Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

Adrian · 2004-01-14 04:17:18

It is a pretty awful article, Arccos - there's more discussion in the Beagle 2 thread, also in this forum.

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-14 10:41:27

'lo folks, I'm here for the briefing, but it seems that Sean O'keefe is going to have an interview before (or at the beginning) of the briefing.

Probably something related to Bush's announcement; since clark already started a thread in Free Chat about it, it'd be good to just continue discussion there about that particular thing.

Palomar · 2004-01-14 11:11:02

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)

*Thanks again, Rik. Yeah, I suppose so.

I can't wait for Spirit to start rolling! I hope Opportunity is not so delayed, after it lands. I'm getting really restless about this, and hope tonight's plans will go as scheduled.

--Cindy

Stu · 2004-01-14 11:47:20

Conference: Everything looking good for Spirit's historic drive-off the lander and onto Mars... wheels-down should be around 12.45 PST, and there will be a live commentary of that available on NASA TV, and a Press Briefing is scheduled for 2am PST with details of how things went.

Good luck guys!

S

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-14 11:47:50

Hey guys! Just a quick overview. Got some navcam images down during the turn, so they made an animation for that, pretty cool. They actually were able to make a panorama of that, which you can find at the JPL MER2004 link in my sig.

Other interesting tibits is that they're planning to do a simultaneous viewing from above and from the rover at the same time. This means that they'll use Mini-TES to view the atmosphere as MGS flies by, and get observations from TES on MGS at the same time that Spirit is. Hope that came out right.

More interestingly, is that in two days, Mars Express will undertake a similar attempt. The usefulness of this allows us to basically strip away the atmosphere by taking both observations and doing some interesting filtering. You can't make assumptions about an atmosphere unless you have data from below as well as data from above.

Egress happens tonight/early tomorrow morning at 1AM PST. WE should "get images" around 1:20 AM PST, but they're going to start commentary at 12:45 AM PST, so this ought to be covered live as was the landings. They'll have a news briefing at 2AM PST.

Okay, that's all for now folks!

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-14 11:48:32

Jinx Stu!!

See you guys later. Hopefully tonight when this happens live.

Stu · 2004-01-14 13:39:37

Jinx Stu!!

What did I "jinx"? I don't understand...

S

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-14 14:09:57

We replied at the same time, so I jinxed you. But since I said your name, you can talk. Heh... silly childhood tradition...

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-15 02:48:44

The Live Egress Commentary is going on as we speak. Nothing will be happening for about 30 minutes though. Get your popcorn.

The best thing about this is the people, I think. It's all about the people. Their reactions, the emotions, etc. I can't wait.

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-15 03:14:59

The team members are going through the design of Spirit... oh man, this is just so great.

Apparently the wheels were desgined to be ridges rather than cleats (Sojourner was cleated) because there were concerns that the rover would get hung up on the airbags.

The color? They could've made them multicolored (each an individual color), but they decided upon black 'cuz it looked nicer. If I was on that team, I would've pushed for all the colors of the rainbow, heheh. Just for fun.

They're showing videos of old test attempts. A minute ago the test rover fell off the lander, and sort of hung on it, and they laughed and yelled "Ride 'em cowboy!" It was all so very charming.

Guess I'm the only one watchin'...

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-15 03:51:23

She should be egressing as I type.

edit, that is done egressing

edit again, as to not clutter, we got a strong signal.

then we started getting data

then the motion actuators claimed we're on the ground and our tranverse went well

we're just waiting for pics now!

edit again

holy crap there are our pictures! omg

edit again, navcam panorama is down now, they're showing a closeup of a navcam forward looking image

it's really fantastic, they were talking about the navcam the other day, and it was said that its (mind you there are four) resolution is better than that of all the previous probes to Mars

Edited By Josh Cryer on 1074161467

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-15 04:13:36

I'm out, that was really freaking fantastic. G'night all!

edit: I lied, I stayed up

they're having the briefing now, but... no one is on the forum, so I guess it's pointless to say what's goin' on...

...it's mostly celebretory... I hope you guys see it later. this is really what it's all about, it really is...

edit, okay, the briefing is over

it was really great... I can't even begin... I really can't... I wish I could, but I'm so tired... but it was simply beautiful... if I was a cryin' man, I'd be crying right now. I think they'll replay it at 11 am today, they said they're not going to have a 9AM briefing (due to all the excitement).

tomorrow morning (not this morning), at 9AM PST, we should get some images from the microsopic imager, it ought to be great

[http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/rover-i … 15-04.html]http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004....04.html

Edited By Josh Cryer on 1074167869
Edited again by Moderator 2022/02/23

Arccos · 2004-01-15 05:41:40

Spirit is free and going!!!

Palomar · 2004-01-15 06:02:42

Spirit is free and going!!!

*Yippee!!

I checked Yahoo! news first thing this a.m. Here's hoping for continued success all throughout the mission.

And we get to repeat all this excitement with Opportunity. Twin rovers, double mission...wow.

--Cindy

Byron · 2004-01-15 06:23:34

Just saw the "rear view" pic from the rover...tire tracks and all. How exciting! I know the good folks over at JPL couldn't be happier with the rover's progress.

Can't wait to see what the deal with the funny-looking soil in the "magic carpet" area. (that's where it's headed next, right?)

B

Palomar · 2004-01-15 07:01:02

Can't wait to see what the deal with the funny-looking soil in the "magic carpet" area. (that's where it's headed next, right?)
B

*Hey Byron. I'm still sleepy...I don't know if it is the very next thing Spirit is going to check out (I think so...?), but it's definitely on the "soon to do" list. There's so much to keep track of, but I love the information overload.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-01-15 09:36:15

*I just now read this at the JPL official site:

"JPL engineers played Baha Men's 'Who Let the Dogs Out' in the control room as they watched new images confirming that the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit successfully rolled off its lander platform early Thursday morning."

Well...if background music is what they want. Isn't it exciting enough already WITHOUT soundtrack accompaniment?!

--Cindy

Adrian · 2004-01-15 10:04:23

I have to confess that I wasn't very excited about Spirit or Opportunity when I first heard about them; I thought that they were just going to be another Pathfinder and crawl very, very slowly around the place, occasionally getting images of some rocks. I never really had the feeling that Pathfinder was ever actually *going* anywhere.

Spirit, however, has really captured my interest now that I can see it's capable of doing some serious moving and taking good images. I love the fact that they want to get it to a hill 3 kilometres away; now *that* is an epic journey! If only they could have greater bandwidth to transmit more images and maybe one day, video. But for now, Spirit is doing great

Byron · 2004-01-15 10:38:47

Well...if background music is what they want. Isn't it exciting enough already WITHOUT soundtrack accompaniment?!

For some reason, playing theme-appropiate songs during key events in space (both manned and unmanned) is a long-held tradition at NASA and JPL. I'd like to know who gets to pick the music, though..lol. I think it's pretty cool they do stuff like this, actually...

B

Palomar · 2004-01-15 11:03:07

Spirit, however, has really captured my interest now that I can see it's capable of doing some serious moving and taking good images. I love the fact that they want to get it to a hill 3 kilometres away; now *that* is an epic journey!

*What is the approximate maximum distance traveling range for rovers like Spirit (and Opportunity)? I'm not sure I've encountered that information, though I likely forgot (information overload....steam is going to start rolling out of my ears any moment now...)

--Cindy

Stu · 2004-01-15 11:09:43

*What is the approximate maximum distance traveling range for rovers like Spirit (and Opportunity)? I'm not sure I've encountered that information, though I likely forgot (information overload....steam is going to start rolling out of my ears any moment now...)

If I remember rightly, Steve Squyres said in the briefing that the Eastern Hills are 3km away, which is approx six times further away than the rover was designed to drive.

Wow...!

Palomar · 2004-01-15 11:26:46

*What is the approximate maximum distance traveling range for rovers like Spirit (and Opportunity)? I'm not sure I've encountered that information, though I likely forgot (information overload....steam is going to start rolling out of my ears any moment now...)
If I remember rightly, Steve Squyres said in the briefing that the Eastern Hills are 3km away, which is approx six times further away than the rover was designed to drive.
Wow...!

*Thanks for the info Stu. Wow is right.

::shakes head:: It's like the information about the Huygens probe on its way to Titan via Cassini...Mad Grad Student said that probe will probably only last 1-1/2 hours. You relate that it's hoped Spirit will travel approximately 6 times further than it was designed to. I keep thinking (wishing...like a kid apparently) that probes like Huygens will carry on for weeks and months, and that rovers like Spirit (and Opportunity) can and will wander and explore for *dozens* of kilometers.

Reality bites I guess. But of course I'm glad I'm able to witness all this.

--Cindy

Stu · 2004-01-15 11:31:28

You relate that it's hoped Spirit will travel approximately 6 times further than it was designed to.

It's a BIG hope... but my fingers are crossed, and I don't know, Spirit just feels destined for great things, don't you think? I must admit, when I heard the names I thought they were poor choices, less than inspiring, but "Spirit" seems quite a plucky machine so far, so the name might be appropriate after all.

Byron · 2004-01-15 12:26:28

Spirit, however, has really captured my interest now that I can see it's capable of doing some serious moving and taking good images. I love the fact that they want to get it to a hill 3 kilometres away; now *that* is an epic journey!
*What is the approximate maximum distance traveling range for rovers like Spirit (and Opportunity)? I'm not sure I've encountered that information, though I likely forgot (information overload....steam is going to start rolling out of my ears any moment now...)
--Cindy

Well, the design plans only called for the rover to travel a half a kilometer or so, but most mission planners see that as the bare *minimum*. In truth, they'll be driving those things until they drop...lol.

B

PS (edit) In case you're wondering, the "cruise speed" of the rovers is one inch per second, or about 1/16th mph. I bet a turtle can beat that... But hey, you gotta go slow and take in the sights, huh?

Palomar · 2004-01-15 12:56:30

In truth, they'll be driving those things until they drop...lol.

*I laughed so hard at that!!!

(...and didn't realize they travel so slowly...I was figuring maybe 1 mile per hour at least, sheesh)

--Cindy :laugh:

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Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

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