Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

remcook · 2004-01-22 01:22:29

looks like small problems (let's hope it's small) are cropping up

[http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera … ocomm.html]http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera … ocomm.html

Shaun Barrett · 2004-01-22 03:06:56

It's obvious what's going on. The same martians who dropped that bracelet Jetset spotted draped over a rock had to shut down Spirit while they loaded the info. they want us to see into the computer.

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-22 04:19:26

Oh man, Shaun, that's exactly what everyone is gunna say now.

Thanks for giving 'them' the idea.

BTW, I just wanted to give you guys another stupid heads up. The Press Briefings are archived at [http://www.cspan.org]CSPAN.org for a time, just in case you're curious. It's been a life saver for me, as I've been able to see the last two conferences via CSPAN, since I wasn't here to watch them live. You'll bet that I'll be paying more attention once the rovers get... roving!

Shaun Barrett · 2004-01-22 05:56:47

Oops, sorry Josh!

I thought I was being funny ...

Rxke · 2004-01-22 12:11:32

Looking bad...

[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s … ce_mars_dc]NASA loses contact with rover

Rxke · 2004-01-22 12:12:43

Very serious comm problem, according to NASA, more than 24 hours no contact... Sigh...

Palomar · 2004-01-22 12:46:28

Very serious comm problem, according to NASA, more than 24 hours no contact... Sigh...

*Oh god.

I posted an article weeks ago, I can't remember where (perhaps the first Spirit & Opportunity thread), about backup personnel locations; I believe in the Utah desert (though IIRC that MIGHT have been related to possible terrorist attack interference here in the US...so much stuff to keep track of, my memory fails a bit). So I'm a bit surprised to read about the focus of attention being in Canberra.

Boy oh boy oh boy.

Hey Dr. Jeffrey L. Bell, you might be eating your words (should have kept them soft and sweet, you twit).

--Cindy

Rxke · 2004-01-22 13:00:27

Something from Slashdot, might put things in a bit less 'newsflash' perspective:

(by mlyle (148697))

"A considerable number of things have to work properly for the rover to be in its present state. Mars Global Surveyor received a carrier on UHF but no data, confirming that the UHF antenna, amplifier, and tranmitter are functional. The fact that it transmitted at the correct time (at night) indicates batteries and power systems are at least mostly functional, and that the spacecraft computer/avionics system was able to calculate the time of the MGS pass.
Also, NASA's DSN (Deep Space Network) has been able to send commands asking Spirit to send tones on X-Band, and has received the response tones back. This confirms that at least the low gain antenna, antenna switch, x-band receiver, and x-band tone transmitter are functional.
Perhaps a software fault or a synchronization problem with the radios is preventing valid daa frames from being transmitted. The fact that so much is known to functional argues against a failure that will incapacitate the spacecraft indefinitely. In the coming days, if communications are not restored, the spacecraft will enter safe modes that cause it to try harder to transmit and will reset subsystems"

Rxke · 2004-01-22 13:06:34

BBC reporting it is in fault mode...

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/3421071.stm]BBC

again, according to mlyle: "That tone is still unconfirmed-- they are not positive they have received it (it came in only 2.5 hours ago and processing the data sets takes time.. NASA has not confirmed that they are sure they got a 7.2 tone).
But I agree it is likely the rover is reporting it is faulted, even if it is not a sure thing yet. "

BTW anyone seen the webcast? Someone presumably said it could be as simple a thing as the batteries being overcharged ? ? ?

jetset · 2004-01-22 13:19:36

Sorry for interrupting, but I've done both things suggested..
Removed the image tags from my link, and sent two pics to JPL.

Chances of reply.... ???

Thanks to those that took my posts seriously..

Steve

Rxke · 2004-01-22 14:14:57

All the grisly details are in the "Shaun Barrett text Feed"

[http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera … tonly.html]http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera … tonly.html

In plaintalk: Spirit still 'hears' and 'cries for help' in replies to messages from earth, but seems not to send any science data anymore, so not everything is down,

Note: Sojourner had these 'communication hiccups' things too, so it might be minor, let's hope it is.

2 day approx for Opportunity, so this is going to get *very* hectic at JPL

Shaun Barrett · 2004-01-22 18:39:26

Uh-oh.
Looks like it's humble-pie time.
In pulling Jetset's leg about the anomalous object s/he pointed out, I never dreamed I was also joking about something as serious as this!

I hereby formally withdraw any comments of a flippant or jocular nature concerning Spirit's communications problem.

I'm shocked and horrified at this sudden interruption to what was shaping up as a near-perfect mission and I'm praying for a swift correction of the fault.

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-22 19:16:11

As long as we're getting signals from it, I'm optimistic. I think this is just one of those kinks that was bound to happen. And personally, if we look on the bright side, I think it couldn't have happened at a better time; I mean, counterintuitively, it seems like this is the crap hitting the fan, what with Opportunity landing soon, but think about it this way, they weren't going to be "doing" anything anyway.

So, yeah, I'm not really worried. I'll worry when we ain't getting any signals at all. BTW, the text feed (in my sig) keeps updating every few hours, so you might want to keep an eye out. Certainly they'll tell us when things go well. And I fully expect them to.

Palomar · 2004-01-22 20:22:53

*Josh, I'm glad you're optimistic. My mood is "guardedly neutral."

The latest from the Text feed in your sig:

"Controllers believe the Mars rover Spirit has placed itself into 'safe-mode' after experiencing some sort of problem, and officials remain hopeful that engineers can coax the craft back into operation."

Well, if -they- are hopeful, I feel a bit better. :*( C'mon Spirit!

--Cindy

Ad Astra · 2004-01-22 20:48:36

Yeah, still guardedly optimistic here. Hopefully the problem will resolve itself or can be corrected with a software patch. If worse comes to worse, we still have Opportunity as a redundant rover. It will be interesting to hear what Richard C. Hoaglund has to say aout this

dickbill · 2004-01-22 22:24:23

the terms memory corruption, software failure and that computer related jargon, are frightening because it looks like spirit is a PC-rover on Mars.
I even wonder if Spirit could have downloaded a virus 'by mistake'.
If it is software problem, hopfully it will recover. But they say also hardware...could it be that overheat problem that they had at the beginning of the mission, I hope nothing has fused.
Anyway, since everything was check after landing and was fine, it must be a minor problem, no need to freak out.

Palomar · 2004-01-23 06:38:17

*Well, the information in the Text feed in Josh's sig line has not changed.

I've seen a handful of news articles which tell us Spirit is alive and "commandable"...that's great, but if it cannot relay information/data it gathers to us...

--Cindy

Byron · 2004-01-23 06:42:59

From what I can discern from the JPL feed, Spirit has apparently gone into "safe mode", a lot like a PC does when its operating system is corrupted. What they're attempting to do now is to send a series of "reboot" commands to override whatever faults the on-board computer is encountering, (if that's what it is)...unfortunately, this may take several days...

We'll just have to wait and keep our fingers crossed that the problem(s) can indeed be fixed... ???

B

Shaun Barrett · 2004-01-23 07:30:33

Hi Ad Astra!
Richard Hoagland is having a field day! The Enterprise Mission is implying that various manufactured items are strewn around the Spirit landing site, including machined metal objects.
The idea, of course, is to insinuate that transmissions of such damning data had to be curtailed by those who don't want us to know about the high civilisation that existed (or still exists) on Mars.
Naturally nobody has stopped to ask themselves why Spirit's landing site on the floor of Gusev crater should be scattered with twisted and broken scraps of metal machine parts. Or are they saying that the entire surface of Mars is similarly festooned with innumerable technological artifacts, so it doesn't matter where you land .. you'll find them?!

Another article they produced recently, purportedly by a geologist, put forward the idea that the pointier of the Twin Peaks at the Pathfinder landing site (the one on the left in the photos) was most unlikely to be a natural prominence. Apparently it's a badly eroded pyramid!
Again, nobody bothered to ask the odds of landing a space probe within sight of an artificial pyramid on Mars. How many pyramids did the martians build? Are they difficult to avoid? Did Beagle 2 perhaps impale itself on the pinnacle of one of them?!!

On a more serious note, can anyone direct me to a site dealing with the Spirit photo which has been modified to show how a human on the surface would see the colour of the soil and sky etc.?
I heard someone had done such a modification and, since nobody at NASA has phoned me yet to ask if I'd like to lead the first expedition to Mars and I'm unlikely to see the place first-hand (!! ), I'd like to see this 'natural colour' picture for myself.

Palomar · 2004-01-23 08:18:50

On a more serious note, can anyone direct me to a site dealing with the Spirit photo which has been modified to show how a human on the surface would see the colour of the soil and sky etc.?
I heard someone had done such a modification and, since nobody at NASA has phoned me yet to ask if I'd like to lead the first expedition to Mars and I'm unlikely to see the place first-hand (!! ), I'd like to see this 'natural colour' picture for myself.

[http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/01/06/spirit_pix040106]"...colour roughly what human eyes would see..."

*Here ya go, mate.

--Cindy

P.S.: Maybe Hoagland needs to get his prescriptions refilled?

Rxke · 2004-01-23 08:30:09

Shaun, it's a difficult question to answer, because there is no 'way human sees color' i.e. everybody has a slightly different way of experiencing colors, then you have the issue with (in this case) that most colormonitors are badly colorcalibrated, etc
All in all, Nasa/jpl are doing a good job in *fairly* accurate color representation, of coure there's adjustment (and here the conspiracy lunatics come in, sigh) but that's simply to adjust the CCD (electronic equivalent of old film) 'sees' different than us, they use several filters etc. That's why these color patches are there, in the pics, they know what colors are on them , and work with that as a basis.

Another good link: [http://humbabe.arc.nasa.gov/mgcm/faq/sky.html]Why is the sky butterscotch

Rxke · 2004-01-23 08:35:53

Oh yes: that story about the guy that 'adjusted' the spirit pics: it's a kook, he maintains NASA is making Mars too red in their pictures to wow the public.... (hey, do you see red, i do not, it's more brown)

He also sais the sky is blue, and NASA 'photoshopped' that out... As if they have time to do that. 'see previous link BTW)

all this mumbo-jumbo has its origins from the first published colorpics from VIKING, wich were inaccurate, they DID show a blue sky, becaue scientists assumed it would be blue, and the colorcalibration was not working initially... Indeed bad points for NASA, in a way, they were desperate to show color when they didn't have the right information...
When they later published the corrected versions, the conspiracy-idiots had a field day. Still have...

Rxke · 2004-01-23 08:48:12

NASA contacts Spirit again! (3 hours ago)
[http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zh.html]Spacedaily

10bits/second ain't much to write home about, however...

dickbill · 2004-01-23 09:22:02

Many here, me included, are emotionally attached to that rover.
It must resuscitate, the third martian day.
Go Go Spirit !

New Mars Forums

Announcement

#126 2004-01-22 01:22:29

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#127 2004-01-22 03:06:56

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#128 2004-01-22 04:19:26

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#129 2004-01-22 05:56:47

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#130 2004-01-22 12:11:32

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#131 2004-01-22 12:12:43

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#132 2004-01-22 12:46:28

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#133 2004-01-22 13:00:27

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#134 2004-01-22 13:06:34

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#135 2004-01-22 13:19:36

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#136 2004-01-22 14:14:57

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#137 2004-01-22 18:39:26

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#138 2004-01-22 19:16:11

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#139 2004-01-22 20:22:53

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#140 2004-01-22 20:48:36

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#141 2004-01-22 22:24:23

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#142 2004-01-23 06:38:17

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#143 2004-01-23 06:42:59

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#144 2004-01-23 07:30:33

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#145 2004-01-23 08:18:50

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#146 2004-01-23 08:30:09

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#147 2004-01-23 08:35:53

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#148 2004-01-23 08:48:12

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

#149 2004-01-23 09:22:02

Re: Spirit & Opportunity 2 - Continued from original thread

Board footer