A Thought on Here and Now

[silent1]

I decided to start this thread for a few reasons. One being that I have never started a thread on Avalon before and I am all for trying new things and two, I just really wanted to voice my opinion on our collective state right at this particular moment in time.

(Keep in mind this was not written solely for Avalon)

This opinion is not intended to carry negative connotations, rather, to simply evoke a sense of familiarity with the fact as young as I am (20), I have and some of you also have probably resided on the opposite side of this opinion before:



Whilst you're all on the edge of your seats watching the Olympics, cheering on your country and hoping that 'we' will kick 'their' arse, I think you should take 5 minutes out of your precious Olympics-watching time to ponder the other more amazing feat that humanity is collectively making this week. Just 5 days, 19 hours and 50 minutes from now a small 3m by 1.5m, radioisotope thermoelectric generator-powered, 900 kg rover nicknamed 'Curiosity' will land on the surface of Mars. That's right, Mars. Sure, we've sent our **** there before, but we're doing it again. Doesn't that tell you something? Yes, you're right! There must be stuff there. Interesting stuff! Maybe evidence that we aren't all alone out here in our tiny solar system or maybe evidence of ancient rivers, either way we have been there before and we are going there again this week. I understand that NASA barely ever 'throw a dog a bone' but regardless, to me it seems so trivial that while something so intriguing and important is happening the majority of us are concentrating on the fact that they want one particular group of humans from one particular place on Earth to run faster, jump higher, throw further and pretty much be better than a different group of humans from a different place on Earth… Really?

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.



I love each and every one of you.

[spiritguide]

Very astute observation. Thank you!

[silent1]

Thank you also spiritguide!

[Spiral]

Maybe they've scheduled it for during the Olympics so there will not be the usual attention should it go missing/fail, as so many probes/ landers have.

I like to think that they turn up at a "show & tell" at some ET's school. :ufo:

[Daft Ada]

Hi Silent 1. I agree, I'm not a sporty person and I have no interest in the Olympics at all, Quite frankly I think the 20 billion or more it cost us to set it up could have been better spent on feeding the poor and housing the homeless, at £200 a ticket if you can get one, it's just another playground for the filthy rich and I wonder if it's also to take everyone's minds of the thieving Banksters, the Libor scandal and every other devious evil going on that they want to hide.
I am really looking forward to the Martian lander but I bet it gets a five minute slot on the news at some obscure hour, if that.

[silent1]

That is a possibility Spiral. Hahaha, I think that if our simple little Curiosity was to turn up at some kind of ET show & tell, us humans wouldn't be considered the 'coolest' kids in the class.

Daft Ada, I hold no doubt that the money that has been forked out for the Olympics could, and should, have been spent a multitude of better ways but I don't see much point in dwelling on that fact. We can only hope for a 5 minute slot on tv. I'm only expecting a column-inch and a quarter-truth at best.

[Spiral]

Follow Curiosity's progress here; http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/WhereIsCuriosity.html

more here; http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html

They have changed the landing to "Gale Crater"

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/658679main_pia15686-43_946-710.jpg


Altered Landing Target in Gale Crater, Mars

A June 2012 revision of the landing target area for Curiosity, the big rover of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, reduces the area's size. It also puts the center of the landing area closer to Mount Sharp, which bears geological layers that are the mission's prime destination.

The larger ellipse in this image, about 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) by 15.5 miles (25 kilometers) shows what the target area was prior to revision. The smaller one, about 12 miles by 4 miles (20 by 7 kilometers), indicates the revised target area.

This oblique view of Mount Sharp is derived from a combination of elevation and imaging data from three Mars orbiters. The view is looking toward the southeast. Gale Crater is 96 miles (154 kilometers) in diameter. Mount Sharp rises about 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) above the floor of Gale Crater.

Stratification on Mount Sharp suggests the mountain is a surviving remnant of an extensive series of deposits that were laid down after a massive impact that excavated Gale Crater more than 3 billion years ago. The layers offer a history book of sequential chapters recording environmental conditions when each stratum was deposited.

Landing will be about 10:31 p.m. on Aug. 5, 2012, Pacific Daylight (early Aug. 6 Universal Time and Eastern Time). During a prime mission lasting nearly two years after landing, Curiosity will use 10 instruments to investigate whether this area of Mars has ever offered conditions favorable for life, including the chemical ingredients for life.

The image combines elevation data from the High Resolution Stereo Camera on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter, image data from the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and color information from Viking Orbiter imagery. There is no vertical exaggeration in the image.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory mission for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/MSSS

[silent1]

Thanks Spiral :)

[Spiral]

Interesting that they have diverted it into a crater, which of course has a very limited horizon, what are they avoiding exactly ?

I mean hey, they don't draw possible landing sites out of a hat, do they ? They must have spent years evaluating the landing site.

[WhiteFeather]

I would like to congradulate you on your first thread so timely. Thanks for bringing an awareness to this subject. Interesting to say the least. IMO I believe Many Avalonians have disposed of their Tell Lie Vision sets. We have had enough of the B/S and programming. And Please Keep us posted on the findings. It has the makings for an interesting thread. Wanishi

[silent1]

For all I know they probably do Spiral, haha. The late diversion is interesting, thanks for making it known to me.

Thanks WhiteFeather. I believe that is the case also, however that particular little spiel was intended for a much less educated and I'm assuming younger audience, however I still felt it to be relevant.

[ViralSpiral]

Thank you for your observation silent1. So good to see the wave of awake-ness spreading the ripples across all ages.

More colour pics? Hooray.
Now what about the moon? :biggrin1:

Each time NASA appears on the forum as a sticky, with news, I itch to paste cartoons.....

http://nursinglink.monster.com/nfs/nursinglink/product_photos/0000/0238/snickers_max192w.jpg?1198346944

Thanks again for sharing

[Hervé]

Baffles me as to how they determined this crater to be > 3 billion years old... did they get samples back already?

[Hervé]

Interesting that they have diverted it into a crater, which of course has a very limited horizon, what are they avoiding exactly ?

I mean hey, they don't draw possible landing sites out of a hat, do they ? They must have spent years evaluating the landing site.

From what I understood, the chosen landing site had always been the "Gale Crater." They just fine-tune the area of landing within that crater.

[Feren]

Hello, Silent1:
Your hipothesis that there might be something interesting for "us" (or for the PTB) in Mars reminds me about someone saying that if we never went back to the moon is because "they" forbid us to do it.
Maybe it was Bob Dean.
Might these two claims be related in some way?
Some of our most illustrated avalonians may have something to say about it.

Cheers!

Ferén

[Spiral]

Interesting that they have diverted it into a crater, which of course has a very limited horizon, what are they avoiding exactly ?

I mean hey, they don't draw possible landing sites out of a hat, do they ? They must have spent years evaluating the landing site.

From what I understood, the chosen landing site had always been the "Gale Crater." They just fine-tune the area of landing within that crater.

Yes, you are right, they probably have better software etc now what with the pace of progress in such fields.

[RMorgan]

Hello, Silent1:
Your hipothesis that there might be something interesting for "us" (or for the PTB) in Mars reminds me about someone saying that if we never went back to the moon is because "they" forbid us to do it.
Maybe it was Bob Dean.
Might these two claims be related in some way?
Some of our most illustrated avalonians may have something to say about it.

Cheers!

Ferén

Hey mate,

I believe it´s all about money and resources.

They didn´t go to the moon just for curiosity; no way. They went to the moon to study its properties and see it they could profit from it. Think about mining.

Then, when mining on the moon was proven not to be a profitable activity, they simply have no reason to go back there.

I believe the same thing will happen to Mars. They will collect samples and, if these samples are rich enough in rare/expensive minerals, they´ll start a mining project there.

The very colors of Mars indicate that it´s rich in iron ore and possibly gold.

Cheers,

Raf.

[Tarka the Duck]

In the UK, there was a documentary on this last night on BBC 2 Horizon http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01llnb2

UK members could probably watch it on iPlayer. They have a very cunning plan...:cool:

[Maia Gabrial]

I mean hey, they don't draw possible landing sites out of a hat, do they ? They must have spent years evaluating the landing site.

OR they knew something was there already....?

[Spiral]

Hello, Silent1:
Your hipothesis that there might be something interesting for "us" (or for the PTB) in Mars reminds me about someone saying that if we never went back to the moon is because "they" forbid us to do it.
Maybe it was Bob Dean.
Might these two claims be related in some way?
Some of our most illustrated avalonians may have something to say about it.

Cheers!

Ferén

Hey mate,

I believe it´s all about money and resources.

They didn´t go to the moon just for curiosity; no way. They went to the moon to study its properties and see it they could profit from it. Think about mining.

Then, when mining on the moon was proven not to be a profitable activity, they simply have no reason to go back there.

I believe the same thing will happen to Mars. They will collect samples and, if these samples are rich enough in rare/expensive minerals, they´ll start a mining project there.

The very colors of Mars indicate that it´s rich in iron ore and possibly gold.

Cheers,

Raf.

It was actual Apollo astronauts that said they were not alone up there, and that they weren't welcome, as for Mars, NASA "doctors" the colour in the pictures, its nothing like that red.

These videos deal with a lot more than the colour, such as the trees on Mars etc, well worth a look


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkfNYuXO4W4&list=PL711C6D9FC5D6A72A&index=1&feature=plpp_video


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwh2mV-U8Zs&feature=relmfu

[Sidney]

Thank you for this excellent thread!!!! Ppl need to be more aware for sure. That said,

I'm pretty sure "they" have known there was "stuff" on Mars a long time ago. We've most likely been there time and time again, and what comes out on mainstream is merely to keep the sheep confused not informed.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMwJmIRF7ZE

[Cartomancer]

I left my car keys on Mars and they were kind enough to mount a recovery mission. Seriously I have been looking forward to this one for a long time. The landing craft is a radical new design and everyone is wondering how well it will work. The Olympics are not going to keep me from checking this out. I don't own a TV anyway. Thanks

PS I can't wait to see what Hoagland says about his puppy! I'm sure I'll disagree with some of it but he comes up with some good ideas sometimes.