Spirit & Opportunity

Rxke · 2004-01-05 04:18:24

And quicktime VR panorama!
Spaceref about 400kb, a must-see, though...

This spaceref page is one to follow, btw:
spaceref news pictures

About the picture:'possible landingsite' in some former link:Great, i checked it myself with a hi-res picture and the landing pictures (they show three of those on the site) and came to the same conclusion, it's in the middle of those dust devil patterns on gusev pics... first is mine, second official...

Rxke · 2004-01-05 04:46:15

Ok good news: Hi gain deployed on first try, pictures coming in nicely...

but some slightly less good news:

'The mission fell behind Sunday as scientists ran out of time to cut cables that tied the folded-up rover to battery and electronics systems on its landing pad, an omission that may delay its three-stage "stand-up" by one Martian day, or "sol," about 40 minutes longer than an Earth day, Adler said.

The team also may try to retract airbags that cushioned the rover's landing but now block its path to the planet's surface, adding another sol to the time needed to prepare the robotic rover for its three-month trek across Mars' surface'

So two days longer on the petals in the worst case scenario....

And then there is of course that 'off-nominal' battery thing... Remember the first conference, the 'strange' reaction about the solar cells? Hope they figure it out... If they have problems charging the batteries, that would be bad bad news..

(EDIT) Could be not that bad after all: "It was a little warmer than expected ? about 98 below zero Fahrenheit ? possibly from heat-trapping dust in the atmosphere.

That meant the solar arrays were generating only 83 percent of the power expected, said Jennifer Trosper, Spirit's mission manager for surface operations. That could force mission managers to conserve power. "

Though conserving power *still* doesn't sound good

Rxke · 2004-01-05 04:56:44

While I'm posting as an idiot again: There'l be lots of stereopicts coming in from the Rover(s) maybe now is the time to build yourself a cool stereoviewer

plans:Here
And Here The last one is a classic, I've used the old versions of these myself, they were very popular in early 20'th century. Works Great. Bu the first one would be gorgeous if instead of cardboard, you'd make it out of nicely finished dark brown wood, Victorian contraption thing...

Rxke · 2004-01-05 05:22:17

And for and interesting read with lots of pictures (beware for dial-up hell) while waiting for the real stuff....

Finding MER on Mars

And a handy UTC Time conversion table, handy for international visitors, getting confused with EST, GMT PST AST etc...

!*!*! NASA has scheduled a 12 p.m. EST news conference at which time Spirit's first color imagery could be released.
(See, that conversion table comes in handy)

Rxke · 2004-01-05 06:26:28

Oh... And a (bad) picture of the sun, taken by Spirit:

Stu · 2004-01-05 10:44:44

And quicktime VR panorama!
Spaceref about 400kb, a must-see, though...

That is EXCELLENT, thanks for putting us on to that! :-)

S

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-05 10:47:35

Should be having the press conference in ~30 minutes, just wanted to give you guys a heads up.

Appropriate links:

Main NASA MER site: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html

Spaceflightnow's text feed (very informative, usually first to get good NASA TV caps, you want to go here after you see the color images on the stream because they'll have caps before the NASA site updates probably): http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera … tonly.html

And of course, last but certainly not least, the Real Player NASA TV stream links (this is where you want to go to see the conference/briefing that's coming up very soon): http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html

See ya on the flipside of the conference.

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-05 10:54:13

Well that's a dang shame, the Pancam image doesn't seem to be ready yet (according to spaceflightnow text feed).

Stu · 2004-01-05 10:54:17

Should be having the press conference in ~30 minutes, just wanted to give you guys a heads up.

Thanks for that Josh, I've just come back in from work - having spent all day wishing I was at home looking at pictures from Spirit, of course! - so time to grab a coffee and sit back to watch the conference.

This is wonderful, isn't it? :-) Like we've all got our own seats there at JPL.

Did anyone else put their names on the CDs via the "Send your name to Mars" website, by the way?

S

Rxke · 2004-01-05 11:17:48

Conference: Dang, no pics, only thumbnails got through, for now....

Rxke · 2004-01-05 11:20:52

Ok, now for the good news: the images are taken, but still in memory of Rover, today, tomorrow 90? Pancam AND MiniTES!

Mossbauer is ok! After launch bit worried, because it malfunctioned, but it's ok.
Joke: 'you remember the scenes with the jumping and screaming scientists after landing? Well the Mossbauer team was exactly the same, only in German!'
On wich panel continued to stress international contributions, esp. for science packages....

ALL science packages checked out ok, .... only horizontal motor in Hi-gain antenna is noisier than anticipated, but within engineering limits... They got maximum download speed by the way...
Solar: ok, enough margin not to worry.

That 'rock' is no rock, now certain it's airbag, but possibly rock underneath...

Rxke · 2004-01-05 11:23:28

Plan for this morning: 9am local:
cable cutting (3 sets, 1 already done)
airbag retraction, around noon
science till 5.20: MiniTESS and pancam

Stu · 2004-01-05 12:09:05

... and we have our first named feature :-) Recent posts have discussed the possibility of the large, roughly circular bright feature halfway between the lander and the horizon being a bounce impact mark... Steve Squyres just said they think it's actually a shallow impact crater filled with dust (he also said two dark markings within it *may* be bounce marks, so I'm claiming that point! ;-) ) with hints of an exposed rim on the far side... and to recognise the fact that the team have all had precious little shut-eye since landing, they have named the feature "SLEEPY HOLLOW" :-)

Nice one.

Steve is obviously VERY keen to get over to there when Spirit drives off the lander. From what he was saying he's hopeful that there could be some rock layers exposed, which would be great. He also discussed the possibility of Spirit "dipping a wheelinto the dust" to test its depth and consistency... wow...

Sleepy Hollow beckons folks...

S

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-05 12:12:00

Thanks for those overviews Rxke, the Q&A sessions tend to knock the info out of me since they are redundant, and the sily journalists usually ask the dumbest questions, heheh. So yeah, I wanted to come back and post info, but I didn't really remember it all!

One thing is for sure, though, I'm staying up late to see these Pancam images. I haven't had much sleep at all lately. I feel like I'm on Martian time (when in reality I'm getting far less sleep than that I'd say).

And yeah, Stu, I think my families last name (my original last name) is on the CD. So in a way, yeah, we're up there, immortalized. At least my family is.

This is all so very exciting, it really is. I'm so impatient to get the thing off the lander, though, I really am. And I'm hoping for far more data than we've been recieving. Once these guys get into a good schedule, though, and have worked out the minor details (though to them these checks are quite major, and I can totally understand why), I'm fully confident a good regular stream of data will flow down to us. That's how it happened with Pathfinder.

Stu · 2004-01-05 12:16:44

Steve also answered a question relating to the travel time to Sleepy Hollow. When asked if it was, conceivably, a "day trip", he replied that initially the rover would be driven "very cautiously..." "we haven't got our martian driving licence yet!" he quipped, before confirming that yes, Sleepy Hollow would be a day trip for Spirit.

Other questions:

Did he know what the "very pointy hill on the horizon was?" No.

Could they tell how far away the horizon was? No.

Were there plans to dislodge a stuck front wheel with the instrument arm, if such a problem occurred? (cue panic-stricken expressions from panel!) Er... no... although they would obviously not rule any possible solution out. It would be hard to get Spirit to do such a thing tho, because it's been programmed not to do anything risky like that. ("It would be like trying to get it to hit itself on the back of its head")

Fascinating conference, and the media audience loved the 3D images. Steve S enjoyed making fun of them when they donned their 3D glasses :-)

S

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-05 12:21:32

Aaaah, yes Stu, how could have I forgotten! Sleepy Hollow is a really charming name indeed! I sort of feel what the science guys are feeling, with my lack of sleep (I usually get 10 hours a night like an old fogey, so yeah, not used to 4-5 hours of sleep).

Hehe, this is all so exciting. I'm such a dork.

Stu · 2004-01-05 12:27:49

There was also some discussion re the "83% power" figure which has been referred to in recent posts here. The panel confirmed that the arrays are generating 83% of their potential power, and also confirmed that it was "likely" that figure would not change. The reduced power was attributed to the martian environment itself - perhaps there is more dust in the air than expected ("You have to remember, there was a big martian dust storm last week" - S Squyres) which would reduce the levels of sunlight. Another panel member (wish I could remember his name) said that changes in the state of the atmosphere at the landing site might affect the arrays' performance - more cloud = less power, clearer sky = more power. But they don't seem too concerned.

Hope no-one minds me posting these mini-reports.

S

Rxke · 2004-01-05 12:46:02

Steve looked exhausted, hope he doesn't have to do the driving

Stu, i'm on that disk, too, and on some other, but forgot wich, probably stardust...

I clicked off halfway the conference, download amount is getting high these days (wonder why? ? ?)
I was actually typing away and listening/watching it, impressive bandwidth, best real-link i've ever had, was good enough for full screen... Impressive (starting to repeat myself, again..)

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-05 13:10:58

Yeah, Mars in this particular area is slightly warmer than they were expecting (going from what I hear on yesterday mornings briefing), and it is that which is causing dust in the atmosphere to be a bit more than expected. But as they have pointed out, as long as its consistent, there should be no problems, and they can work around it by conserving or whatever. Yesterday, the quote of the day was, "The rover is working fine, it's Mars that's doing this. Blame Mars, not the rover." (Paraphrased.) And really, that's all there is to it, it's not a major concern at the moment. Once we're roving, I think we won't have much to worry about, and I personally think that the solar panels will, with a much bigger rover, and a windier area, last far longer than Sojourner, simply because of all the jostling about and so on. This is going to last a long time, I think. I hope.

That Real Player link was horrible not two days ago. I've never in my life seen a NASA Real link claim "too many connections." I wonder how many hits the MER sites have been getting these past few days.

BTW, guys, I don't think anyone could be bothered by the little reports, I know I for one am glad to read what you guys have to say, even if I've already read about it/heard about it. It's great to converse with other like-minded Mars enthusiasts around the globe.

OOH, and yeah, Steve is really tired. His eyes are almost totally black. Hope they all get some well deserved rest. Waking up to nice fresh full color Pancam images should be great. BTW, tonight I think that we'll be getting a full 90 degree Pancam image (basically, from what was taken yesterday, and what was taken today, they'll be downloaded via the MGS and Odyssey passes, but don't quote me on that!).

Tee hee, out for now.

Rxke · 2004-01-05 13:34:18

BTW, guys, I don't think anyone could be bothered by the little reports, I know I for one am glad to read what you guys have to say, even if I've already read about it/heard about it. It's great to converse with other like-minded Mars enthusiasts around the globe.

Yes, Stu. Don't worry. I'd rathr read it here than in some 3rd-generation-Reuters-copy-article on the big networks that keeps repeating news from daaaaays ago.

clark · 2004-01-05 13:50:33

Okay folks, to those who are silent, and to those that are loud, I, clark, declare a contest.

First person to post either a colored photo of Mars, or a link to a colored photo of Mars, from the Spirit rover, wins. The winner will be determined by post date, which must be made in this thread. If there is a tie, winner will be determined by a battle to the death struggle between the contendors, or a flip of the coin. We will let the participants decide on the tie breaker, if and when it becomes neccessary.

Goodluck, and happy hunting.

Winner gets bragging rights.*

*void where prohibited.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, I have found a color picture of Mars, taken by Spirit. So one already exsists out there.... :laugh:

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-05 14:20:25

Um, is it a false color, or is it the thumbnail that was shown at the conference? I think anyone who watched it saw that pitiful little thing. (Part of a 12 picture mosaic if I recall.)

clark · 2004-01-05 14:22:33

Now that would be telling, wouldn't it?

Anyway, I await someone to cross the finish line!

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-05 14:24:11

edit (leaving the link that I orignially posted, and am just posting the smaller version- no clue why the 'thumbnail' was blown up like that): http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery....990.jpg

Easy.

Rxke · 2004-01-05 14:24:25

heh, i already posted it here, but then retracted it! wait 10 sec... (well a bit longer)

EDIT i retracted it, because i knew it was handcoloured, but initialli liked it so much... afterwards i pulled it, becaus i thought the new pics were going to get posted soon.

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