MER search for dust devils - hoping for a rover's eye view...

djellison · 2004-12-24 05:19:21

The #1 clincher for me is the corners of the solar arrays. Comapre the vivid red and black features on Opportunity - and then the, essentially, butterscotch tinted versions there-of on Spirit. Yeah - maybe different lighting conditions, but lighting doesnt shift contrast and colour that much

Doug

rgcarnes · 2004-12-24 11:22:13

Doug,

The last sentence of your last post is not true. Lighting conditions are very critical and non-linear as one approaches the ideal configuration for viewing surface contamination. A simple experiment will confirm this.

Take a piece of clean window glass and look at it's surface in a dark room with the aid of a moderately collimated light source (a slide projector or microscope illuminator works well) such that the specular reflection from the surface hits your forehead, but not your eye, and you will be able to see the tiniest surface contamination or imperfections with high contrast. With a clean piece of glass, a slight increase in angle between your eye and the reflected beam will cause the surface flaws/contamination to disappear.

I commend your work, you've done a lot of it with these images, but don't take appearances of the two landers' solar cells too far. The fact that the metallic surfaces on Spirit do not show a great deal of dust still raises questions in my mind.

djellison · 2004-12-24 12:08:09

No - I meant the change in lighting between the two scenes. It's really not THAT different - and there are huge differences in the appearance of the solar cells between them - differences that go WAY beyond that of the lighting conditions

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns? … ?id=dn6824

"....Erickson estimates that the cleaning accounts for about 15% of the difference between Spirit's and Opportunity's power output. Most of the remaining disparity is due to the difference in sunshine in their two locations."

Doug

Shaun Barrett · 2004-12-24 20:38:36

This is a wonderful site!!
I think it's great to have so many talented and well-informed people from all over the world engaged in intelligent discussions like this one.
It's a privilege to be able to be a small part of it and I just thought I'd thank you all and wish you a fabulous Festive Season!

[Hi Rex! Interesting comments from you, as always. My thoughts on the lighting in the photos are similar to your own, I think, though your explanations are more detailed and therefore better than mine. It's always gratifying to think one isn't entirely alone in one's opinion about something, too. So thank you for that!
:up: ]

djellison · 2004-12-25 05:50:49

Happy Christmas Everyone...

Doug

Shaun Barrett · 2004-12-25 06:34:17

Very nice picture - so sharp! :up:

There was something about the scene which looked vaguely familiar but I couldn't quite place it. Then I remembered.
It looks a little like the debris field of the Titanic on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean! The search camera cruised across a level plain of rippled mud that looked very much like this, before pieces of debris from the ill-fated vessel slowly came into view.

I can easily imagine Meridiani under several metres of sea-water, the sun filtering through the water and shimmering on the sandy bottom. I wonder if it was ever like that?
???

SpaceNut · 2005-01-07 06:16:53

Mars Orbiter Sees Rover Tracks But that was not all that was spied.
Spirit Spies a Dust Devil

Palomar · 2005-01-07 09:48:42

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20 … tml]Spirit Spies a Dust Devil

*Wow, I am vastly disappointed with Discovery News' reporting on this. First off, it's not a dust devil which Spirit has captured a photo of -- it's a dust devil track. Which is great, etc., yes -- but the article's title is misleading.

There's a difference between an actual dust devil versus a track. :-\

Second of all, this comment in the caption:

It's the first such track found on the surface of Mars.

Say what?? Are they unaware of MOC? It's the first such track found by Spirit on the surface of Mars, but not the first ever. :-\ Gee whiz.

Guess the folks running the Discovery Channel had best continue to focus on potty-mouthed motorcycle mechanics shoving each other and tossing tools around in frustration...because they can't get *science* right anymore.

And the dumbing down of America continues...

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2005-01-09 01:22:31

Very poor journalism. :down:

SpaceNut · 2005-03-09 12:29:16

While it might not be from mars but the study is still worth the effort in the knowledge gained for structure creation.

NASA Simulates Small Martian 'Dust Devils' and Wind in Vacuum Tower

To expand knowledge of dust devils and the red planet's feisty winds, NASA is simulating both of them in a laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center, located in California's Silicon Valley. Scientists are interested in Mars' dust devils because they produce particle motion that may well change Mars' landscape by moving material and causing erosion.
The laboratory has two pieces of equipment that scientists use to study how winds and dust devils may affect the red planet's landscape and environment. 'The Mars Surface Wind Tunnel' simulates normal martian winds, and the 'Vortex Generator' simulates dust devils.

Vortex generator inside vacuum chamber using dry ice.

Palomar · 2005-03-09 12:38:53

*Excellent.

(Now if only Oppy or Spirit would snap us an upclose photo of a real dust devil!)

--Cindy

alan · 2005-03-10 21:37:53

*Excellent.
(Now if only Oppy or Spirit would snap us an upclose photo of a real dust devil!)
--Cindy

You mean like this
http://mer.rlproject.com/index.php?show … wtopic=762

Palomar · 2005-03-11 05:12:45

*Excellent.
(Now if only Oppy or Spirit would snap us an upclose photo of a real dust devil!)
--Cindy
You mean like this
http://mer.rlproject.com/index.php?show … wtopic=762

*Thanks Alan! The first post won't show the pic, but "Sunspot's" post of 12:20 a.m. does there at Doug's web site.

Made my day. And I won't say "Well, finally!" Whoops...just did. *g*

--Cindy

REB · 2005-03-11 07:40:20

http://www.habitablezone.com/nexus/inde … space]They are also talking about it here

Looks like one cleaned Spirit's solar Panels.

Rxke · 2005-03-13 03:22:37

Gotcha!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7119148/#050311a]MSNBC

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#26 2004-12-24 05:19:21

Re: MER search for dust devils - hoping for a rover's eye view...

#27 2004-12-24 11:22:13

Re: MER search for dust devils - hoping for a rover's eye view...

#28 2004-12-24 12:08:09

Re: MER search for dust devils - hoping for a rover's eye view...

#29 2004-12-24 20:38:36

Re: MER search for dust devils - hoping for a rover's eye view...

#30 2004-12-25 05:50:49

Re: MER search for dust devils - hoping for a rover's eye view...

#31 2004-12-25 06:34:17

Re: MER search for dust devils - hoping for a rover's eye view...

#32 2005-01-07 06:16:53

Re: MER search for dust devils - hoping for a rover's eye view...

#33 2005-01-07 09:48:42

Re: MER search for dust devils - hoping for a rover's eye view...

#34 2005-01-09 01:22:31

Re: MER search for dust devils - hoping for a rover's eye view...

#35 2005-03-09 12:29:16

Re: MER search for dust devils - hoping for a rover's eye view...

#36 2005-03-09 12:38:53

Re: MER search for dust devils - hoping for a rover's eye view...

#37 2005-03-10 21:37:53

Re: MER search for dust devils - hoping for a rover's eye view...

#38 2005-03-11 05:12:45

Re: MER search for dust devils - hoping for a rover's eye view...

#39 2005-03-11 07:40:20

Re: MER search for dust devils - hoping for a rover's eye view...

#40 2005-03-13 03:22:37

Re: MER search for dust devils - hoping for a rover's eye view...

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