind more at ease?
« Last Edit: 07/31/2012 08:30 pm by ugordan »

Offline Pheogh

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Not sure what thread to post this question to but Does anyone know if there is a way to get "Eyes on the Solar System" to run on an iPad? I have been searching the net with anything but a definitive answer. In fact several sources have pointed me toward the NASA 3D Augmented reality app claiming that it is "Eyes"

Just wondering if anyone has managed to get "Eyes" working on their iPad?

Offline ngilmore

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Mindshare is hosting a viewing event in downtown Los Angeles at the Downtown Independent Theater.

JPL offered Mindshare a DIRECT video feed, as well as a couple of presenters and other video.

Sunday, August 5th
Food & Drink Specials 7pm-8pm
Talks 8pm-9:45pm
Mars Lander Video Feed ~10:15pm

Downtown Independent Theater,
251 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
ALL AGES WELCOME!

$12.
http://mindshare-mars.eventbrite.com/


Offline Alpha Control

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Unfortunately, no public events for MSL appear on the schedule for the National Air & Space Museum in Washington or at the Udvar-Hazy center (where Discovery is housed).

I would have thought that they'd do something for this event. They've had live telecast events before. Perhaps it's the lateness of the hour here on the east coast.
Space launches attended:
Antares/Cygnus ORB-D1 Wallops Island, VA Sept 2013 | STS-123 KSC, FL March 2008 | SpaceShipOne Mojave, CA June 2004

Offline edkyle99

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Does dangling a solar powered rover encapsulated in airbags (which are to be dropped from several stories high) under a set of firing rocket engines put your mind more at ease?

I don't remember those engines firing for as long, but you know what?  Maybe it isn't the dangling per say,  it is the dangling $2.5 billion that makes me twist in my seat a bit.  ;)

 - Ed Kyle

Offline mrbliss

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Really?  The dangling doesn't bother me.  The chance of two engines failing on one corner of the descent stage, or one of the wheels not snapping into position, those things bother me.

Offline Jim

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Really?  The dangling doesn't bother me.  The chance of two engines failing on one corner of the descent stage,

That is one of the least likely scenerios.  Thruster like these don't fail, much less two of them.

Offline jimvela

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My small team built a few items of EGSE and LSE to support MSL. 
It is a tremendous privilege to play even a tiny little supporting role in a mission like this.

I was going to do something on campus at work, but it turns out that CU LASP is hosting a "pajama party".

I'm planning on attending this event.  Interested parties near Boulder, CO should consider it also.

http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/?post_type=special-events&p=11100


Offline PahTo

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Boulders bother me (but the EDL does have plenty of moving parts!).
:)

Offline Silmfeanor

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I guess it's asking too much to have some small event somewhere in the netherlands? No harm in asking I guess.

Offline ciscosdad

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This one's for Jim:

If this was your baby what would you be sweating about during this landing?

Offline knotnic

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Unfortunately, no public events for MSL appear on the schedule for the National Air & Space Museum in Washington or at the Udvar-Hazy center (where Discovery is housed).

I would have thought that they'd do something for this event. They've had live telecast events before. Perhaps it's the lateness of the hour here on the east coast.

I was surprised at this too. 

Anything else folks know of in the DC area?  Goddard is full.

Offline bguillot

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Museum of Flight in Seattle has a MarsFest 2012 activity from 6:30PM to 11:30PM Pacific.

Event details are at http://www.museumofflight.org/event/2012/aug/11/marsfest-2012

Wayne Holmes

Thanks for the tip, Wayne.  I just created a Google+ Event for Seattle:

https://plus.google.com/events/c431cv76atg8m8ciuo68itlmfrs/109947457871225664384

The Events are a new feature in Google+ that let allow people to exchange photos taken during the event and let people see them in chronological order during and after the event.  Seems like a good enough thing to try out.

Regards,
B.J. Guillot

Offline Jim

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This one's for Jim:

If this was your baby what would you be sweating about during this landing?

It was my baby as NASA Launch Vehicle Integration Engineer from 2004 to 2008 and attended PDR and CDR.  I also supported pad ops. 

Terminal descent gives me the willies, just as it did for MER and Phoenix.

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