Live stream of Perseverance launch tomorrow
I have embedded below the fold NASA’s live stream channel for tomorrow’s 7:50 am (Eastern) launch of the Perseverance rover to Mars on a ULA Atlas-5 rocket.
At present the channel is carrying NASA’s programming leading up to the launch. The actual live stream for the launch begins at 7 am (Eastern).
The weather looks good, and there appear to be no issues, as of 11 pm (Eastern).
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
I have embedded below the fold NASA’s live stream channel for tomorrow’s 7:50 am (Eastern) launch of the Perseverance rover to Mars on a ULA Atlas-5 rocket.
At present the channel is carrying NASA’s programming leading up to the launch. The actual live stream for the launch begins at 7 am (Eastern).
The weather looks good, and there appear to be no issues, as of 11 pm (Eastern).
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
big relief that the rocket was launched. In terms of getting material back to Earth, would it have been possible to launch two other missions to Mars at this time? One carrying a rocket that can launch from the surface of Mars to Mars orbit. And a 2nd carrying a space ship that could travel from Mars orbit back to Earth.
Steve,
You can launch missions to Mars anytime you like, but this is the best time since this is the closest Mars is to us once every two years. I remember there was a proposal in the early 1990’s to send a Mars Soil Return mission in 1998, but the project was never picked up.
You can have two launches with one as the sample gatherer and the other the Earth return rocket. You could make it one package (satellite, lander/sample return rocket, and orbiting Earth return rocket) and one launch if you have some great engineers and a rocket that can haul it.
Steve Richter asked: “In terms of getting material back to Earth, would it have been possible to launch two other missions to Mars at this time?”
Technically, yes. Politically is a different matter. NASA/JPL have convinced Congress to fund the Perseverance sample collection mission, but once there are samples sitting on Mars it seems to me that it should be easier to convince Congress to fund the sample return mission. As far as I have found, it is not yet funded, and NASA is still figuring out how much it will cost for the U.S. part of the mission.
This presents us with yet another reason to commercialize much of exploration. A commercial operation would have more incentive to find the least expensive way to get as much information as possible.
A second rover retracing the path of a first rover is not as efficient as two rovers exploring separate regions. The only advantage to retracing a path is to have different instruments that can explore aspects of various sites that the first rover could not analyze. It is similar to the two Voyager spacecraft retracing paths taken by the two Pioneer probes. The Pioneers were limited in their abilities and acted as pathfinders to find the more interesting things for the Voyagers to concentrate on, using their more advanced instruments.
Edward wrote: “…This presents us with yet another reason to commercialize much of exploration. A commercial operation would have more incentive to find the least expensive way to get as much information as possible. …”
a 3rd way is private funding of solar system exploration and development of open source technology. Individuals contribute money, expertise, time and labor to organized projects. Start projects with specific goals – placing a rover on the moon, landing some sort of a protected pod on venus, … Then invite people to work on the project, fund it.
Steve Richter wrote: “a 3rd way is private funding of solar system exploration and development of open source technology.”
Private funding may be a little while in the future. It was tried a quarter century ago when Dr. Alan Binder tried to privately fund a lunar probe, Lunar Prospector. Not enough investors could be found to finish the probe, so after about $15 million of the $25 million project, he had to turn it over to NASA for completion. NASA lists the cost of the project as $62 million, and Dr. Binder was not impressed with the way NASA ran his project.
The world was not yet ready for commercial exploration, because NASA has a corner on the market for that kind of thing.
Open source may be fine for computers and software, because the business model allows for everyone else to be able to use your product on whatever platform they have. This business model has not worked well for many other industries, and space is not much different. This is why SpaceX does not patent its ideas that cannot be seen by observers. Proprietary information is vital to most companies.
NASA forces a form of “open source” for experiments performed on the ISS. Because the American taxpayer spent so very, very much on this “National Laboratory,” NASA figures that data collected there should be shared with the entire world within five years of collection. I see this as an impediment for any companies that want to learn something that advantages them over others. I see this problem as a reason for private space stations, so that companies can finally make unique products without fear that anyone else will beat them to market. At that point, we should start seeing a lot of new products that could only be made or developed in continuous freefall.