Since I’m in a making-fun-of-NASA mood…
The parachute made me laugh out loud.
Tip o’ the heat shield to Larry Klaes.
-
About Bad Astronomy
Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He's written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic and fights the abuse of science, but his true love is praising the wonders of real science.
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December 13th, 2006 at 11:24 am
First manned mission to Mars: Project Garbage Scow
December 13th, 2006 at 11:54 am
That was very funny! My favorite was the bouquet of “flowers” that the Martian held up!
December 13th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Very funny. The parachute in the background is great, as are the “flowers.”
December 13th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
I’m sorry, is this a parody of something I should know?
December 13th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
the ship drilling into the ground THEN deploying the ‘chute made me lose my coffee
December 13th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
Max Fagin Says: “I’m sorry, is this a parody of something I should know?”
Parody? It’s a documentary!
- Jack
December 13th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
For you model rocket nerds out there:
That vehicle descending in the background at the end would certainly win any NAR parachute duration contest coming down that slowly with only 5 mbar! It would be hard to decide what motor class to put it in, though.
- Jack
December 13th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
Great little flick. Loved it. You realize that the depiction of numerous Mars probe landing attempts and design mishaps mirrors the early days of aviation quite well. We’re in the early days of space exploration.
December 13th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Hillarious!
December 13th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
This made me snicker so hard I almost fell out of the chair.
*stifles giggles*
December 13th, 2006 at 5:19 pm
The link doesn’t take me directly to the joke
December 13th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
OH I had to turn off ad blocker. Actually our hit miss record with Mars is much better these days…
December 13th, 2006 at 6:14 pm
Hrmm, AH Parachute Duration? Might have to submit an RCP for that…
(The Shuttle SRBs, IIRC, rate somewhere around AB (Z + 2)).
*proudly wears his rocket-geek badge.*
December 13th, 2006 at 8:37 pm
I just forwarded this video link to a friend of mine at ASU who’s on the MER team. they will get a kick out of it.
December 13th, 2006 at 9:06 pm
I figured I shouldn’t have a mouthful of liquid while I watched it… and I was right.
Loved it, thanks for sharing!
December 13th, 2006 at 9:32 pm
This is great! Highly realistic, except the violin missed a note.
December 13th, 2006 at 11:40 pm
lmao @ the crash and parachute!
Genesis anyone?
December 14th, 2006 at 12:18 am
Collin Pillinger will not be amused.
December 14th, 2006 at 8:20 am
This reminded me of the old arcade games “Scramble” and “Overlander”.
December 14th, 2006 at 8:56 am
Great stuff. It’s certainly getting crowded up there.
On the same theme, check my “Martian News” page at http://www.herring.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Space/Headlines.htm (All original content by yours truly, and I’ve already been asked to update it!)
December 14th, 2006 at 9:48 am
Who says scientisks ain’t got no humor?
Loved the parachute. Wonder when we’re going to use H2 balloons for arial surveys?
Gary 7
December 14th, 2006 at 10:24 am
OMG that was great.
Have to wipe the coffee off my monitor now…
December 14th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
I’ve seen the parachute sequence way too many times in the amateur rocketry. Gut busting funny every time (except to the rocketeer).
Bob
December 14th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
That was very funny.
One question though. I remember seeing once an annimation of the MER about to RAT a rock. In the annimation the MER starts spinning instead of the RAT. The annimation ends with one of the MER wheels flying past.
Can anyone remember how to find that annimation?
December 14th, 2006 at 11:05 pm
By the way, Chip, you say that we are in the early days of space travel. It’s been 49 years. By 1952, we had jets, airliners, radar, had broken the sound barrier, had general aviation, etc. Granted, space travel is more difficult, but still…
December 15th, 2006 at 7:05 am
ROTFLMAO!!
Funny but a bit cruel and ungrateful; considering the joy and knowledge NASAhas brought us all Phil.
That said, I’m still grinning now, watched it five times over, and I’ll be posting this link to a few people too.
Thanks for that bit of light relief.
If only they _would_ send that many probes to Mars – and wot no manned landing yet?
December 18th, 2006 at 6:21 am
[...] Click here to enjoy. [...]
December 21st, 2006 at 10:20 am
[...] http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2006/12/13/springtime-on-mars/ [...]
January 6th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Now we are starting to send our Garbage to MARS
January 8th, 2007 at 7:02 am
[...] Springtime On Mars: With all the stuff we’re sending to Mars, you have to wonder what it’s going to look like in a few years. Check out this funny video depicting that Mars — and its inhabitants. [...]
February 2nd, 2007 at 2:31 pm
[...] VÃa: BadAstronomy Tags: marte [...]
February 23rd, 2007 at 4:25 am
This is 2006-07 (as if somebody doesn’t know!)
The clip would have been scary and also funny in ~1985, but alas no computer generated animation in that era. It is akin to “funny cat pictures no more amuse people on the internet”. In any case clip is funny but on that side of spectrum close to infra-ridiculous.
MARS will be won, most probably in our life time (statistically averaged).