{"id":14210,"date":"2012-08-11T00:45:45","date_gmt":"2012-08-10T23:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communicatescience.com\/zoonomian\/?p=14210"},"modified":"2013-02-03T10:40:06","modified_gmt":"2013-02-03T10:40:06","slug":"planetfest-2012-curiosity-knows-no-bounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communicatescience.com\/zoonomian\/2012\/08\/11\/planetfest-2012-curiosity-knows-no-bounds\/","title":{"rendered":"Planetfest 2012 – Curiosity Knows No Bounds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Planetfest<\/a>
NASA’s Charles Bolden and Plantetary Society CEO Bill Nye at Planetfest 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unless you spent last week vacationing at the bottom of a Titan methane lake, you can’t have failed to notice NASA has just placed its largest, heaviest, and most advanced rover yet – the Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity<\/em>, on the surface of Mars.\u00a0 And ‘placed’ it was\u00a0 –\u00a0 nice and gently – by a rocket powered crane.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sky-crane descent of the Mars Science Laboratory ‘Curiosity’ Picture: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even though I followed the moon landings, the idea of visiting Mars, in any form, still has a ring of science fiction about it.\u00a0 But last weekend at my first Planetary Society<\/a> Planetfest in Pasadena, California, Mars for me and 1500 others became extra-real, as we stood enthralled and affirmed in the knowledge that, for all our faults, human beings can still pull this stuff off.<\/p>\n

There were nail-biting moments and fascinating discussions.\u00a0 What I’ve put together here is a summary from my notes, mixed in with thoughts and photos to give you a taste of what went on.<\/p>\n

Let’s set the scene with a JPL simulation of Curiosity’s landing:<\/p>\n