Curiosity Surface Operations

[djellison]

A this moment, it's 8.43am LST for Curiosity, today includes more HGA work, and unstowing the camera mast to take a crude panorama in B&W

imagery should be down, on the ground, and on the web in about 10-12 hours.

[ToSeek]

So when will the next pictures come down?

First two batches of images have come down midnightish my (EDT) time. Don't know if that's typical or not.

[Eadfrith]

So, hopefully the next batch of images should show that the mast had deplyed

PICTURES!! http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multime...UT_04096M_&s=2

Looks like it deployed

[BetaDust]

Mast Deployed!!

Link to Image.

--Dennis

[Cylinder]

I guess they're saving the bulk of the full-size deck imaging for the press conference.

Wah!

ETA: At least we have a decent image of the robotic arm.

Woot! Woot!

[ToSeek]

I guess they're saving the bulk of the full-size deck imaging for the press conference.

Wah!

ETA: At least we have a decent image of the robotic arm.

Woot! Woot!

Raw images are available now:

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=2

And of course some UMSF denizen has already stitched them together:

http://www.nivnac.co.uk/mer/index.php/msl0002

[Squink]

And of course some UMSF denizen has already stitched them together:

http://www.nivnac.co.uk/mer/index.php/msl0002

Boy those hills look erosional, almost Earthly!

[Cylinder]

Raw images are available now:

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=2

Yea, I was wanting the full size deck images like the first part of the NRA images. I'm guessing they'll premiere at the noon (CDT) press conference.

[ToSeek]

A better job than mine of putting the landing site in context:

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/i...=post&id=27384

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/i...5&#entry187705

(Scroll up just a little to get to the post with the image.)

[Rhaedas]

A better job than mine of putting the landing site in context:

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/i...=post&id=27384

That's a great job. You can easily see how each piece, from the heat shield to the rest, made it to their landing spot, and it *was* pretty much straight down, relatively speaking.

[djellison]

A better job than mine of putting the landing site in context:

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/i...=post&id=27384

It really is bad form to link straight to the image itself. It would be more fair ( to whomever spent the time to make it ) to link to the post that includes it. This way, you also get to see the info regarding source imagery etc etc. http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/i...dpost&p=187705

[ToSeek]

It really is bad form to link straight to the image itself. It would be more fair ( to whomever spent the time to make it ) to link to the post that includes it. This way, you also get to see the info regarding source imagery etc etc. http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/i...dpost&p=187705

Good point. My bad.

[djellison]

Thanks. Not trying to get UMSF a plug - just want Astro0 to get the credit

[mutleyeng]

is there anything which has the Mnt sharp destination marked?
It be really cool to try and guess a route it might take to get there.

ETA. I was sure I had seen a graphic of targets of interest to the science team. Scott has been good enough to answer my whining question and he thinks there is no particular consensus a target area just yet, but he thinks generally be north/northeast vicinity of Mnt Sharp

[ToSeek]

8/8 press conference:

Jennifer Trosper - MSL Mission Manager
Justin Maki - HazCam, NavCam lead
John Grotzinger - Principal Scientist
Michael Malin - Camera Lead
Don Hassler

Trosper: Sol 2 executed flawlessly. Hi-gain session worked. All antennas and links work perfectly. Lots of data capacity now. Remote Sensing Mast (RSM) now deployed. Cleared the REMS anomaly. As expected, was related to REMS parameters. REMS is weather instrument, is healthy. Will be operating on Sol 4. Power from RTG better than expected (115 watts vs. 105). It's a little warmer than expected, not sure why.

Planning Sol 3 right now. MastCam 360 color panorama. Getting ready for flight software transition from R.9 FSW to R.10 FSW. Uplink morning of Sol 3, do transition from Sol 5 to Sol 9. Going to characterize high-gain antenna occlusions.

Showing photo with shadow of RSM indicating that it's deployed. Updated azimuth by about a degree based on sun angle.

[ToSeek]

Maki: Shadow image is first NavCam image. Shadow is right in center, just as expected. Blocky logo is tag for smartphones, will take you to relevant website.

Dust isn't too bad. NavCams 45x45 degree field of view. Used for navigation, science instrument planning. Same design as for MERs.

Showing 360-degree panorama built from thumbnails. Full-resolution versions coming down next day or two.

Deck pan, Curiosity self-portrait.

First two full-frame images. 2x1 mosaic. Can see scour marks from descent engines in foreground. View to the north.

Declare NavCams commissioned and ready for use.

[ToSeek]

Grotzinger - Lowest part of rim visible to north. Might think NASA's fooling you, actually in Mojave Desert. First impression is how Earthlike it seems. Looking in same direction as alluvial fan. All materials you see derived from erosion off the mountains in background.

Middle ground: dark-looking features are scarps, 2-3 meters in height. Looking toward high-thermal-inertia area. Low-sloped depression closer and to right, not sure what it is.

Thruster impingement areas - got some free trenching. "Get a freebie right off the bat." Exposed bedrock just beneath the soil. Harder, rockier material beneath veneer of gravel. Already got an exploration hole dug for us.

[ToSeek]

Malin - About to show before-and-after images of landing area from MRO context imager. Image about 40 km x 300 km or so.

Six spots on the image - craters for 25 kg ballast chunks. 12 km downrange from Curiosity. Another test of all the EDL modeling.

Showing first part of MARDI thumbnail movie again.

Showing full resolution of first image.

Showing full resolution of final image. 70 cm from ground. 5 cm pebble visible, one of the largest pebbles. Some color differences visible but he thinks they're not real. Got 100's of this image, so combining them for super-resolution image.

Showing image about 200x150 meters, close to landing alternating from MARDI and HiRISE.

[ToSeek]

Hassler - First report on radiation environment on another planet.

Radiation Assessment Detector. Points toward the zenith (looks a bit like a bicycle reflector).

Showing slide of "pretty much raw data" of 3.5 hours of observation with 1 minute resolution. Mast not deployed yet so obscuring instrument, no corrections for RTG, detectors, so just arbitrary units until calibrated.

Record spectra from 26 different charged particles.

[ToSeek]

Nature - Some sort of lineament in the trench dug out by thrusters?

Entirely reasonable suggestion. Want to wait for MastCam data to confirm that there are fractures with some cementing material.

France - Temperature higher? Is that a concern? Radiation?

No concerns about temperature being a little higher, normally need to update models. Woke up several times overnight to get temperature points. Might potentially have to shorten operation times, but on the whole higher temperatures are better.

All temperatures are within operating range.

Radiation not a concern.

New York Times - Is that floor of crater or later bedrock?

Would be pretty high up to be floor of crater, "rock" formed some time after formation of crater. (Rock in quote because we don't know how hard it is yet.)

Emily Lakdawalla/TPS - Rock is excavated pretty deep, soil pretty disturbed. Drive to undisturbed soil before sampling?

Great question - at core of team discussion right now. Don't have to drive anywhere. Have done a lot of studies that hydrazine, etc., no longer an issue after a sol or two, even for the sensitive SAM instrument.

NASA Watch - What are you going to do if you see someone clearly anomalous? Are images screened before being put online?

Policy right now is to release images. Not really worried too much about what folks beyond the team might interpret the images to be. Team would take time with it no matter how much excitement.

Leo Enright/Irish TV - What will data set look like? What would it be like for human being on surface?

There are models, but are complex - air and surface affect. RAD more than a dosimeter, will provide radiation spectra. Feed back into design of shielding for astronauts.

USA Today/Florida Today - What is scientific potential for site?

Incredibly high. Suggests a remarkable range of diversity. Have DAN instrument that can reach down 50 cm and detect hydrogen. Exposed bits look like bedrock, not ice. Get an immediate calibration point for depth of soil. Lots of ways to use diverse payload to address issues.

[ToSeek]

Reuters - What sort of Earth conditions produce this landscape?

That would take a long time. Comparison: Spirit lot like Vikings, Opportunity very different. Is NASA fooling us? Blueberries - nobody could make that up! Deeply dissected pyramidal mountain ranges. Looking at a place that feels really comfortable. Going to be interesting to find out what's different.

Sky & Telescope - Can we get landing timing? And other events?

Trosper's looking it up. 2012:219:05:17:57 UTC.

?? - Ballast too far away to check out impact craters?

Hoped that they'd come down close to landing: inert material. Not that far away as crow flies but on other side of dune field, but on part of mountain that has mass flows but that obscures stratigraphy. Would have to do enormous U-turn to get around dune field, don't think it's practical.

Mexico - Phoenix had software to watch meteorological conditions. Will Curiosity?

REMS will do weather. RAD space weather. Data only comes down once a day.

Marc Kaufman/Washington Post/National Geographic - What are actual colors?

Difficult to do photometry in shadowed area. Any color information suspect. More interested in morphology. Makes color same way as cellphone camera does. Put into RGB, then made into JPEG, which uses different color analysis than RGB. Will get better data from MastCam with appropriate science filters.

[ToSeek]

Japan TV - Average level of radiation during cruise? Impact on manned flight?

Still separating out background from RTG, etc. A few tenths of a Sievert dosage-equivalent.

Elisha Cheng - Can arm touch scour marks? Plan to stay in place in short-term or stay in place?

Probably have to move.

It's wide open right now. Commissioning activity in what we call intermission allowed to drive or not. Stay in place, a few meters, tens of meters. Rover is healthy, so no constraints.

[R.A.F.]

Showing image about 200x150 meters, close to landing alternating from MARDI and HiRISE.

That was an incredible comparison...

[R.A.F.]

NASA Watch - What are you going to do if you see someone clearly anomalous? Are images screened before being put online?

Policy right now is to release images. Not really worried too much about what folks beyond the team might interpret the images to be. Team would take time with it no matter how much excitement.

Ah, I see...NASA watch....that explains everything.

[ToSeek]

is there anything which has the Mnt sharp destination marked?
It be really cool to try and guess a route it might take to get there.

ETA. I was sure I had seen a graphic of targets of interest to the science team. Scott has been good enough to answer my whining question and he thinks there is no particular consensus a target area just yet, but he thinks generally be north/northeast vicinity of Mnt Sharp

They've said a few times that they want to go around the dark dune field, which would pretty much require them to go 8 km or so to the northeast.

[ToSeek]

Early MARDI image in high resolution:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia16021.html

Before-and-after wide view:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia16014.html

Before-and-after, ballast close-up:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia16015.html

Extreme closeup of landing site:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia16019.html

Pebbles under the rover:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia16018.html

First NavCam image:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia16010.html

NavCam view to the north:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia16013.html

Self-portrait:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia16012.html

Thumbnail panorama:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia16011.html

[Don Alexander]

Thanks a lot, ToSeek. I managed to sleep through the press conference. :<

And then I found out that for some reason, the DVR function of NASA TV only jumped back exactly 30 minutes. By the time I gave up trying to get farther back, I had missed another 10 minutes, so I only got the end of the Q&A...

[Glom]

Before-and-after, ballast close-up:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia16015.html

Someone has made a bloody mess.

[R.A.F.]

Thanks a lot, ToSeek. I managed to sleep through the press conference. :<

And then I found out that for some reason, the DVR function of NASA TV only jumped back exactly 30 minutes. By the time I gave up trying to get farther back, I had missed another 10 minutes, so I only got the end of the Q&A...

The do have replays....that's how I watched yesterdays update, today.

[ToSeek]

Someone has made a bloody mess.

Yeah, it's not enough that we're trashing this planet, we've got to go off and spread our junk all over another one.