Phil Plait calls this "The Best Image Ever"

[theweaselking]

Quoth him:

That is exactly what you think it is: Phoenix descending to the Martian surface underneath its parachute.

This incredible shot was taken by the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. You can easily see the ‘chute, the lander (still in its shell) and even the tether lines!

Think on this, and think on it carefully: you are seeing a manmade object falling gracefully and with intent to the surface of an alien world, as seen by another manmade object already circling that world, both of them acting robotically, and both of them hundreds of million of kilometers away.

Never, ever forget: we did this. This is what we can do.

Comments

[sivi-volk.livejournal.com]

Sometimes we are, actually, pretty fucking cool.

[the-colombian.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm the only one who thinks we should be investing NASA money into that tiny group of Americans that lives in badly-educated poverty and whatnot...

But yeah, cool piece of metal with a parachute stuck to it.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

Yeah the cool piece of metal with a parachute that cost, y'know, one day out of the 5 years' Iraq war.

-- Steve's thinking that this, at least, will teach us something if it doesn't feed anyone... and it certainly doesn't kill anybody.

[the-colombian.livejournal.com]

I'm actually against the war as well...so I guess if we take the funding out of both we'll be serving humanity all the better. Good point.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

I'd prefer it if you just outlawed NFL Football and directed that money to feed the poor. Talk about your waste of money... at least NASA gets some science into classrooms for those billions.

-- Steve does realise that then you'd have to bail out the steroid industry, but then again every economy has its ripple effects.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Accurate weather information, climate data, and a better understanding of how our planet's ecosystem works and how we work as part of it doesn't serve humanity?

That's the BULK of NASA's budget. The Mission to Earth.

Gut NASA, and kiss those hurricane warnings goodbye -- or prepare to spend more money on station-keeping weather ships than we ever did on satellites that do a vastly better job.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

NASA's budget is so tiny in comparison to the massive waste everywhere else[1], it's hardly a drop in the bucket. And given the positive results that have come out of the space program, I'm actually okay with not only NASA's budget, but with getting rid of the appointed creationist assholes who've been put in charge and then *increasing* the budget.


[1]: In fact, given that your Air Force is openly facist, uses slogans of Nazi Germany (no, really. DIRECTLY, OPENLY USING NAZI PARTY SLOGANS (http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123087033)), and has been so corrupted by the Baptists that if you're not a radical born-again tongue-speaking illiterate psycho, you can't be promoted beyond the bare minimum entry level - I'm pretty sure that not only CAN you cut their budget by roughly 100% without materially affecting their usefulness, but you MUST fire the whole lot of them if you're ever going to have a chance of having a sane set of military leaders.

[the-colombian.livejournal.com]

Okayyyyy....Fiiiiine. But only if it pisses off creationists, :-)

[paoconnell.livejournal.com]

So take it on yourself to start educating that tiny group of Americans better, so they can be space scientists too. This project gives them something to aspire to, just like the space race gave us boomers something to shoot for in the 60s and 70s other than Vietnam.

Remember an old saying: give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach him to fish and he'll eat well for the rest of his life.

[cmseward.livejournal.com]

Teach a man to fish, and you won't see him the whole weekend.

[paoconnell.livejournal.com]

And how is that bad?

[cmseward.livejournal.com]

I don't consider it a bad thing at all, I was just correcting the saying to how I've heard it most often.

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

What paoconnell said. Downtime is fundamental to health, and so are fresh air and exercise. (Admittedly, fishing is only exercise if you're fly-fishing, but at least it's outside.)

[paoconnell.livejournal.com]

Fishing can be exercise if you hook a good sized fish. Trust me on this.
Mmmmm---fishhhhh, my precious.

[unknownpoltroon.livejournal.com]

Tell ya What. You can have all the money spent on corporate entitlements, and pork, iff you increase the nasa budget to just 1%.

[jirris-midvale.livejournal.com]

I guess you missed the memo. You know, the one that was about the Nasa money. You know, things like advance weather warnings. Communications satellites. Advances in chemistry and physics.

So please, please take the first step. Eat less, because without those weather warnings agriculture and infrastructure take a serious hit. Better put away your cellphone and your internet and your television without the geosynchronous satellites to help you quickly and cheaply communicate with others. If you've got anything with GPS, that goes right with it. Be prepared to give up a rather large chunk of knowledge ranging from food preservation to medical advances.

There's a lot of stuff that's gotta look awfully flashy to someone as jaded as you, but don't forget that society would grind back 40 years without the rest.

[the-colombian.livejournal.com]

Oh I'm all FOR Advance weather warnings, communications, etc.

Funding multi million/billion $ projects in order to drop a probe on the rocky side of Mars in order to find out that, hey...it's rocky.

Well, not so much.

[the-colombian.livejournal.com]

PS: they just spent 150 million on a system that turns pee into water.

150.

Million.

[dolston.livejournal.com]

"Never, ever forget: we did this. This is what we can do."

I always keep this in mind, whether it be a great human achievement or a great human failing.

[pyroofone.livejournal.com]

I hear that. Humanity has accomplished some stunning things.
Many good. Many bad.