Established Member
Very nice. Thank you.Originally Posted by ToSeek
For the extended mission, are there any plans to travel to the other side of Gale; Either by going over or around the base of Mount Sharp? I ask because in pictures of Gale, there appears to be a very large channel, that looks like it was carved by flowing water, at the edge of the crater wall.
Established Member
from what i can make out, the actual first ports of call on Mount Sharp are still being discussed and evaluated by the science team.
They have plenty of time to mull it over i guess
Order of Kilopi
Member
The computer update should be done by now.
Order of Kilopi
Actually - it was a 4 day upgrade starting on sol 5. It's only sol 8 (3am at time of posting) right now.
Vulcan Administrator
Anotherpress conferencemedia teleconference scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) at the usual time: 10 am PDT, 1 pm EDT, 1700 UTC:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cf...&msource=12241
Only streaming link given is audio!?
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Order of Kilopi
From what I just gathered from Gareth Collins' PhD thesis, the central mountain of Gale Crater is largely composed of lower-crustal material being thrust upward as part of the impact. But doesn't that imply that the entire mountain was essentially "liquified" in the intense heat and pressure of the impact? Wouldn't that, in a sense, "sterilize" any sample drawn from the mountain?
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
Member
Images seem to be disappearing from the RAW page, im sure there was a high res one of the wheels, now its just a thumbnail???They arent making there way online like the MER images did.
Order of Kilopi
That raw image page is a total mess.
It's always worth double-checking. Take the image URL
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-ima...000I1_DXXX.jpg and just try swapping the I for an E
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-ima...000E1_DXXX.jpg
And boom - full image.
There's a couple of images that are just not updated on the page, but are updated as images. I don't know what's going on.
D
Established Member
From what I just gathered from Gareth Collins' PhD thesis, the central mountain of Gale Crater is largely composed of lower-crustal material being thrust upward as part of the impact. But doesn't that imply that the entire mountain was essentially "liquified" in the intense heat and pressure of the impact? Wouldn't that, in a sense, "sterilize" any sample drawn from the mountain?
well the impact was thought to be 3.5 billion years ago. Sinse then it filled with water and consequently they expect to find a geological column of rock deposits which has been laid down, and the mount allows access to the different layers
Order of Kilopi
Those layers would be deposited around the mount, not somehow replacing its material.
The upward thrust doesn't mean it was liquefied, rock under high pressure will flow while retaining its solid structure. Mount Sharp is a large mass of sedimentary material that was pushed inward and upward as the crater walls settled inward and downward following the impact event. This and subsequent erosion exposed old sedimentary layers that they want to look at.
Member
hmm according to this youtube video they have been transmitting images through the computer update.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyodK...eature=g-all-u so i dont know whats happening lol
Vulcan Administrator
Participants
Michael Watkins
MSL mission manager, JPL
Alfred McEwen
Principal investigator, High Resolution Image Science Experiment (HiRISE) , Univ. of Arizona, Tucson
Ashwin Vasavada
MSL deputy project scientist, JPL
Jim Donaldson
MSL avionics chief engineer, JPL
Watkins:
FSW transition completed without a hitch. Go to continue checkout activities for Sol 9. On prime computer on new software.
Today: next level of instrument checkouts, APXS. Short integrations, not real science. Use DAN instrument for first time. Not going to generate neutrons, just listen. Downlink rest of MARDI data. [Audio sometimes drops out for me, so may miss something.]
First day that uplink team has to build day's command set from scratch - all previous days were mostly uploaded ahead of time.
Continued to get down science images. [Just haven't bothered to share them on the raw images page.]
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Vulcan Administrator
McEwen:
New image of landing site from HiRISE, less oblique than first post-landing attempt.
[Images available at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/telecon/ ]
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Vulcan Administrator
McEwen continued:
Curiosity visible at center of dust pattern. Area to northeast shows more bedrock, less covered with Mars dust. Rougher areas tend to be redder because reflect more sky.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Vulcan Administrator
Vasavada:
Couldn't be happier with success of mission so far. In a week we've done a lot. First panorama using focusing cameras. First movie. First radiation measurements. First ground images of ancient river channel. Fully healthy rover and payload.
First image: oblique view with landing point in foreground.
Second image: low-gain, high-gain antennas, spot dug out by thrusters, rim of crater in distance. Slight haze, expected dust in atmosphere. Going to get dustier not less in near future.
Third image: Color-corrected for Earth illumination. Looking southeast. Dark dune fields, first on left 1.5 miles away, second 2.5 miles away. Mesas in distance about 5 miles away.
First weather readings this week, first ChemCAM. After that about halfway down our checklist for commissioning. Everybody "itching to move" at this point. Evaluating routes to take us to Mount Sharp, maybe with some detours to examine closer interesting stuff. Expect it to take most of a year to get to primary targets.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Vulcan Administrator
Donaldson:
What is avionics? MSL: Power, pyro, motor control, C&DH (command and data handling), FSW. Rather dry discussion of how the pieces are broken down by subsystem that I'm not going to try to keep up with.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Vulcan Administrator
Questions:
Boyle/MSNBC: What additional imagery in the next few days? Color panorama doesn't include Mt. Sharp.
Not Sol 9, but in next day or two. High priority for team to get MastCam images of Mt. Sharp. Didn't get it initially because panorama was pre-programmed, and we didn't know orientation of rover.
USA Today: Weather instrument report imminent or later? What sort of discussions go into path to Mt. Sharp?
24-hour measurements from REMS for today. Meteorologists really excited about Gale crater, lots of winds swirling around. Going to take a while to figure it all out.
Team has been mapping landing ellipse in detail. Notice interesting features in landing ellipse. Even more diversity in "spectacular" HiRISE images. Can't do it all, going to have to choose.
Rover drivers working closely with science team to establish ground truth: what's dunes, what's rock, what are good waypoints. Test steering actuators on Sol 13, short drive (couple meters) Sol 15. About a week from now.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Vulcan Administrator
Harwood/CBS News: When characterization phase over? What will you do in the upcoming year to get to Mount Sharp?
1A (done) - 1B - 2. Use everything except arm and sampling in a week. Check out all arm joints. A month away to characterize sampling system.
Goal will be to do minimum necessary to characterize area where we've landed. Part of understanding Mount Sharp is understanding context, including plains around it. Anytime we do that means a few weeks. Month or two to do samples, then driving. Estimate we can drive a football field a day. At least 100 days of driving alone to get to Mount Sharp.
Florida Today: How far in miles from sedimentary strata?
8 km as the crow flies, have to add for rover drives.
How many kilometers might be added to go around things?
Hopefully not much. Rover very capable, terrain not that bad. But gets tougher closer to Mount Sharp.
What would images look like if I were looking with my own eyes?
Much blander, all covered with dust.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Vulcan Administrator
Spaceflight Magazine: How driveable is the rover through the dunes? Is middle area in image driveable? Will you be able to find a route around the mesas?
Rover drivers have always found a pretty good path without looking that hard. Just need a small pathway through. Can handle up to 20-degree slope, rocks a meter high. Try not to do that, though.
Did a lot of work looking for traverse paths. Will be the "most spectacular terrain" you've seen from the surface of Mars.
Flatter region between dunes traversable?
Not sure about that area because we don't be going there, but we do have areas we know we can do. Made sure we could get from any point on the ellipse to science target, and that we could navigate target area.
Space.com: How far up do you want to go on Mount Sharp?
Just have to get a few hundred meters up the mound to get through the clay- and sulfate-bearing image. Really just the top of the NavCam image. Don't need to go any higher. Seeing the science mission in front of you, just not where we're doing it - actual target a bit to the right.
?? - When move?
First going to turn wheels in place, Sol 13. First short drive, Sol 15: drive, turn, back up.
Where will Curiosity go first?
Head southwest, then cross dune field.
Update how high: few hundred feet elevation, could require a few km elevation.
Proposed traverse: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA15685
NHK: What does blue in the third image signify?
Typical basalts.
Planetary Society: What is "dream mode"?
Rover is asleep, but FPGA can still monitor health. The "reptile brain" of the rover, still monitors even if computers are inactive. Do stuff with computers off because it saves energy.
MSNBC: Followup about images being blander
If you just took a picture, everything would look reddish.
Will be seeing balanced, corrected photos?
Will see two versions, one as is, one as if on Earth.
CBS: When complete MARDI movie available?
Probably a couple of weeks. Going through process of increasing data rate via MRO.
TPS: When view top of mountain?
Just a couple of sols from now. Planning it right now.
Polygonal area - is that high thermal inertia area? Can we drive away without looking at that?
"That's exactly what we're talking about!" We're "tantalizingly close", but it's in wrong direction from Mount Sharp.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
Order of Kilopi
Ah, I took the fluidity of Collins' model too far. Extremely interesting this study of impact craters. Collins theorizes (or identifies) that larger impacts result in craters with central rings of small hills rather than a central mountain....
Judging from the depth of a 10-year-old thesis on the subject (and long range reconnaissance), they apparently have a very good idea where they want to go.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
Member
This is so cool. To think that we've evolved from a single celled organism to a species that is capable of manipulating electrons to a point where we can send mechanical robots millions of miles through space and safely land them on another planet so that they can explore and run tests. It's mind-boggling when you really think about it and it's accomplishments like this that make me proud to be human.
Order of Kilopi
Brain transplant is done, now they're testing systems to get ready to drive.
STARGAZING: All I see are the lights of a billion places I'll never go. --Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary
Order of Kilopi
Cue the conspiracy theorists in 3...2...1...Images seem to be disappearing from the RAW page, im sure there was a high res one of the wheels, now its just a thumbnail???
Actually, I suppose they're already at it. I just haven't been looking! Remember the "interesting" discussions on BABB when the MER's first landed?
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt.
Established Member
Images seem to be disappearing from the RAW page, im sure there was a high res one of the wheels, now its just a thumbnail???Looks like they're trying to format the raw page so there's a category page and a timeline page, so it's easier to find the type of pictures you want. I notice that they still have a few inconsistencies, like having links like Sol 0, but then Sol 003. I'm sure some web designer is working hard right now to get the polished version up and running. I like the idea though, vs just scrolling through a mess of thumbnails of everything.
Established Member
I have a question regarding this image:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia16057.html
So I understand that it's color enhanced, etc... but if you look due east of Curiosity's position.... almost at the center of the image itself... wha's that pinpoint black feature? Looks to be perhaps at teh crest of a smallish dune or something? Stands out very clearly...but not relfective.. black. big rock?
Thanks
Established Member
its a crater shadow.
Insert awesome title here
Looks more like a mound. The Sun is from the West, right?
Established Member
This is a very good explanation of whats going on - its not an impact formed peak at all
http://youtu.be/_k16u4HnbRk?t=38m51s
ETA -
they edited the vid so now the relevant part of convo starts here
http://youtu.be/_k16u4HnbRk?t=33m43s
Last edited by mutleyeng; 2012-Aug-16 at 10:44 PM.
Administrator
That was brilliant. Great explanation (thanks Emily)
Member
Were the right mastcam 100mm images of the sundial supposed to be in focus?
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-ima...000E1_DXXX.jpg
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