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#1 2004-01-12 13:52:45

Adrian
Moderator
From: London, United Kingdom
Registered: 2001-09-04
Posts: 642
Website

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

Please continue discussion from the 'Spirit & Opportunity' thread here.


Editor of [url=http://www.newmars.com]New Mars[/url]

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#2 2004-01-12 14:06:35

Josh Cryer
Moderator
Registered: 2001-09-29
Posts: 3,830

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

Thanks Adrian. Smart move. smile

300 posts in just over a week! Very awesome!


Some useful links while MER are active. [url=http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html]Offical site[/url] [url=http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html]NASA TV[/url] [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/]JPL MER2004[/url] [url=http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/statustextonly.html]Text feed[/url]
--------
The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.

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#3 2004-01-12 14:13:44

Josh Cryer
Moderator
Registered: 2001-09-29
Posts: 3,830

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

BTW, I just wanted to reiterate, the latest 'full resolution' panaroma is reduced by a factor of two. You can find it here: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalo … r=pia05049

The images that went to make that panorama follow:

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalo … r=pia05036
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalo … r=pia05015
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalo … r=pia04995

However, there seem to be a few missing from this (notably the last octant, I believe, which wasn't realeased in full, but rather with this reduced 'full panorama').

But you should be able to see, just by going to those links, that clearly the full 'highest resolution' panorama (in its current state) can't be at true full resolution.


Some useful links while MER are active. [url=http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html]Offical site[/url] [url=http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html]NASA TV[/url] [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/]JPL MER2004[/url] [url=http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/statustextonly.html]Text feed[/url]
--------
The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.

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#4 2004-01-13 04:21:46

remcook
Banned
Registered: 2004-01-07
Posts: 78

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

OK...I'll repeat my question here then.

Did spirit bounce from sleepy hollow up till the place it is now? In the panorama there are what seems like bounce marks. And there are none in other directions. When Spirit just landed I was on holiday, so maybe they already said something about this.

or is that other area called sleepy hollow? confused now...

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#5 2004-01-13 04:34:13

remcook
Banned
Registered: 2004-01-07
Posts: 78

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

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#6 2004-01-13 05:08:26

Arccos
Member
From: Czechia
Registered: 2004-01-07
Posts: 46

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

to remcook:
Yes, the marks seem to be from bouncing. Moreover I think that some NASA experts acknowledged it.


My knowledge of the English language is poor - but still I'm here smile.

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#7 2004-01-13 06:33:57

remcook
Banned
Registered: 2004-01-07
Posts: 78

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

that's nice , if they decide to go there one can maybe see what's under the dust. Saves some digging.

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#8 2004-01-13 06:51:23

Byron
Member
From: Florida, USA
Registered: 2002-05-16
Posts: 844

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

that's nice , if they decide to go there one can maybe see what's under the dust. Saves some digging.

I'm not super-sure about this, but I do believe that is one of the first stops for the rover when it rolls off the lander (finally!)  The scientists are probably going crazy figuring out where they want to go, however...lol, so who knows. 

The wait continues....

B

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#9 2004-01-13 10:28:10

Stu
Member
From: Kendal, Cumbria, England
Registered: 2001-09-04
Posts: 318
Website

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

Another day, another Media Briefing... I wonder what amazing things we'll see today?

In the meantime, treat yourselves by downloading this...

http://images.spaceref.com/news/2004rpano2FSr.mov

http://images.spaceref.com/news/2004rpano2FSr.mov

Closest you'll get to standing there in Gusev  smile

S


Stuart Atkinson

Skywatching Blog: [url]http://journals.aol.com/stuartatk/Cumbrian-Sky[/url]

Astronomical poetry, including mars rover poems: [url]http://journals.aol.com/stuartatk/TheVerse[/url]

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#10 2004-01-13 10:58:48

Palomar
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2002-05-30
Posts: 9,734

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

Another day, another Media Briefing... I wonder what amazing things we'll see today?

In the meantime, treat yourselves by downloading this...

http://images.spaceref.com/news/2004]
http://images.spaceref.com/news/2004]

Closest you'll get to standing there in Gusev  smile

S

*Gee, I'd love to view it, but all I get is my ISP's dial-up box and request for password when the dowloading process is completed.  I'm already using this ISP (I have two of them)...

I went to the spaceref.com site itself and attempted to download one of the QuickTime thingamajigs...same result (ISP dial-up box comes up, asking for the password).

Am I lacking an installation perhaps?

--Cindy


We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

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#11 2004-01-13 11:30:05

Stu
Member
From: Kendal, Cumbria, England
Registered: 2001-09-04
Posts: 318
Website

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

Well, we now have a travel plan...!

First, Spirit will head NE, to a 200m wide crater that lies 250m/800ft from the landing site. The crater is predicted to be 10s of metres deep, and surrounded by a rim 3 to 4 metres in height. As Spirit moves towards the crater it will encounter more and more impact ejecta, and so will be able to analyse subsurface materials. And that's actually why they've chosen the crater- peering into it will allow them "a window into the subsurface of Mars", and reveal material beneath the ground Spirit is driving on.

And as if that wasn't an exciting enought prospect, after the crater, Spirit will turn SE and, literally, "head for the hills..."  big_smile

"The Eastern Hills" lie some 3000metres from the landing site, and there's no guarantee Spirit will actually reach them, but it's sure going to try, because they are a tantalising target. As the rover moves towards the hills it will see them in increasingly good detail, resolving finer and finer features, and will encounter material *from* the hills which has been removed from them. En-route to the hills, Steve Squyres said, the rover will encounter many different varieties of rocks and materials, making for a fascinating trip...

So, the hills are calling Spirit. After looking down into Mars, it will try to climb above it. As Steve Squyres said, it is going to be "an adventure of discovery unparallelled in human history", all the world will watch Spirit as it moves towards the distant peaks. With characteristic understatement he added "It's going to be a lot of fun!"

Wow... we're going to have *everything* we wanted, and dreamed of. I honestly can't wait to look into that crater, see those excavated rocks and ejecta, no idea what they'll find...

Then the hills.

Mankind setting out for another, distant horizon.

Anyone else feeling shivers up and down their spine right now..?  smile

S


Stuart Atkinson

Skywatching Blog: [url]http://journals.aol.com/stuartatk/Cumbrian-Sky[/url]

Astronomical poetry, including mars rover poems: [url]http://journals.aol.com/stuartatk/TheVerse[/url]

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#12 2004-01-13 11:39:17

remcook
Banned
Registered: 2004-01-07
Posts: 78

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

I can';t wait till opportunity arrives!
I'll be overloaded!!!

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#13 2004-01-13 12:02:13

Byron
Member
From: Florida, USA
Registered: 2002-05-16
Posts: 844

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

Well, we now have a travel plan...!

First, Spirit will head NE, to a 200m wide crater that lies 250m/800ft from the landing site. The crater is predicted to be 10s of metres deep, and surrounded by a rim 3 to 4 metres in height. As Spirit moves towards the crater it will encounter more and more impact ejecta, and so will be able to analyse subsurface materials. And that's actually why they've chosen the crater- peering into it will allow them "a window into the subsurface of Mars", and reveal material beneath the ground Spirit is driving on.

And as if that wasn't an exciting enought prospect, after the crater, Spirit will turn SE and, literally, "head for the hills..."  big_smile

"The Eastern Hills" lie some 3000metres from the landing site, and there's no guarantee Spirit will actually reach them, but it's sure going to try, because they are a tantalising target. As the rover moves towards the hills it will see them in increasingly good detail, resolving finer and finer features, and will encounter material *from* the hills which has been removed from them. En-route to the hills, Steve Squyres said, the rover will encounter many different varieties of rocks and materials, making for a fascinating trip...

So, the hills are calling Spirit. After looking down into Mars, it will try to climb above it. As Steve Squyres said, it is going to be "an adventure of discovery unparallelled in human history", all the world will watch Spirit as it moves towards the distant peaks. With characteristic understatement he added "It's going to be a lot of fun!"

Wow... we're going to have *everything* we wanted, and dreamed of. I honestly can't wait to look into that crater, see those excavated rocks and ejecta, no idea what they'll find...

Then the hills.

Mankind setting out for another, distant horizon.

Anyone else feeling shivers up and down their spine right now..?  smile

S

I am smile

I couldn't be more thrilled with this mission profile.  A crater AND a visit to those alluring hills??  All I can say is...wow!

And yet....11 more days to Part II of this great Martian saga, with the 24 Jan landing of Opportunity.  I have a feeling that the general public is getting pretty excited about all of this as well. Talk about the best of times... smile

B

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#14 2004-01-13 12:03:40

Josh Cryer
Moderator
Registered: 2001-09-29
Posts: 3,830

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

Sorry for not giving you guys a heads up! I missed the first 11 minutes. I'm going to watch it during the replay. Looks like I didn't miss anything major though, Q&A always brings up stuff that was discussed.

I was totally freaking excited when I saw the travel plan, Stu. I'm definitely giddy. big_smile

The best thing is that we're just so close to it. And our approach to the crater is also lucky, as there isn't as much ejecta on the side that we're coming in on it at! So wow, this is really just the most luckiest mission I've ever seen.

They're going to do the egress 'live,' BTW, so you might want to stay up tonight/early tomorrow at 1AM PST.


Some useful links while MER are active. [url=http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html]Offical site[/url] [url=http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html]NASA TV[/url] [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/]JPL MER2004[/url] [url=http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/statustextonly.html]Text feed[/url]
--------
The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.

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#15 2004-01-13 12:43:27

Rxke
Member
From: Belgium
Registered: 2003-11-03
Posts: 3,669

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

Cindy, if it doesn't work, you can try remcook's link, 2,3 posts above stu's one (3,1Mb vs the 500kB of Stu...)

They're both Quicktime VR movies...

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#16 2004-01-13 13:09:54

Palomar
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2002-05-30
Posts: 9,734

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

Cindy, if it doesn't work, you can try remcook's link, 2,3 posts above stu's one (3,1Mb vs the 500kB of Stu...)

They're both Quicktime VR movies...

*Thank you, Rik.  Sad to say, I have tried many of the links with very poor results.  I'm not greatly computer literate, so I'm having to rely on other imagery.

I'll try remcook's link (again?  can't recall if I've already tried).

I appreciate your answering my question.  smile

--Cindy


We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

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#17 2004-01-13 13:23:04

Rxke
Member
From: Belgium
Registered: 2003-11-03
Posts: 3,669

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

Password? (Scratches head...)

Aww, and i was just going to post how utterly .... GRAND this panorama is...
Been circling around for minutes, holding my breath...

Tomorrow i'm going to the chemist, buy me a bottle of extra pure CO2, and start training to live off that gas big_smile
(Hey, if i pull it off, NASA CANT deny me a seat!)

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#18 2004-01-13 14:16:46

Byron
Member
From: Florida, USA
Registered: 2002-05-16
Posts: 844

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

Tomorrow i'm going to the chemist, buy me a bottle of extra pure CO2, and start training to live off that gas big_smile
(Hey, if i pull it off, NASA CANT deny me a seat!)

Very funny..lololol... big_smile 

Hey, we gotta do what we can to get our butts to Mars... tongue

B

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#19 2004-01-13 14:42:26

Rxke
Member
From: Belgium
Registered: 2003-11-03
Posts: 3,669

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

*Cough Cough* Just came from outside, guy was really mad i was sucking on his car exhaust pipe. When i told him why, he became even more irate, started yelling something about ruining his perfectly good catayser thinagmajigs...

Sigh, people are weird...

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#20 2004-01-13 14:45:39

Byron
Member
From: Florida, USA
Registered: 2002-05-16
Posts: 844

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

*Cough Cough* Just came from outside, guy was really mad i was sucking on his car exhaust pipe. When i told him why, he became even more irate, started yelling something about ruining his perfectly good catayser thinagmajigs...

Sigh, people are weird...

Hey, you were sucking the wrong type of gas !...next time, try breathing some CO2 and see how that goes....LOL... big_smile

B

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#21 2004-01-13 19:03:39

jadeheart
Member
From: barrow ak
Registered: 2003-11-03
Posts: 134

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

man that panorama is the coolest thing ever.  what is the really big hill off in the distance around to the right of the 'east hill comlex'?  is it the south mesa, or south/southwest hill?  if only there was some feedback in the pic about which direction you're looking in... like a little digital comass or something.


You can stand on a mountaintop with your mouth open for a very long time before a roast duck flies into it.  -Chinese Proverb

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#22 2004-01-13 23:28:49

Stu
Member
From: Kendal, Cumbria, England
Registered: 2001-09-04
Posts: 318
Website

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

man that panorama is the coolest thing ever.  what is the really big hill off in the distance around to the right of the 'east hill comlex'?  is it the south mesa, or south/southwest hill?  if only there was some feedback in the pic about which direction you're looking in... like a little digital comass or something.

Jade,

One of the images released yesterday

[http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … R1_br2.jpg]http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery....br2.jpg

labels *all* the mountains and features visible on the horizon, every hill and mesa, with azimuth directions, which you can use to approximate compass bearings. For example, the "South Mesas" are indicated as lying at 178.7 deg, which is just short of south (180deg). I am sure that images to come will have other keys too.

Fascinating to wander around that panorama, isn't it?  smile

S


Stuart Atkinson

Skywatching Blog: [url]http://journals.aol.com/stuartatk/Cumbrian-Sky[/url]

Astronomical poetry, including mars rover poems: [url]http://journals.aol.com/stuartatk/TheVerse[/url]

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#23 2004-01-13 23:28:58

Rxke
Member
From: Belgium
Registered: 2003-11-03
Posts: 3,669

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

for people still having problems with the Quicktime panoramma, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/]BBChas one, too, today (scroll down, i don't know how to link to it, anybody else does?)

Cindy, the fact your computer wants to download QT probably means you don't have it on your computer, so there'd be no way to look at it... (in QT VR format)

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#24 2004-01-14 01:38:20

Arccos
Member
From: Czechia
Registered: 2004-01-07
Posts: 46

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

That Spirits travel plan is fascinating. Just where I wanted Spirit to go! And the view of horizont with labels - great! I must be dreaming!
I can't stay calm waiting for Spirit to reach that distance. (well it would be definitely a BAD luck for me to be hit by a car tommorow :laugh: )


My knowledge of the English language is poor - but still I'm here smile.

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#25 2004-01-14 02:06:52

Arccos
Member
From: Czechia
Registered: 2004-01-07
Posts: 46

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

Who was offended by the comentary at NASA Watch yesterday?
Well, read this: [http://www.spacedaily.com/news/beagle2-04a.html]http://www.spacedaily.com/news/beagle2-04a.html.

The only think I can agree with this article is the fact, that cheap missions have less chance to succeed. The rest is a flush of bitter shits and the autor should wash his keyboard!  :angry:


My knowledge of the English language is poor - but still I'm here smile.

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