Spirit & Opportunity

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-07 12:48:51

I think Spaceflight Now does a far better job at giving an overview than I would, so I'll just link them for you guys again: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera … tonly.html

Just the same old stuff. All very intriguing to me, though.

Just to add to Stu's comments, the second part of the conference and the Q&A section just talked about the high gain antenna and how all was well, and speculation more about the terrain.

The geologist (goodness, why can't they have a list of names on the Mars Rover site?) with the beard speculates that this is indeed a dry lakebed we're on, only that other processes have covered the dry lakebed and we're seeing just a lakebed with dirt and rocks covering it. He was on the original Viking teams, and the processes he sees here are very similar to that at Viking.

In any case, though, the primary point that was made here was that everyone has their own hypothesis' and the scientific processes is occuring. Everyone has their own ideas, and like the imaging guy said when the question was asked about the more 'radical' ideas; even the geologist with the beards idea of volcanic rock is a radical idea, since there isn't much evidence for localized volcanism. So yeah, no one opinion is universially accepted, and it should be that way. At least until we get the rover off the damn lander!

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-07 12:52:30

Hmmm... http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/

Stu · 2004-01-07 13:31:05

When I first saw it I thought "Hmmm, okay", but now I've had a bit of a play with Photo-Shop and balanced the colours to suit my 3D glasses better it is actually *very* cool... do yourself a favour, put your own silly glasses on, blow it up to fill your screen, and just let your eyes roam around at will... Those hills beckon, they really do :-)

There are some FASCINATING rocks in this new image, of all shapes and sizes. Again, many are rounded, but there are some *very* jagged and sharp looking beasties out there; Spirit won't be able to race off like an Indy car, that's for sure.

Take a look at the "ridge" which dominates the centre of the image... then look to its right... three rocks stand out. First, there's what looks like a dark "shark fin" there, close to the right edge of the ridge, well-buried in dust. Just past that is a lethal-looking "spike", almost a spear-point of rock that's fascinating me. Looks very much like apiece of ejecta that's stabbed into the ground after falling... or I guess it could be a fragment of a rock that shattered in-situ. I want a closer look!

But just beyond "Spike" is the most fascinating thing on the pic, and I'm going to stick my neck out here and predict that this will trigger a whole new round of "Aliens on Mars" stories... cos just past spike there's a rounded rock with two pits that look like eye sockets, and, beneath them, a vague lip of rock which looks like a jutting top jaw...

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, "The Skull"... :-))

Take a look for yourself, you'll see what I mean. It is pretty uncanny.

S

Rxke · 2004-01-07 13:41:21

WOHAAA! i was *just* going to post that people started to see skulls on Mars, when you post this...

(edit1: I'm not kidding, but i won't put up links... signal/noise ratio and all that)

edit 2: okay i said something stuppid, and deleted it afterwards in this post, was not the intention, anyway take it back... ( i said something like: 'nothing new on the 3D')

Palomar · 2004-01-07 13:50:36

*Gee...I'd love to have some 3D glasses but I don't know of any store in my city which sells them...or where else I could get them...(besides ordering on the internet, which will take a few weeks to receive...)

Thanks for pumping up the envy factor, Stu!

--Cindy :;):

P.S.: Does a big bag of hot salty buttery popcorn come with those 3D glasses I wonder? It's a great show...why not?!

::EDIT:: Saw on the news yesterday that the temperature at Gustev Crater was a balmy -60 F. Brrrrrr!!!

Rxke · 2004-01-07 14:06:25

you could go to a photographics shop, ask for red filter and blue filter films... Theyre quite expensive for one set of glasses though, you ould make, oh... hundreds out of one sheet...

maybe if you ask real friendly, these filters get cut up frequently, so they may have some scraps lying around in their darkroom...

or even better try repro houses, they used to use these things a lot, but are going digital big time, chances are they have drawerrs full of them, collecting dust...

Stu · 2004-01-07 14:12:56

*Gee...I'd love to have some 3D glasses but I don't know of any store in my city which sells them...or where else I could get them...(besides ordering on the internet, which will take a few weeks to receive...)

Plan B, Cindy - find a candy store that sells loose sweets (we call them "Pick and Mix" over here), in clear but coloured wrappers, and hunt around for a variety of different-hued red and blue wrappers to use as substitute lenses... after a bit of trial and error you should come up with something... (and even if you don't, well, you get to eat the failures!)

Don't laugh like that, I did it and it works! :-)

Stu

Stu · 2004-01-07 14:14:26

WOHAAA! i was *just* going to post that people started to see skulls on Mars, when you post this...

Do you mean someone has reported seeing this oddity already?

S

Rxke · 2004-01-07 14:18:32

sure does, unbelievable how you so errr... perfectly predicted that...

BTW STU's idea works, i did that as a kid, my granmother had a *big* pile of anaglyphs, and we lost the glasses (kids being what they are) so my uncle came up with a candy-glasses solution... (it was the green-red variety)

Stu · 2004-01-07 14:23:04

sure does, unbelievable how you so errr... perfectly predicted that...

BTW STU's idea works, i did that as a kid, my granmother had a *big* pile of anaglyphs, and we lost the glasses (kids being what they are) so my uncle came up with a candy-glasses solution... (it was the green-red variety)

Well I promise you I hadn't seen it anywhere else, this is the only spacey message board I'm a member of. Just downloaded the image as soon as it became available and then wandered around... I'd never plagarise someone else's idea.

But kind of glad someone else *has* seen it, proves it's not just me imagining it's there.

S

Palomar · 2004-01-07 15:01:32

Baby's Got the "Hiccups"

*Looks like Spirit may be delayed in getting onto actual Marsian soil!

"It could be --->at least a week<---before the problems are fixed, said Art Thompson, tactical uplink lead on the mission.

'We are champing at the bit to get this puppy off of the lander and really get to drive this vehicle. That's why we're here,' Thompson said.

Thompson said the air bag situation was not 'a big issue' but the mission team wanted to be cautious. The Spirit remained in excellent health, NASA said."

--Cindy

P.S.: Stu and Rik, you are much more inventive than I! But should my husband see me fixing up my eyeglasses that way...I fear he'd have me committed. However, I may just try it anyway. ::grin::

Rxke · 2004-01-07 15:14:16

Hee, hee!

Reminds me of a comment on Slashdot, going something like:

'i LOVE it, here we have this absolutely space-age hi tech gizmo on Mars, and everybody is oing through their drawers looking for 19th century technology' (the anaglyph glasses)

remcook · 2004-01-07 15:23:46

I have some that came with the game "starship titanic". Unfortunately, they are still at my parents'.

Have to wait..aargh

BTW hi everybody...coming to join the mars madness here too

remcook · 2004-01-07 15:39:29

download the first data from mars for Maestro...I'm curious!

http://mars.telascience.org/data1.html

has one of you used it already?

Rxke · 2004-01-07 15:41:55

Hee hee! Hi Rem! Nice to see you here!

I could kinda tell from your posts on ES you were really glued to your computer for news about Mars... Have Fun!

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-07 15:52:51

Hee hee! Stu, that's cute! I bet that is Elvis' skull.

But in all seriousness, I wonder how long until Hoagland picks that up. It really does look like an 'alien' skull! I just went to their site, they revamped it, that's so funny.

Really cute stuff.

Arccos · 2004-01-08 01:50:53

According to Jim Bell, the camera's developer, the southeast hills are about 2 km far and they are considered to be a potential drive target.

WOW!

remcook · 2004-01-08 02:57:22

Rik...on the same note: I could tell you have too much time on your hands

Rxke · 2004-01-08 05:24:03

Too much time? Nope, I'm just neglecting *a lot* of other things in my life, lately, like sleeping and college

BTW for people interested in more general background about the Maestro program: Homepage
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has released Maestro, a public version of the primary software tool used by NASA scientists to operate the Mars Exploration Rovers. Anyone can download Maestro for free from http://mars.telascience.org/ and use it to follow along with the rovers? progress during the mission. You can use Maestro to view pictures from Mars in 2D and 3D and create simplified rover activity plans. During the mission, updates will be released for Maestro containing the latest images from Mars.

Palomar · 2004-01-08 06:23:01

NASA delays rover roll-out by 3 days

*It's official. And beyond this delay, there could be yet another of one or two days.

Considering the time, effort, and money spent...it's best they wait until they are sure everything is at the ready (of course, I don't like the delays either).

--Cindy

Rxke · 2004-01-08 06:37:09

The delay is ok. Don't break it, plenty of time.

(plenty of time? yesyesyes: thank you Vishniac of EverythingSpace messageboards for this little tidbit, gleaned from an online chat session with o'Keefe:)

"Yar, from Toronto writes:
Why is the lifespan of the rover only 3 months, if its power source is the Sun?

Sean O'Keefe
Thanks for your insightful question. Indeed the battery systems on board Spirit are regenerated by the solar rays that are on the rover itself. And over the next 3 months it will be drawing most of the power in order to be mobile and to operate the mechanical instruments on board. But like any battery there are only so many times you can recharge it. We are hoping that we can get 6 - 7 months time out of it. But we will at least get 3. "

So, not 90 days, but possibly 210!

Shaun Barrett · 2004-01-08 06:46:27

Aawww!!
I've stared and stared at the 8MB image and I can't find anything remotely resembling a skull, human or alien. I can't even find anything that looks like the 'ridge' Stu mentions ... or the shark fin, or the spear-like rock!
I must have the wrong image, I guess.

Rxke · 2004-01-08 06:50:47

Yes and no... on the 8mb the 'skull' is ... (how do you explain this?) You see the big dark rock farthest left, go 'up' 45 degrees to the next big one to the right, that's the 'skull'.
The other stuff Stu mentions is on the 3D pic.

if you still can't find it: (the 'skull') look here (I can't believe i put this up, sigh, well it's good for a laugh)

Palomar · 2004-01-08 07:13:50

Sean O'Keefe
"...But like any battery there are only so many times you can recharge it. We are hoping that we can get 6 - 7 months time out of it. But we will at least get 3. "
So, not 90 days, but possibly 210!

*That brightens my day!

As for shark fins and skulls and spear-like things: Erm...are you guys familiar with the Rorschach Inkblot Test?

::shakes head::

--Cindy :laugh:

Stu · 2004-01-08 10:39:27

Aawww!!
I've stared and stared at the 8MB image and I can't find anything remotely resembling a skull, human or alien. I can't even find anything that looks like the 'ridge' Stu mentions ... or the shark fin, or the spear-like rock!
I must have the wrong image, I guess.

Maybe... I was referring to the 3D panorama released Wednesday, not the first colour panorama. And the features I described are quite small, in the "spear"'s case VERY small, but they're definitely there. Honest.

S

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