<font size="4"color="gray">Here's the Fred for the Curiosity landing, which is scheduled for 3.31pm Monday (AEST). Keep fingers crossed & have a change of knickers ready, just in case. "NASA has said everything is on track ahead of its nail-biting mission to Mars, with its most advanced robotic rover poised to hunt for clues about past life and water on Earth's nearest planetary neighbour. On a two-year journey to seek out signs of environments that once sustained life, the landing of the Mars Science Laboratory and the largest and most sophisticated rover ever built, Curiosity, is set for 3.31pm Monday (AEST)":http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/nasa-confident-ahead-of-mars-landing/story-e6frg8y6-1226442197667</font><br>

All the best from everyone in Australia!!!

hurls into martian atmosphere and makes a big hole

edit
hurtles

must have been the black text thing that made the typo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=P4boyXQuUIw

is NASA telecasting it?

Yes and no. Mars occults Earth about 2 mins before Curiosity lands, so no one on Earth will see the landing.

Divine Angel said:

Yes and no. Mars occults Earth about 2 mins before Curiosity lands, so no one on Earth will see the landing.

theres no one there to film it .

Divine Angel said:

Yes and no. Mars occults Earth about 2 mins before Curiosity lands, so no one on Earth will see the landing.

times square will be disappointed..

New York: New Yorkers will be able to watch the landing of NASA’s USD 2.5 billion rover on Mars in a unique way, with the landmark event being broadcast on a large screen in the city’s most popular tourist spot Times Square.

“In the city that never sleeps, the historic Times Square will be the place for New Yorkers to participate in this historic landing,” NASA’s associate administrator for science missions John Grunsfeld said in a statement.

“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.”

The landing of NASA’s huge Mars rover Curiosity is scheduled for August 6.

The NASA Curiosity rover aims to explore over a period of two years the vast Gale Crater and will look for signs if water, and maybe even life, existed on the red planet.

The rover was launched in November 2011.It will be lowered on to the planet’s surface by a hovering rocket-powered “Sky Crane”.

The landing broadcast will originate from Mission Control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s in Pasadena, California which designed the rover and is managing the mission.

If the landing is successful, viewers will be able to see scientists receive the first signal from the rover on Mars.

(Agencies)

Wonder how much NASA PR paid for the screen in Times Square.

Divine Angel said:

Wonder how much NASA PR paid for the screen in Times Square.

I think it’s on the screen that’s owned by Foxtel.. so a shed load.

Divine Angel said:

All the best from everyone in Australia!!!

Not from me…

It’s got it’s little ears pinned back and is accelerating towards the crash site now, entry in a couple of hours, NASA live coverage starts in half an hour.
God speed little rover and good luck, Lord only knows you are going to need it.

This seems like a good time to share the goodness that is ‘The Lonely Astronaut’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svAQ6BCIgxg

:-)

crash site.. lolz

hope you’re all following along on that java simlulation

Thanks Rule. A good bit of light entertainment with my lunch.

:)

I’ll try- hopefully the work computer (and Curiosity) don’t crash…

only 15.5K miles to go.

TV coverage.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ustream.html

13.9K miles to go

gravity wells are a bitch…

the poor thing is speeding up as it nears mars… then needs to bleed all that kinetic energy off.. ouchies.

BUmmer. Work computer is too slow to run it and everything else I need running :(

Y’all gonna have to give me a running commentary.

13K miles to go.

1 hr 07 mins to cruise stage separation..

(gotta keep em separated)

I just saw the fatcon……….the fatcon……………..the fatcontroller.

Are we there yet?

Bubble Car said:

Are we there yet?

Another coupla hours. Good thing I watched the preview this morning sigh

11K miles to go..
9348 mph

TTE: 1 hr 3 mins
Cruise Stage Sep: 53 mins

Ta Bear.

Another 50 minutes of foreplay before entry.

Peak Warming Man said:

Another 50 minutes of foreplay before entry.

Hope BC doesn’t peak too soon .

36 mins till it divorces the cruise stage

some engineers are getting mighty nervous about now

Dropbear said:

36 mins till it divorces the cruise stage

Will it bounce off a sofa for a soft landing?

>some engineers are getting mighty nervous about now

Couldn’t give a rats :)

your commentary guys is almost as good as being there.

Boris said:

your commentary guys is almost as good as being there.

6.6K miles
10,1063 MPH
TTE: 34 mins
CSS: 24 mins

Failsafes that were on during cruise stage have been overridden, irraversable EDL preparations commenced.

Divine Angel said:

Dropbear said:

36 mins till it divorces the cruise stage

Will it bounce off a sofa for a soft landing?

hehe nah the cruise stage is a big arsed solar panel contraption thing that has been powering it since it left.. its wearing it on its bottom ;)

Going through checklist after checklist of technical bs now on the live feed:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/aug/03/watch-live-landing-curiosity-mars-rover

They have crossed the Rubicon.

A lot of premature clapping in the background, they are interviewing Grahame Gooch now.

Peak Warming Man said:

A lot of premature clapping in the background, they are interviewing Grahame Gooch now.

new NASA record in minesweeper..

13 mins to cruise stage separation (CSS)

distance 4.8K miles
10,728 mph
TTE: 23 mins

no signs yet that the martian defence systems have been activated

Dropbear said:

13 mins to cruise stage separation (CSS)

distance 4.8K miles
10,728 mph
TTE: 23 mins

Stay on target!

COVER ME PORKINS!

7 mins to CSS

I do hope the Curiosity succeeds in its mission to find evidence of Mars Bars on the surface.

speeding up a lot .. 11,284 mph.. couples of hours ago was only doing 9,000 mph

Odyssey has been reaquired.

It will be sending information to Odyssey to relay to earthe almoust all through it’s decent in the form of simple tones, apparently.

Dropbear said:

speeding up a lot .. 11,284 mph.. couples of hours ago was only doing 9,000 mph

Shouldn’t they be putting the foot gently on the brake pedal by now?

3 mins to CSS

party_pants said:

Dropbear said:

speeding up a lot .. 11,284 mph.. couples of hours ago was only doing 9,000 mph

Shouldn’t they be putting the foot gently on the brake pedal by now?

speeding up due to falling into the mars gravity well… they’re going to slow down my entering the martian atmosphere in 12 mins.

party_pants said:

Dropbear said:

speeding up a lot .. 11,284 mph.. couples of hours ago was only doing 9,000 mph

Shouldn’t they be putting the foot gently on the brake pedal by now?

It’ll slow down once the cruiser detaches and the parachutes open up.

Divine Angel said:

party_pants said:

Dropbear said:

speeding up a lot .. 11,284 mph.. couples of hours ago was only doing 9,000 mph

Shouldn’t they be putting the foot gently on the brake pedal by now?

It’ll slow down once the cruiser detaches and the parachutes open up.

parachutes only open AFTER a lot of aerobreaking – it has lost 90% of its velocity by that stage

Also speeding up because of venting from the craft, this extra speed confirms the venting is happening as planned.

1 min to CSS

They’ve detected a heart beat. Seems there’s a stowaway on board.

CSS has happened ;)

Dropbear said:

CSS has happened ;)

Spacegasm #1

Cruise stage seperation complete, some premature high fives.

2000 miles to go
11,727 miles per hour
8 mins to atmosphere entry

7 minutes to entry.

12,000 mph.

It’s no good, I need a drink.

pours a stiff one

>>pours a stiff one

Security, take they man outside.

5 minutes to entry.

still speeding up…12,330 mph.

Do they really need someone name Fuk Li in the control room?

In the preview, they showed the heat shield separation. That was cool- the simulation showed the actual rover once that had detached :)

Are we taking bets on the depth of the crater it’s going to make?

MRO now communicating with the spacecraft.

probably just break 13,000 mph before it hits the atmosphere..

poikilotherm said:

Are we taking bets on the depth of the crater it’s going to make?

your making baby BC cry

2 minutes to entry.

90 seconds to ouchies

1 minute.

It’s got the velocity on the screen, when that stops incressing we know it’s touching atmosphere, over.

Spacegasm #2

30s

Projected to land about 200 metres from chosen target site.

yay! it made it to 13,000 mph

50 miles up

6 mins 22 to touchdown/smackdown

24 miles up

11 miles up

Odyssey now returning data.

11G’s .. reached peak heating/acceleration

ship is still alive…

telemetary from oddysea coming in

shit .. no data YET

just a connection

Hang on.. data is coming in… phew.

Engineers must be biting their nail to the quick!

It’s got stopped manouvering and has aquired the crash zone.

17km

my live stream died

Now mach2, 15km

Dropbear said:

my live stream died

OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You’re my connection to Mars.

Parachute deployed!

150metres per second

Has Earth set yet?

Thrusters engaged.

Peak Warming Man said:

Thrusters engaged.

Well yeah. You need that for a spacegasm.

Aquired ground with radar…

4km

stream re-acquired ;)

powered flight.. sky crane thingy

Signals still strong, powered flight now

500 metres

Has BC burst a foofer valve yet?

40m..

sky crane started

Skycrane ready…

40 metres

Skycrane working…

Rule 303 said:

Has BC burst a foofer valve yet?

jizzed in his pants!!

TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!

Landed!

FUCK ME DEAD IT MADE IT…

colour me shocked

That is fucking fantastic, I told you.

Going berserk in the control room as Curiosity safely lands.

Unbelieveable.

Surface data coming in.

There are tears

Engineers are crying into their hankies..

Images coming through….

first pics .. wow .. fuckin unreal ;)

hey this space shit isnt bad after all

it landed the right way up.

Well done.

Dropbear said:

first pics .. wow .. fuckin unreal ;)

hey this space shit isnt bad after all

SPACEGASM # 3

Is there a link for still images?

Divine Angel said:

Dropbear said:

first pics .. wow .. fuckin unreal ;)

hey this space shit isnt bad after all

SPACEGASM # 3

Is there a link for still images?

doubt it.

Odyssey feed about to end.

and no mars shattering KABOOM. oh well.

Can clearly see the shadow of the vehicle on the surface in the latest shot.

Odyssea crossing the horizon.. no more pics for now

OK I think I’ve seen enough hugs and high-5s :)

Well done though. Let’s hope we get some important science out of it.

The Martian Air Defence Marshall has been summonsed to Barsoom Palace to please explain the SIEV.

Found some images, being updated as I type:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html

>Engineers are crying into their hankies..

They realise that there is a fair chance that they’re going to get sex tonight.

sibeen said:

>Engineers are crying into their hankies..

They realise that there is a fair chance that they’re going to get sex tonight.

They should get a bunk in the athletes village for a few days.

BC will probably be on his second box of Kleenex.

sibeen said:

>Engineers are crying into their hankies..

They realise that there is a fair chance that they’re going to get sex tonight.

even if its just other-engineer sex

sibeen said:

>Engineers are crying into their hankies..

They realise that there is a fair chance that they’re going to get sex tonight.

Sheeesh… Is it that awful?

Peak Warming Man said:

BC will probably be on his second box of Kleenex.

friction burn (and i don’t mean the heatshield)

Rule 303 said:

sibeen said:

>Engineers are crying into their hankies..

They realise that there is a fair chance that they’re going to get sex tonight.

Sheeesh… Is it that awful?

theres bound to be a 10 mins comms blackout sometime

Dropbear said:

Peak Warming Man said:

BC will probably be on his second box of Kleenex.

friction burn (and i don’t mean the heatshield)

Surely he would’ve installed a fap safe device?

Dropbear said:

Peak Warming Man said:

BC will probably be on his second box of Kleenex.

friction burn (and i don’t mean the heatshield)

Surely he would’ve installed a fap safe device?

Well, for a lot of them that will be the highlight of their lives, kudos to them.

Great and terrible thing.

poikilotherm said:

Dropbear said:

Peak Warming Man said:

BC will probably be on his second box of Kleenex.

friction burn (and i don’t mean the heatshield)

Surely he would’ve installed a fap safe device?

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

The good thing about it it has good powerful electricity, good nuclear power with grunt, not this weak solar crap.

Just heard on the radio, it was met by some Martian feline-like creature as head of the official welcoming party, but unfortunately Curiosity killed the cat.

party_pants said:

Just heard on the radio, it was met by some Martian feline-like creature as head of the official welcoming party, but unfortunately Curiosity killed the cat.

groan

Divine Angel said:

groan

It wasn’t mine. They did just say that on ABC local radio in Perth :)

Peak Warming Man said:

Well, for a lot of them that will be the highlight of their lives, kudos to them.

Great and terrible thing.

downhill to a long slow painful death from here

Annnnnnnd the fapping has ceased.

For those who like listening to spooky wind sound effects while looking through images of Mars, there are some good ones here

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-06/mars-curiosity-live-coverage/4179974

The 3.48PM entry is mind-blowing.

News conference on NASA TV now.

I think now is the right time to tell PWM I told him so.

has the lander got a giger counter?

Boris said:

has the lander got a giger counter?

I doubt they’ll find any gigers out there.

giggity

>>I think now is the right time to tell PWM I told him so.

That’s fine Witty but if you look at the thread through the prism of my missives you will see that there is no incongruity, indeed in the fullness of time it will become evident that any disambiguosity is unfounded and I’ll have more to say about it at a later time.

Have you had much rain down your way?

“If life is ever detected somewhere as close as Mars it could mean life is everywhere throughout the universe.”

http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/14473495/mars-rover-landing-nears/

…

I don’t think this statement makes much sense.

what happens to the skyhook?

Flys off and crashes once it runs out of fuel, I guess.

>>what happens to the skyhook?

It crashes to the ground in a helicopter.

Peak Warming Man said:

>>what happens to the skyhook?

It crashes to the ground in a helicopter.

Dear oh dear oh dear

you’d think they be able to land it so they could at least salvage it for parts later if need be

Go Tidbinbilla! What would they do without you?

wookiemeister said:

what happens to the skyhook?

After it released the rover it flew off and crashed some distance away.

Was a really quite risky plan I think. If any of the four engines on the crane didn’t fire it would have been game over.

Peak Warming Man said:

It crashes to the ground in a helicopter.

ROFL

Gale Creator is a rough area, it’ll probably be on blocks with it’s wheels missing in the morning.

Peak Warming Man said:

Gale Creator is a rough area, it’ll probably be on blocks with it’s wheels missing in the morning.

Proof of concept!

I just found Mary Roach has written a Mars book…..and as I like her book Stiff – her style of writing is great – others here might be interested:

http://www.maryroach.net/pfmTOC.html

And this seemed to be the most appropriate thread for this at the moment.

4:25pm: US Obama administration science advisor John Holdren says the landing of Curiosity on Mars was “without a doubt the most challenging feat of robotics” in US history. He also says:

“We are actually the only country that has landed surface landers on any other planet. But this lander is vastly bigger, vastly more capable much more complicated to bring in. Many new technologies had to work in perfect succession and perfect synchronisation for this to happen.”

—-

I thought that the USSR had put landers on Venus?

Kingy said:

4:25pm: US Obama administration science advisor John Holdren says the landing of Curiosity on Mars was “without a doubt the most challenging feat of robotics” in US history. He also says:

“We are actually the only country that has landed surface landers on any other planet. But this lander is vastly bigger, vastly more capable much more complicated to bring in. Many new technologies had to work in perfect succession and perfect synchronisation for this to happen.”

—-

I thought that the USSR had put landers on Venus?

Technically, the USSR doesn’t exist any longer.

party_pants said:

Kingy said:

4:25pm: US Obama administration science advisor John Holdren says the landing of Curiosity on Mars was “without a doubt the most challenging feat of robotics” in US history. He also says:

“We are actually the only country that has landed surface landers on any other planet. But this lander is vastly bigger, vastly more capable much more complicated to bring in. Many new technologies had to work in perfect succession and perfect synchronisation for this to happen.”

—-

I thought that the USSR had put landers on Venus?

Technically, the USSR doesn’t exist any longer.

Wot, are you a lawyer or sumfin?

;)

>I thought that the USSR had put landers on Venus?

They were dirty commies and therefore don’t count, even if they did it 10 or so times.

spits

Kingy said:

4:25pm: US Obama administration science advisor John Holdren says the landing of Curiosity on Mars was “without a doubt the most challenging feat of robotics” in US history. He also says:

“We are actually the only country that has landed surface landers on any other planet. But this lander is vastly bigger, vastly more capable much more complicated to bring in. Many new technologies had to work in perfect succession and perfect synchronisation for this to happen.”

—-

I thought that the USSR had put landers on Venus?

Well, if you call the Venusian atmosphere “on Venus”, well then yes.

>Well, if you call the Venusian atmosphere “on Venus”, well then yes.

If you call the photos taken “on the surface” by a few probes, then yes.

The Venera (Cyrillic: Венера) series probes were developed by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1984 to gather data from Venus, Venera being the Russian name for Venus. As with some of the Soviet Union’s other planetary probes, the later versions were launched in pairs with a second vehicle being launched soon after the first of the pair.

Ten probes from the Venera series successfully landed on Venus and transmitted data from the surface, including the two Vega program and Venera-Halley probes. In addition, thirteen Venera probes successfully transmitted data from the atmosphere of Venus.

Michael V said:

Well, if you call the Venusian atmosphere “on Venus”, well then yes.

They did land one didn’t they? They got one photo of it glowing red hot before it melted.

sibeen said:

>Well, if you call the Venusian atmosphere “on Venus”, well then yes.

If you call the photos taken “on the surface” by a few probes, then yes.

I only remember the first one. Maybe all that stuff happened when I was a pot-smoking acid-dropping hippy without television and radio. I was out there educating myself before I joined the NSW Police Department.

http://www.mentallandscape.com/C_CatalogVenus.htm

Shows photos from the Venusian Soviet Republic.

Michael V said:

sibeen said:

>Well, if you call the Venusian atmosphere “on Venus”, well then yes.

If you call the photos taken “on the surface” by a few probes, then yes.

I only remember the first one. Maybe all that stuff happened when I was a pot-smoking acid-dropping hippy without television and radio. I was out there educating myself before I joined the NSW Police Department.

Where “Joined” = Arrested by?

sibeen said:

http://www.mentallandscape.com/C_CatalogVenus.htm

Shows photos from the Venusian Soviet Republic.

Pffft. Engineers. You blokes (or your Ruskie counterparts) did that in a gulag studio. Just like the Yanks did with the moon landings. Why your Ruski colleagues didn’t include fudged humans, Lord only knows.

;)

Kingy said:

Michael V said:

sibeen said:

>Well, if you call the Venusian atmosphere “on Venus”, well then yes.

If you call the photos taken “on the surface” by a few probes, then yes.

I only remember the first one. Maybe all that stuff happened when I was a pot-smoking acid-dropping hippy without television and radio. I was out there educating myself before I joined the NSW Police Department.

Where “Joined” = Arrested by?

Well, no, not really. I realised that I’d eventually become a completely idiot brain-dead druggie, but I enjoyed the stuff, and all the counter-culture bits that went along with it. So I did the real counter-culture thing. But It’d be difficult and embarrassing if I got caught, so (mostly) I stopped that shit. I did choof occasionally with a Detective’s wife. When he was away. But I think he set it up, because he realised I was completely honest. His missus was a complete honey, but we just choofed and chatted (I had many many thoughties). And there were a few other times that all make good yarns.

What the hell happened to the F-15s that were meant to shadow it in to landing and supply us with great footage?

Stealth said:

What the hell happened to the F-15s that were meant to shadow it in to landing and supply us with great footage?

The pilots stayed up too late watching the Olympics and slept through their alarm.

I spent nearly 11 years educating myself with the Police Department including becoming a single (male) parent (not really the Police Dep’t‘s fault) before I went to uni to really study.

picture of the Curiosity during the parachute descent stage

view of a 3 mile high mountain in the middle of Gale Crater

I want colour, dammit!

horizon is crooked too, 3/10

Dropbear said:

horizon is crooked too, 3/10

Is that thing still on Mars? Have they found aliens?

…tries to get excited about it….

fails :/

kii said:

Dropbear said:

horizon is crooked too, 3/10

Is that thing still on Mars? Have they found aliens?

…tries to get excited about it….

fails :/

it only got there yesterday, sheesh ;)

im excited about it .. i don’t read the PSF so i avoid all the BC-Jizz bullshit and get excited in my own little way

kii said:

Dropbear said:

horizon is crooked too, 3/10

Is that thing still on Mars? Have they found aliens?

…tries to get excited about it….

fails :/

I bet it’s all faked. Done in studio to take the publics mind off gun control and to pave the way for the USA to cause political uprising in a small, but wealthy, nation.

Meh..even without the stuff over there…I don’t get excited by this stuff.
Now finding a treasure in an op shop….that’s exciting :P

its an awesome engineering feat, and should be appreciated on as many levels as I do ;P

Arts said:

kii said:

Dropbear said:

horizon is crooked too, 3/10

Is that thing still on Mars? Have they found aliens?

…tries to get excited about it….

fails :/

I bet it’s all faked. Done in studio to take the publics mind off gun control and to pave the way for the USA to cause political uprising in a small, but wealthy, nation.

Spot on…that’s what I think.

Dropbear said:

its an awesome engineering feat, and should be appreciated on as many levels as I do ;P

Meh…even with the NASA dudes and dudettes around town and people I know testing shite and blah, blah, blah….it’s all so….meh.

kii said:

Dropbear said:

its an awesome engineering feat, and should be appreciated on as many levels as I do ;P

Meh…even with the NASA dudes and dudettes around town and people I know testing shite and blah, blah, blah….it’s all so….meh.

how sad..

Dropbear said:

kii said:

Dropbear said:

its an awesome engineering feat, and should be appreciated on as many levels as I do ;P

Meh…even with the NASA dudes and dudettes around town and people I know testing shite and blah, blah, blah….it’s all so….meh.

how sad..

kii said:

Arts said:

kii said:

Is that thing still on Mars? Have they found aliens?

…tries to get excited about it….

fails :/

I bet it’s all faked. Done in studio to take the publics mind off gun control and to pave the way for the USA to cause political uprising in a small, but wealthy, nation.

Spot on…that’s what I think.

by the time this is over, that’s what a whole bunch of people will think. Just like that moon landing debacle.

Tries again….

“how sad..” said Dropbear

No, just can’t get excited about this. Too abstract….too…weird….too….something.

kii said:

Tries again….

“how sad..” said Dropbear

No, just can’t get excited about this. Too abstract….too…weird….too….something.

i had a bit of a “oh just another rover – we’ve done it before” reaction, but this is super-sized.. the rover is huge, the delivery system was just mind-blowingly stupid risky – but it worked… and it’s atomic powered …

i mean..cmon! cool!

Dropbear said:

kii said:

Tries again….

“how sad..” said Dropbear

No, just can’t get excited about this. Too abstract….too…weird….too….something.

i had a bit of a “oh just another rover – we’ve done it before” reaction, but this is super-sized.. the rover is huge, the delivery system was just mind-blowingly stupid risky – but it worked… and it’s atomic powered …

i mean..cmon! cool!

Yes, and I think I saw and touched some of the metal used in the making of the wheels. Like as in…it was in the back of a pickup and mr kii helped unload it at the waterjet cutting place.

I’ll go look at some photos from Mars and attempt a higher level of enthusiasm……

“Yes, and I think I saw and touched some of the metal used in the making of the wheels”

See.. now that is cool ;)

Dropbear said:

“Yes, and I think I saw and touched some of the metal used in the making of the wheels”

See.. now that is cool ;)

Yeah…want to buy my autographed photo of it being unloaded?

For wookie .. shows how far the sky crane flew off before it crashed.

looks like the sky crane went smoosh when it hit..

August 10, 2012

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity will spend its first weekend on Mars transitioning to software better suited for tasks ahead, such as driving and using its strong robotic arm.

The rover’s “brain transplant,” which will occur during a series of steps Aug. 10 through Aug. 13, will install a new version of software on both of the rover’s redundant main computers. This software for Mars surface operations was uploaded to the rover’s memory during the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft’s flight from Earth.

“We designed the mission from the start to be able to upgrade the software as needed for different phases of the mission,” said Ben Cichy of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., chief software engineer for the Mars Science Laboratory mission. “The flight software version Curiosity currently is using was really focused on landing the vehicle. It includes many capabilities we just don’t need any more. It gives us basic capabilities for operating the rover on the surface, but we have planned all along to switch over after landing to a version of flight software that is really optimized for surface operations.”