Now I think about it, yeah, "terror" is pretty close :)

Not precisely right away, but as close to real-time as the speed of light will allow. The other US spacecraft at Mars will pass overhead during EDL so there will be multiple paths of transmission from MSL to the Earth.

Fortunately they aren't. They're engineers.

The word "terror" doesn't begin to describe it. The prevailing mood during entry, descent, & landing is composed of fear, excitement, anticipation, anxiety, dread, exhilaration, pride and sheer unbridled joy, all at the highest levels possible and rapidly cycling from one to the other. You're completely focused on…

Yeah, the precision is much better when (1) you steer where you want to go and (2) you don't have to worry about where you end up after you stop bouncing (as the more recent rovers did).

You pretty much answered your own question: a direct comparison would be impossible. But yes, there have been drop tests from helicopters for some of the components (the ones I know about) and as many other kinds of tests as they could afford.

"You could smoke weed for 10 years every day, stop the next day and your life would continue on just fine."

The real Switzerland has been airlifted to Brazil to make invasion by France, Germany or Italy even harder.

Putting aside the odd "not natural" comment, the red/blue shift is actually part of the information you want, not a problem! This shift gives you an accurate measure of the relative velocity between you and the pulsar/quasar. The same effect is used in current interplanetary navigation within the solar system. The…

I'm still expecting to see 'and Doug Jones as all the Kaiju' somewhere in this article.

Oh, second guess: Jason Todd.

The most predictable answer: somebody we don't care about, who is already on the fringe and more or less useless. So my guess would be Aquaman (if some recent events have made him interesting and/or relevant, feel free to correct me).

If only. I thought it was going to be about actually *dropping* it, as in eliminating it, but no, it's just another extremely minor science moment.

I wish I had an intelligent way to say LOL. If I did I would do so.

Maybe, and Yes. If it were publicized.

iswydt

Also obsolete: lists of things, especially when written by twenty-something hipsters.

OMG, yes! You actually had to say the words out loud! So embarrassing.

I'd say that Pixar is the company that got audiences used to "not just for kids" animation, not the other way around. But I agree, John Carter won't have any effect on it. I expect it will do better than "Cars 2", and the Aardman/Sony Pirate movie looks dreadful (less competition).

In the link it says that *one* consumer has come down with popcorn lung. But it was interesting ...