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Subscribe to RSSPresident Barack Obama calls NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to congratulate the team behind the Curiosity rover's successful landing – and says he's thinking about getting a Mohawk.
In today's congratulatory phone call to the team behind NASA's Mars Curiosity rover, President Barack Obama made sure that if the mission discovers Martians, he'll be one of the first to know.
"If in fact you do make contact with Martians, please let me know right away," Obama said during the call, which was placed from Air Force One to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "I've got a lot of things on my plate, but I expect that that will go to the top of the list. Even if they're just microbes, it will be pretty exciting."
Obama also said he was impressed by the attention that's been paid to flight director Bobak Ferdowsi, the "Mohawk Guy" whose star-spangled haircut and warmhearted demeanor during Curiosity's Aug. 5 landing won him Internet fame.
"I, in the past, thought about getting a Mohawk myself," Obama joked. "But my team keeps on discouraging me. And now that he's received marriage proposals and thousands of new Twitter followers, I think I'm going to go back to my team and see if it makes sense."
The congratulatory phone call is a tradition for the White House, marking events ranging from sports prowess to his rivals' political achievements. But it was clear that Obama particularly enjoyed congratulating the scientists and engineers behind the amazingly successful landing of NASA's newest Mars probe.
Obama gushed over the technological triumph, which required the successful sequential firing of 79 explosive devices, the unfurling of a monster parachute at supersonic speeds, and the seemingly crazy use of a rocket-powered sky crane that lowered the 1-ton, car-sized rover to the Martian surface.
"Due to your dedicated efforts, Curiosity stuck her landing and captured the attention and imagination of millions of people, not just across our country but people all around the world," he said.
Shout-outs to the team
Obama gave shout-outs to JPL Director Charles Elachi, who took the call in the company of the team at the lab's mission control area; as well as descent team leader Adam Steltzner; mission managers Peter Theisinger and Richard Cook; project scientist John Grotzinger; and John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science.
"You guys should be remarkably proud," the president said. "Really, what makes us best as a species is this curiosity that we have, and this yearning to discover and know more, and push the boundaries of knowledge. You are perfect examples of that, and we couldn't be more grateful to you."
He said the achievement embodied the American spirit, and he gave his "personal commitment to protect these critical investments in science and technology."
"This is the kind of thing that inspires kids across the country," he said. "They’re telling their moms and dads they want to be part of a Mars mission, maybe even the first person to walk on Mars. And that kind of inspiration is the byproduct of work of the sort that you guys have done."
'Well-deserved rest'
Obama noted that many of the Curiosity team's members are getting some "well-deserved rest" after the first week of operations on Mars. The rover is currently being reprogrammed for its two-year science mission — a four-day-long engineering task that is giving scientists a break to think about the work ahead.
Curiosity's $2.5 billion mission focuses on studying billions of years' worth of geology on Mars and determining whether the planet was ever potentially habitable. The mission is not specifically designed to detect life, even on the scale of microbes, but it could point the way for future life-detection experiments.
By then, it just might be possible for Obama to sport the Mohawk he's always wanted. And even if he doesn't go with that hair style, the tone being set by the Curiosity mission — and by today's lighthearted phone call — just might reflect a new style for the space effort.
"It does sound like NASA's come a long way from the white shirt, black dark-rimmed glasses and the pocket protectors, you know?" Obama noted. "You guys are a little cooler than you used to be."
Update for 1:10 p.m. ET: Obama with a Mohawk? A tweeter named Darth has given the president his desired 'do, thanks to image-processing magic. (Tip o' the log to Discovery News' Ian O'Neill.)
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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Obama blamed everyone on this planet for his incompetence, now he'll start blaming the Martians.
And the parade of morons continues.....
Here's your sign, Russ.
Holy Cow... Did the Mental Institute let out early today? I think what we're seeing here is this:
Obama's name is in this article's headline. Period.
The second our toothless citizenry get off their porn sites, they go looking for references to Obama to try their best to besmirch him any way they can. So the Prez makes a call to JPL to tell them good job. Nothing weird or wrong with this. Every president does this. Including brain-dead Dubya called every now and then when he figured out how that new-fangled thingy "the telephone" worked.
Weep for America, Ya'll... Your BS is destroying it.
And the best most of them can do is to make fun of his name. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who refers to the President as "Obummer" or any variation on it, or who refers to the G.O.P. candidate as "R-money," has already demonstrated that he's got nothing, and has lost the argument.
Yes, Anjisan and EarlyOut. Up to this point in the discussion I counted 60% of the comments as being juvenile political hack attacks with no real bearing on the discussion (#s: 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22 23, 24, 25, 28). Maybe if Sally is in charge of the Technology and Science section here she could ban all of these people. Some of us come here to get away from the political name-calling; to just participate in a discussion with other people. The potential for human improvement via free speech and exchange of ideas that the internet could provide is as yet untapped. Too bad too many children are doing their best to keep it that way. Come on kids, the future is yours. Don't throw it away by trying to imitate your parents! Go to the "Politics" section if you want to do name-calling. As of today, I know that you can still find Bigbenalaska there.
By name calling do you mean like anji's comment about "toothless citizenry and their porn sites"? Or earlyouts calling them "morons"?
The citizens of obamination are the most decieved in the history of mankind. The legacy of this president will be "left behind".
And here's your sign.
I don't need a sign, I already know what the bible says and what God is going to do, or what God tells us man is going to do. The Old testament is just a relevant as the New testament. Both talk about the savior Yeshua Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and it warns us about the deciever, it's tactics and the system of the "anti-christ", which Yeshua will tear into pieces when He returns, His word is truth and there is not guile in it. What must come to pass, must come to pass, and what comes after will be better than that which came to pass and is no more. YES! Come quickly Lord Jesus Christ.
OMG! ;o)
Here's your sign with a special cross attached to it. Drink up your Jesus juice, it's dribbling down your chin.
62% ????????
644, It doesn't do any good to argue with idiots. If they can't understand that what was written is happening before our eyes there is no hope for them.
+1. Great post. God Bless.
outer space aliens are our friends. the come in peace.
Unlike the alien that took over the whitehouse and all the aliens he's letting in so they can vote for him and suck up our welfare and S.S.
I'm sorry, but they must have forgotten to tell you, President Obama (Just like in "Independence Day"! Honest!), but the Viking Landers had either "pillaged, plundered, and/or laid waste to them" by the end of 1978.......We're like the 'Andoran' Ambassador on the original Star Trek, talking to (that character played by that jerKKK) Captain Kirk at the reception, said, 'My people are a very war-like people, Captain Kirk' (make evil sounding hissing noise befitting, say, a Stazi Police Chief and Hitler Youth Werewolf telling me that he, "He used to believe in that 'Hitler stuff', but now he believes in the Jeezsss-zuzsssss'".....like that one did, there, back in '05, say....and you get the idea......Not that i'm not SURE you're a Trekkie, I guess i should read your Book, but I'm too busy giving Issa and the KKK HELL!)
I've seen the anti-christ, it's in the wh posing as a president and deceiving many.
Give it a rest Bible thumper. Disguising your hate and bigotry behind a cloak of fanaticism doesn't fool anyone. You're a disgusting lowlife, petty of thought, and bereft of kindness towards other.
I second what Anjisan1963 just said.
However, Anjisan, it is possible that 6448092 really believes what he or she says. In this case, we should turn to the Bible: "Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do".
Sorry for bringing up the biblical reference. It really has no place in the Science and Technology section. My bad.
I'm sorry 644 but the Big Zero isn't the anti-Christ. (He doesn't have the intelligence). I'm not saying he isn't one of his minions though.
Ya know... I'm going to assume you were a big supporter of Bush Jr. during his useless years in the White House. Obama, I don't know... He comes across as soft-spoken and reflects upon the answers he gives. Let's consider some of the more notable things our last President had to say:
I rest my case.
Want to call someone a devil, or one of the devil's minions? Look no further than our last president.
You don't actually think I read that drivel do you?
EXACTLY... Trouble, you and I are on the SAME WAVELENGTH..
You're absolutely right. Almost the entirety of that post was drivel. Complete, absolutely moronic, drivel, spoken by a guy who should have never
stolenwon the presidency...Wow... For a minute there, I was about to think that you weren't too bright.
I assume you mean it was about Obunga. Now I know for sure that I won't read it.
Just quotes from your favorite Prez... Why won't you read them...? You're making me all sad and stuff... What's the deal? Do you only vote the Republicans into office - What they say and do afterwards is not your concern?
I like it...
It's kind of the "Ostrich head-in-the-sand" approach to political thought. Vote the party line - WE'LL take care of the rest.
Meanwhile, Obama is cutting the budgets of US Science, yes NASA included. Obama hates smart people! They don't vote for Liberal Democrats. They don't need welfare because they graduated from high school and college. Obama's objective is to make the US ignorant. Why else has he ignored his own city - Chicago - and its problem with Black high school graduation rates - less than 50%! Obama has done nothing for his own selected city! his home! NOTHING. He lets drugs flow to the schools and lets gangs control the streets in front of the schools. Heck, Obama must be funded by the Democrat Drug Gangs of Chicago.
Wow... Jaime...
Accusing the President of wanting dumb voters is kind of like saying George Bush should have been given the Nobel Prize for Physics... It just doesn't wash here..
When you get right down to it... Who really wants dumber citizens?
Here's an excerpt from the G.O.P. Republican Party's Platform for 2012 from Texas. What does this tell you and other's reading this post?
Frankly, the Christian Evangelicals are attempting to take over the Republican party in many states, and they are attempting to change the party's core values in a way to allow the teaching of Christian-based mathematics and Creationism as a science in our school classrooms.
I don't think Obama is one of those people deliberating trying to keep people dumb, that would be the new Christian Evangelical Republican party.
Hope we're clear on that.
Anjisan1963 -- I hear you loud and clear. Amen! (just kidding).
"Outcome-based Education...which..have the purpose of challenging the student's fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority." Jesus! When I was a kid I was all about undermining parental authority!
For God's sake! Don't kids want to think for themselves anymore? Listen kids, I'll tell you something: When your parents tell you to plan for the future (and stay out of trouble) they're speaking from the heart, and for the most part they are right about that. They don't want you to repeat the mistakes they made in their youth, even if they never admit to you those mistakes that they themselves did make. However, if you feel (deep in your heart) that they are trying to make you not question certain opinions about other people that they hold, or if they want you to deny what you see with your own eyes, you are probably right. The times are changing; it always has been that way. Embrace the future.
Anji, Why shouldn't W. get it? I'm sure it's become a joke just like the 'Peace Prize'.
The trouble with you Trouble is you allow your party to stamp "Republican" on your forehead, and it usually causes people's brains to slip into neutral.
Unlike Demoncrats whose brains (If they ever had any) just 'slipped away'.
"You guys are a little cooler than you used to be."
I know bo don't remember me from wheeler....he was not at all cool...
back in those days, what those guys in the dark rimmed glasses did was so cool that everyone had to know it was not what you looked like, it WAS WHAT YOU DID....sooooo.....nothing about an increase in nasa funds? nothing about an uptick in NASP developments? nothing on the fusion fronts? yea, I know, e=mcc+/-3dbi Greart. At least he called. Man if we don't get a president that knows what science is all about, at least find us a vp or speaker of the house that does.
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I knew liberals believed in 'little green men'. Why couldn't they take Obunga with them? (And leave him there).
NOW that is par coming the POTUS
jThank you NASA,,,I have been a devoted fan for the last 50 years!
Thank you Mr. President for keeping this world from crashing and burning,,,,,you have morals, ethics, intelligence, a calm level-headedness that has earned you the respect of people not only in this country, but all over the world!!!!!
Now, for you ignorant, brain-washed trolls that have the intelligence of a moth,,,,go away,,,you stink up the place,,,so sorry your mother didn't love you, so sorry for any other thing that has made you into the hating, nasty, evil-minded people you have become,,,,,so very sorry, but go peddle it somewhere else,,,,,,USELESS
Thank you Mr. President for keeping this world from crashing and burning,,,,,you have morals, ethics, intelligence, a calm level-headedness that has earned you the respect of people not only in this country, but all over the world!!!!!
That must have been written pre-2009
And he congratulates with one hand and cuts NASA's budget with the other.
He'll get his "Mohawk" in Nov.
Although you can find evidence of life on Mars on the surface, scan or do some digging underground - that is where you will find some real surprises.
If there were Martians there, Obama would borrow money from the Chinese to put them on welfare. May as well start a program of"democracy" right from the start.
I hope if they find Martians they piss gasoline and eat politicians, and they let me pick who they eat. Bingo, Americas problems are solved.
I'm glad to see there are some intelligent people on here this morning.
Shame you're not one of them.
I sure wasn't talking about you Angie.
Like your picture. Did you mommy make that for you?
What a dorky dumb a$$ comment. Yep, that's our so called president at his best!
Is it ironic that Obama killed the space program and then congratulates NASA on a job well done?
congrats to the rover team. Obama needs to worry about earth and let NASA worry about space
I sure as heck don't want Obama worring about anything. Just stay the h@ll out of the way. First rule: Do no harm. Epic fail thus far.
If there are Martians, the President needs to know so that he can figure out a way to tax them.
Doofus in Chief is more like it. His comments demonstrate his dismissal of of a program that has meant more to this country than most realize. This mission alone will lead to developments that will have substantial impact on life and potentially grow the economy.
Sorry Mr. President but your disrespect should be saved for a look in the mirror when you consider the smoke and mirrors that constitutes your "stimulus" strategy. I drive on roads everyday that were part of the shovel in the ground spending that gave jobs to people who are now back on unemployment and what's worse is that those cheap asphalt skins are already falling apart. I drive by wind farms that don't run because the administration didn't have the foresight to also fund infrastructure upgrades to allow power to be carried out of the farm. Oh and some of those turbines aren't turning because he was in such a hurry to give money away that provisions were not put in to prevent the Chinese from dumping poorly engineered devices into these projects. But go on Mr. President mock NASA it puts you in such a good light.
Why does everthing on the internet have to do with political hate from both parties. This post is about Mars and what we may find there. Please leave the president out of this. He suffers enough from having both parents abandon him.. His driving need to prove his worth to dead parents is not part of the Mars exploration narrative.
Mars Rover Team: Mr. President, the rover reports evidence that members of the Tea Party have been on Mars..
Barak Obama: Thanks for the update... but please report when you find signs of intelligent life....
So, you're saying that Mars is a very intelligent planet.
Not exactly, trouble46545 - the goal of the mission is to find intelligent life on Mars.... I think that excludes the Tea Party ;)
So you lied about their being evidence of Tea Party members being there. Typical lib.
trouble46545 I'm not a liberal actually. And not American either. Typical know-it-all teabagger.
NASA did the BEST Job ever. That was real something incredible.
Mr. President they need the BEST Support and now with the
new Orion program, to go to an Asteroid, back to the Moon and Mars, they will
be needing the best support from your administration.
That is why I will vote for you again. You are also the
coolest President ever.
You are sick.