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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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Earth Is The True Planet Of War, Not Mars (Curiosity Rover)
I betting you wish you were on mars away from all humanity....
Did you not know that anyone put into isolation goes mad in very short time as by human nature we are ALL social creatures?
Curiosity ROCKS!
Trust me Mr. President, there will be worms.
Great big giant Martian sand worms.
...and they'll taste like CHICKEN!
bigbenalaska banned, re-reg of banned user Craig-3575264.
Hominy grits
@ Sally - Who else here is "born again" like Big Ben?
I have been a moderator before, that's outta line sally.
I banned him/her ("ignoring author") weeks ago. Well done Sally.
Have you banned that bigot, I send you an email with his malicious post he wrote recently?
If your goal is to turn this site into a town hall meeting place for a good sound debate, you must get rid of these pests and bigots.
NASA deserves far more government support than it is getting now ....
Thanks Alan ....
Yes, NASA deserves more government support. I get so upset when I hear so often about how much this NASA program costs and how much that ones costs and how we should spent the money on people here on earth. Investment in NASA and science in general improves life on earth for everyone. Not every dollar spent in science does this but overall this is true. Spending in science also increases our understanding of the universe and that alone is a worthwhile endeavor.
Now lets put this in perspective. The budget for all of NASA in 2012 is about 17 billion dollars, yep that is a lot of money. The US government spending on Welfare and other government assistance programs not counting Social Security is about 900 Billion dollars, now we are talking real money. All of this money while it helps people out temporarily does nothing to build or to improve the future. It is just used up each year. If we were to take all of NASA's budget and give it to these welfare programs it would accomplish almost nothing since it is only 1.8 percent of the welfare budget.
Most people would agree that at least 8 percent of government money ends up being wasted. That means at least 72 billion of the welfare and assistance money is wasted. Now compare that waste to NASA's whole budget of 17 billion.
OK, now tell me that NASA money should be turned over to programs to help the poor and needy.
Yea, thanks for all the kind words, Mr President; now how about some real money?
Ben, Looks like sally is just another delusional lib.
As soon as congress starts acting like a governmental body instead of 435 kids, there will probably be enough money to support a space program.
I don't know trouble46545... Calling out the Technology & Science Moderator and calling her names seems like an unsound proposition. Almost like you're asking for... Ah... That's where your name comes from...
Actually I had no idea who she was. Since I still saw Ben's name on here I figured it was someone being smart. (I haven't been living on here forever like some of you). I actually have a life. BTW I hope you know that 1963 was the year this country began the downward spiral.
That dumbass probably thinks there actually are martians there.
I can hear Bushy now, "if you find Martians, let me know and we'll go to war with them for 911.
And you probably think there are talking serpents that tempt you every time you pass the apples in the grocery store.
The only thing you know about me is that I'm smart enough to realize how utterly incompetent our President is.
Why don't you shut up stupid?
jnap, way to show your intelligence.
Will he ask they be put on the voting rolls as registered Dems?
Why not? As long as they have valid photo ID, of course... gotta watch out for that Martian voter fraud, you know!
The Dems will violently oppose any requirement that Martians must have photo ID. They will protest in the streets, they will occupy Wall Street, they will be "down with the struggle" for Martian equality , including the right to marry Earthlings or other Martians!.
The Bible says marriage is only between a Martian and a Venusian! Everybody knows that!
M.O. doesn't want picture I.D. (At least not for Demoncrats).
and we thought Curiosity was about space exploration. Trust me.. if there are Martians obama will hold a fund raiser there.
Right after Newt's Moon-colony fundraiser?
Would he do better with the red planet, than the red states...?
(Besides, It's safe to say the money would be considered from foreign sources, and could not be accepted...)
Proudamericanveteran, In this up coming "Chicago Style" election you better believe there will be absentee ballots from Martians voting Obama not once but twice :) !!
thanks alan ...and way cool Mr. pres. im glad we are looking in the same direction for once .
Martians? Really? WOW!!!
and Obama would send them absentee ballots, SNAP cards(food stamps), unemployment paperwork , welfare forms and citizenship waivers.
It's such a disappointment you had to go and say something like this. Especially when your earlier post was so reasonable.
LMFAO awesome post todd, had the same thought when I first read the headline
You guys collapsed Todd The Navy Vet's comment, seriously? That's the problem here. If anyone from team Romney would have made the " if you see any Martians " comment every Liberal Obama opologist peanut gallery member would have stormed out of the woodwork and ripped Mitt to shreds!
Americans would be wiser to watch out for Obama and his spendrift ways. He is putting America on the road to ruin and following the footsteps of Greece.....
You obviously are confusing Obama with Reagan and Bush.
Ooops, sorry Mr. President, my mistake, most of the worms are posting on this thread.
Todd the Navy vet...What about all the billions sunk into the bailouts? Seems some of that should have gone to the poor and needy instead of the banking and automotive thives. Plus, it increased the national debt by trillions of dollars. Trillions versus billions is reduculous!
Ask Obama if doing any WORK to help our country is on his plate, or is he still campaigning like he has been for the last 3 1/2 years.
I'm surprised he hasn't hit one of their flying saucers yet with Air Force One on its way to Hollywood for another fundraiser..
c.mom dude's tune in to science and not cartoon's ...weekend's over.
Obama the dilettante tries to be funny, and it comes off as pathetically stupid.
Wow. The venom that people spew on these comment sites makes me sick. Why can't we just take a step back and congratule the NASA engineers for a job well-done without turning it into a political war?
As Americans (hell, as humans even) we should be proud of this technological acheivement. Save your political viewpoints for the campaign threads!
cheer's kent
I'm with you, Kent.
I agree; a fabulous accomplishment by some of the smartest people around. Can't wait to see the science and photography Curiosity returns.
Obama is interested in the possibility of Martians because he has already been to all 57 states and wants to have some fund raising dinners with an opportunity for you ,cherished donor, to meet them (as you will have to meet Sarah Jessica Parker... who may be a Martian herself) for only $32000 a plate.
IF they found Martians, what would Obama do: apologize for Amercia being once great? What a jerk
Don't forget to tell the Martians about our SNAP program and friendly policies for illegal and extra-terestrial aliens.
Listen, While I suspect that few people on this message board invest in the stock market it has doubled since March 2, 2009; three months after Obama Obama took office the rise started and the DOW is now over 13,000.
Vote however you like but I vote with my wallet and a doubling of the stock market is good for all Americans, even if you don't have mutual funds or stocks. The reason is simple: pension funds depend on the market to get returns that allow the Average American to retire.
Vote for your pension and your wallet, vote Obama/Biden.
As for Curiosity, Congratulations NASA and thank you.
My friend, you don't understand economics. The market fell because of Barney Frank's Fredie / Fanny fiasco. And rose when a stimulus package was passed - practically all of which was wasted.
Obama hates America's accomplishments and considers NASA and defense spending a complete waste of money. He actually take joy in doing everything possible to humiliate America.
Yeah... I'm sure that's what he doing. He was probably a kid, 10 years old, using crayons in his coloring books, when he looked up and said, "Someday, when I'm older... I'm going to be the first black president, and I'm going to spend all my time doing everything possible to humiliate America, because that'd be some daft, fun S%$#!!!"
So, Karl... The reason you left school after Third Grade is because: (A) you knocked your sister up; (B) you didn't need anymore of that book learning stuff; or (C) you turned 18 and the school thought it best that you leave?
Anji, I'm sure you answered; (D) "All of the above".
Hey trouble, get your own jokes and stop piggybacking on mine. C'mon, I know you have a sense of humor... The sounds of your parent's snickering and pointing at you whenever you came near them should have given you quite the funny bone.
The only bone your parents gave you was the one tied around your neck so the dog would play with you.
he also asked them to be on the look out for his birth certificate.
The 'little green men' took it and his college transcripts.
Wow. A spectacular achievement for science, a President with a sense of humor about it (Carl Sagan once said that they put a camera on one of the earliest Mars landers, "just in case a silicon-based giraffe walks by"), and what do we get in the comments? A veritable tsunami of stupid.
Am i the only one who thinks we should be doing a hell of a lot more with mars than simply looking for dead microbes?
Casinos?
Aside from the fact that finding evidence of existing or eve extinct life anywhere other than Earth is one of the most profound, unanswered questions...you really need to give us your idea of what constitutes 'a hell of a lot more...'
(But if it involves humans to Mars, the requirement is simple. Money. Not the half-trillion figures you hear thrown around, but lots more of it than MSL/Curiosity cost. Then tell us what you want them to do once there. That will also affect the bottom line. But every bit of information that every lander and rover gives us before that, can only make those questions easier to answer, don't you think? Or do you believe that Ranger, Surveyor and Lunar Orbiter did not exist, and Apollo went in blind...?)