NASA spacecraft lands on Mars

Monday 26th May, 09:50 AM JST

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medievaltimes at 11:23 PM JST - 26th May

There are many things we use in our daily lives called "spinoffs" that are a direct result from the space program. Ambition?? Innovation?? You bet. Congrats NASA!
SushiSake3 at 11:34 PM JST - 26th May

sailwind - "goodness news weather satellites have improved crop yields all over the planet the past 30 years."

No they haven't. Weather satellites don't improve crop yields - good seeds, greenhouses, pesticides, scarecrows and good luck with the weather improve crop yields.

"will it limit where the terrorists think they can hide? Think you can say yes on that one as far as how Osama can't show his face in public without getting blasted."

But OBL is STILL out there on the run, despite there being hundreds of U.S. spy satellites hunting to get him.

Which just goes to further cement my point about what a crock of use all that tech and putting the satellites into space has been.

I'll give you the one about climate change though.

But still, satellites and sending men and mice to Mars isn't going to solve that problem either because hey, the problem and the solution are down here on Earth, and spending untold billions on Mars missions isn't going to get us any closer to solving it.

Sheesh, for all the good the space missions have been, you may as well fill Appollo with hundred dollar bills, shoot it off into space and let it completely burn up on re-entry......
kawasaki54 at 12:08 AM JST - 27th May

I cannot believe some people believe it's a total waste to explore beyond what we see. They would still believe the earth is still flat if it weren't for daring individuals. Congrats to NASA and I feel sorry for those who have no imagination.

sailwind - bravo!

sushisake3 - can't you dream...just a little.
SushiSake3 at 12:19 AM JST - 27th May

Funny thing is that some of the pro-space travel posters have come up with words like 'dreams,' 'voayages of discovery, and stuff like that.

Hardball reality says we need more than dreams, and let's try focusing on Earth first before we start contemplating opening Starbucks on Mars.

Kawasaki54 - "Congrats to NASA and I feel sorry for those who have no imagination."

Let's stay grounded.....no imagination? We need imagination, and lots of it, to solve problems down here on Earth first before we should be utilizing imagination for anything off the planet.

SuperLib - no need for a hug, thanks. I think some posters need a refreshing dose of reality before they start suggesting giving out hugs.
SushiSake3 at 12:20 AM JST - 27th May

Bottom line: we've got enough problems here on Earth without spending billions putting mice and potplants into space.
Madverts at 01:50 AM JST - 27th May

Sushi, I just don't agree. Loads of innovation and useful stuff came off the back of the clever people at NASA.

Even velcro I'm led to believe.
RomeoRamenII at 02:40 AM JST - 27th May

Even velcro I'm led to believe.

An urban legend:

http://www.velcro.co.uk/cms/History.6.0.html?&L=0

Though some things that were created courtesy of NASA innovations include:

Water purification technology;

Kidney dialysis machines;

CAT scanners, and;

Cordless power tools

RR
Madverts at 03:28 AM JST - 27th May

I stand corrected, Ramen.
shimajiro at 04:55 AM JST - 27th May

Aside from satisfying natural curiosity about the universe and man's place in in it, space exploration has led to discoveries that provide us insight into Earth's past, possible future(s) and present day climate challenges. I think there's a good case to me made that private, voluntary organizations like The Planetary Society could/should play a larger role in the financing of space exploration but I think government stil has a role. I would like to see white elephants like the International Space Station abandoned to fund more robotic missions like the Phoenix spacecraft.
Taka313 at 06:53 AM JST - 27th May

To piggyback on Sailwind's earlier post, space travel and satellite technology has saved hundreds of thousands of lives. As devastating as Hurricane Katrina was, imagine the lives lost if we wouldn't have been able to warn New Orleans in advance. Without satellite technology, forecasting the weather is extremely difficult, especially when trying to forecast sea state, which is critical when it comes to keeping Sailors and the cargo they carry safe.

Way to go NASA .

Taka
UnagiDon at 11:00 AM JST - 27th May

Some fun stats for Sushisake and the other neo-Luddites - we'll skip past the obvious benefits of the space program which others have already covered, e.g. weather and telecom satellites

In 2006 the US spent $6 billion on manned space flight, and $154 billion on alcohol, so cutting back on that sake might be a better way to spread the wealth.

The ROI on space expenditures is about 8:1 in the US, and a lot of that return is going back into education, not to mention the fact that space makes a lot of kids go all starry-eyed and want to stay in school, or go on to become scientists and engineers.

Others have covered the "it's in our nature to explore" argument but that doesn't seem to have worked - would you be okay with cutting arts and music funding since they also don't contribute anything meaningful and that money could be better spent on education and feeding the poor? Personally I don't

Unmanned space exploration like Phoenix is just one aspect of scientific research which is done for its own sake, simply to expand our knowledge, and we don't really know where that knowledge will lead. The results of Phoenix's mission will give us a better understanding of planetary climatology, which I'm pretty sure will have some benefit to climatology here on Earth, but the best part is all of the stuff which we can't even imagine and remains to be discovered. You'd turn your back on that, when such discoveries could and will do far more to better the human condition than retreating into a shell.
burzum at 06:20 PM JST - 27th May

$420 million threw in to the space. Money that they can use to clean the earth pollution. Money that they can use for education. Money that they can use for helping countries that need help.

Ugg. Comments like these annoy me because they are always used against any type of exploration or basic science. Not all research needs to be analyzed by bean counters to determine if it will have immediate practical benefit.

This is the type of logic that would have said that Newton was wasting his time and that the voyages of Columbus were too expensive. It is also the type of logic that would have said that sending balloons up to measure the chemical composition of the upper atmosphere (such as the ozone layer) was too expensive.

Considering that we live in the age of science, you would think that people would have a more open mind. All of our great technologies today are based on research by people who expected no practical benefit from their work, from Galileo to Faraday to J. J. Thomson. They did it purely for curiosity. And there is nothing wrong with that.

It is a myth that you can know the benefits of a course of research before it is completed. If you already knew the results, why would you need to perform the research?
Madverts at 08:01 PM JST - 27th May

Burzum,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FlatEarthSociety

Preaching to the un-converted mate.
OhioDonna at 01:04 AM JST - 28th May

I know this cost a lot of money but the photos are amazing.
rajakumar at 10:12 AM JST - 28th May

Coming up in future, we may be bringing back MARS soil, for testing back here on earth.

These projects are very good for future drone automatic aerospace technology/communication tech/solar tech /robotics tech/satellite tech.

This project could inspire future, Space sci-fiction type hollywood movie industry projects.

These new tech could also be of use to automatic undersea drone for undersea resource mining.

More of this tech should be used to spread prosperity/peace on earth.