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First Flight of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter [video]

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Re: First Flight of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter [video]

#71

It's cool. And surprising to me how young the team is. Contrast to the other videos I've seen of NASA "mission control" form the 60s etc. Something transformational for me seeing this group of super young people achieve so much. Inspiring and hopeful and more :)

At various points they show people joining remotely via video chat. Perhaps the people in the control room self selected based on covid risk?

Re: First Flight of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter [video]

#72

The universe is 13.8 billion years old. It took about 7.3 billion years for the Earth to be formed. Then it took roughly 4.48 billion years for the first Hominins to wander on the planet. They evolved for almost 5.998 million years. Then they had small civilizations in the past 0.002 million years. They started flying in the past 0.0001 million years. 0.00005 million years later they landed on the moon. Almost 0.0000…

I get your point, it's magnificent. But something seems off with those numbers:

7.3+4.48+5.998 > 13.8

Re: First Flight of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter [video]

#73

The universe is 13.8 billion years old. It took about 7.3 billion years for the Earth to be formed. Then it took roughly 4.48 billion years for the first Hominins to wander on the planet. They evolved for almost 5.998 million years. Then they had small civilizations in the past 0.002 million years. They started flying in the past 0.0001 million years. 0.00005 million years later they landed on the moon. Almost 0.0000…

Primates number one! Suck it fish and reptiles!

Re: First Flight of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter [video]

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, the one person who was excited looked like she stifled herself because the energy in the room was so low. Considering what they just achieved, and how much work they put into the project... I mean, we celebrate more when we have a successful sprint.

She did mention it, but they were probably told not to get too close for their COVID protocol. And watching her speech, she didn't seem stifled at all, she is so enthusiastic. "We don't know from history what Wilbur and Orville did after their first successful flight, but I imagine the two brothers hugged each other. Well, you know I'm hugging you virtually. And, you guys who haven't been with me for 4, 5, 6 years...…

> I imagine the two brothers hugged each other

Actually, that's pretty unlikely. It was a very different time. A display like that would have been considered unseemly. Also, neither Wilbur nor Orville were known for being particularly emotional or affectionate. Neither brother ever married.

Re: First Flight of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter [video]

#76

The universe is 13.8 billion years old. It took about 7.3 billion years for the Earth to be formed. Then it took roughly 4.48 billion years for the first Hominins to wander on the planet. They evolved for almost 5.998 million years. Then they had small civilizations in the past 0.002 million years. They started flying in the past 0.0001 million years. 0.00005 million years later they landed on the moon. Almost 0.0000…

I get your point, it's magnificent. But something seems off with those numbers: 7.3+4.48+5.998 > 13.8

You're mistaken: 5.998 million years not billion.

Re: First Flight of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter [video]

#77
post #7

Why does the downlink operator have what appears to be Github open? He seems to be carefully monitoring it. Is raw data going straight to Github?

Probably using the issue as an aggregation landing page. Bots can post to it, details can be manually added too, in-built support for media, integration with version control and ability to leverage in-built Github workflow. Looks like a smart way to use existing infrastructure.

Re: First Flight of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter [video]

#78

Roughly the start of success from the livestream: https://youtu.be/p1KolyCqICI?t=2265 Video (of the video from Perseverance): https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1384099167832735748 (Better version from the livestream in child comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26861334 )

Can't wait until the SpaceX's Starship land the next gen Mars Helicopter that might be 10-20x bigger in 2-4 years.

Re: First Flight of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter [video]

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get your point, it's magnificent. But something seems off with those numbers: 7.3+4.48+5.998 > 13.8

You're mistaken: 5.998 million years not billion.

Oh man, you're right :+1:

Re: First Flight of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter [video]

#80
post #50
post #31

It made me so sad seeing them cheering and clapping, but not getting up and hugging each other :( So much happiness without the ability to vent it. Such a historical moment.

Funny. When I watched that sequence, I was thinking the opposite. That the length of the clapping and cheering would be "too much" for me. I imagined myself being in that room. I probably would have beed very happy, smiling and showing a "thumbs up" sign or something. But I would not clap or cheer. And I certainly would not want to be hugged by some scientist next to me :) How do other engineers here on HN feel about…

Extraordinary achievements call for extraordinary celebrations. I'd expected champagne bottles.
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