Mars Curiosity: Countdown!

Update 11:08 Central: Curiosity now reported inside orbit of Martian satellite Deimos, about 14,000 miles away.

The moment of truth is close at hand. As the countdown clock shows, Curiosity will soon enter the Martian stratosphere. The Internet is buzz with excitement and no small amount of anxiety. The seven minutes of terror are about to begin for real. There’s a lot riding on it, both literally and figuratively. Some good links to keep tabs on are Mars Google Hangout (This has been a lot of fun tonight), NASA interactive event schedule, JPL TV, and NASA TV.

To understand the importance of this mission – and Curiosity is about as important a science experiment as we’ve ever created – here’s a quick peek at the fascinating history of our solar system’s most hospitable world, outside of the one we call home. Afterall, you have this much time to kill…

Domestic terrorist attack in progress

There’s been multiple shootings at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin with fatalities. It’s being called a domestic terrorist situation. Events are fluid and developing. Live coverage here. Apparently at least one guman entered the temple during a Saturday morning service and started blasting. Cops arrived and there was a shootout — the gunman and chief suspect was killed, at least one officer was injured. It’s unclear if this thing is completely over though. Police are actively clearing out entire neighborhoods.

More on Curiosity

Curiosity will be landing, or trying to land, at about 12:30 AM Central Time in the US. A press conference is in progress here, the panelist all opened by saying they’re having to remind themselves to breathe. I’ll be adding to this post throughout the day.

At a press conference today Richard Cook described what is planned. The deep space tracking network will be relaying real time communication with the rover, the first opportunity to hear from the vehicle is likely to be within seconds of landing. Shortly after 12:31 AM engineers will probably know if the landing was a success and there could be images returned a little after that time. On the next pass by an orbiter about two hours later images will probably be returned by the fish eye HazCam.

 

Failing upward in the GOP hits a new jaw-dropping record

Remember Dan Senor, the man who was dead wrong about, well, everything when he was the Bush-Cheney head PR honcho in Iraq? Senor was so incredibly wrong and at such tragic cost that off course Mit Romney had to snatch him up for that foreign policy expertise! But the guy who’s been making economic forecasts and was involved in crafting the disastrous Mittastrophe plan now being panned makes Senor look like fucking Nostradamus. There’s more, oh so much more. [Read more…]

Rogue stem cells may fuel brain & colon cancers

Without populations of adults stem cells in our tissues we’d be screwed. There would be no way to heal after injury or disease. But they come at a price, stem cells can mutate, lose their off switch or go astray, replicating fast and integrating into the circulatory system, they can form a cluster of cells that are business for themselves, one that can fool the body’s immune system. After all, the cells making it up are natives. Usually the owner won’t know what’s going on until they feel a lump or get a scan, then the battle is on. A new three-pronged study sheds light on the fascinating and deadly phenamenon: [Read more…]