Spirit & Opportunity *3* - ...continued from previous threads

Palomar · 2004-01-30 07:35:19

[=http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040130/ap_on_sc/mars_rovers_74]Opportunity may roll out on Saturday

*...instead of Sunday!

Also, Spirit "will be perfect again" after repairs.

***
PASADENA, Calif. - NASA (news - web sites)'s Opportunity rover stretched out its rear wheels Thursday in preparation for rolling onto the surface of Mars, --->possibly a day earlier than expected<---, and the space agency said its twin Spirit "will be perfect again" after repairs of crippling software problems.

Except for its robotic arm, Opportunity finished unfolding and standing up from its landing position and was ready to travel the final 10 feet from its lander to the surface of Mars, possibly late Saturday, project manager Pete Theisinger told The Associated Press.

NASA earlier had said Opportunity could be ready to reach the surface by Sunday.
***

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-01-30 07:51:33

[=http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05146]Opposition Effect

*I found the following at spaceweather.com. The photo above is linked to a short article which reads (spaceweather.com is updated and archived daily, with some glitches I've noticed; the article has been on the front page for 2 days now, but likely will be pushed into archive tomorrow, so will copy and paste here):

"OPPOSITION EFFECT: When NASA's rover Opportunity was parachuting to the surface of Mars last Saturday, the parachute cast a shadow on the ground below. A camera on the bottom of the lander captured the scene; note how the shadow (denoted by an arrow) is surrounded by a curious light glow:

Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley explains: 'The glow is almost certainly an opposition effect--that is, when an area of ground looks brighter than its surroundings because it has no shadows. Areas close to the antisolar point, where parachute shadows lie, have their shadows directly beneath the objects (soil grains and small stones) that cast them. So the shadows are hidden. Further away from the antisolar point the shadows are visible and so, overall, the ground looks darker.'

Note: The opposition effect in this image was pointed out to us by Hugo Landheer of the Netherlands. Thanks, Hugo!"

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-01-30 20:31:43

[=http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=5&u=/ap/20040130/ap_on_sc/mars_rovers_82]Opportunity sees possible water evidence

*Hot off the Yahoo! presses. It's very late, so will add this only:

"PASADENA, Calif. - NASA (news - web sites)'s Mars rover Opportunity spied hints Friday of a mineral that typically forms in water ? a finding that could mean the dry and dusty Red Planet was once wetter and more hospitable to life...
NASA scientists want Opportunity to find on the pebbly ground a mineral called gray hematite. The iron-rich mineral typically ? but not always ? forms in liquid water. Scientists said the preliminary evidence suggests Opportunity has already spied the mineral in the ruddy soil around it by using its mini-thermal emissions spectrometer, an instrument that measures infrared radiation."

--Cindy ('til tomorrow!)

1smlstp · 2004-01-31 00:19:47

I attempted that little date trick before but it didn't work for me.

Oops, I forgot to mention that at the end of Wednesdays news briefing they mention that there was not going to be a briefing on Thursday. Here's Friday's briefing.
[rtsp://video.c-span.org/15days/e013004_nasa.rm]rtsp://video.c-span.org/15days/e013004_nasa.rm

So is anybody else going to watch Opportunity's egress live on NASA TV? It starts in just a couple of hours at 8:00AM GMT (3:00AM EST, 12 midnight PST).

rgcarnes · 2004-01-31 00:45:32

Stephen,

Hope they take a look at your leaf-like-thing closer once the rover leaves its lander base. One totally non-organic thing it reminds me of is the clumps of curly gypsum crystals I used to find in and on the soil near the old rail stop of Waldo, in New Mexico not very far from Interstate 25 between Albuquerque and Sante Fe.

It would be so much more interesting, though, if it is an ice/frost flower, or something more organic.

1smlstp · 2004-01-31 02:06:16

Opportunity's egress is being broadcast live (right now) on NASA TV. They expect the wheels to hit the martian soil in about 3 hours from now. Hope everybody is watching.

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-31 02:08:44

1smlstp, I'm tuning in!

I've been really blessed to be able to see all these major activities "live," despite my busy week.

edit: Are you sure about that three hour figure?

Edited By Josh Cryer on 1075536570

1smlstp · 2004-01-31 02:16:15

Hey Josh,
Glad that I'm not the only one watching. This is REALLY exciting.

I really like the way they lets us eavesdrop on the internal communications between different operations. The general public might not understand what they are talking about but I expect everybody here has a science or engineering background and understands this stuff quite well. Or is that a bad assumption?

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-31 02:22:21

Hey 1smlstp, I know, this is great, I hope you got to see the landings live, especially the Spirit landing, since it was just so tense and emotional.

But I totally agree with you about letting us hear what the operators are saying. During Spirit's egress, the 'commentators' talked throughout a really charming sequence where they were talking about personal stuff like working in the testbed and fooling with the rover; they passed around one of the wheels and talked about the design, it was really great. And I was so freaking annoyed at those commentators, because I couldn't hear what they were chatting about, I believe I actually posted about that.

And yeah, most people can understand what is going on, I really think that's true.

Hehe, I think they just decided for the "go for egress" signal (lots of clapping); they should be sending it very soon. I think you three hour figure might've been a bit long, or conservative; we should see pictures in about 45 minutes (my guess).

edit: they just sent the egress signal a bit ago, we should get some responses in about 25 minutes.

When egress happens, we get some noise from the rover if I recall. A couple of blips basically. We won't get pictures, unfortunately, until the Odyssey pass. Trying to determine when that happens.

Edited By Josh Cryer on 1075537790

1smlstp · 2004-01-31 02:42:48

I agree completely about the commentators talking over the operations people. I'd much rather hear what's going on then have the commentators talking about something else.

I saw both the landings live too. I remember when Wayne Lee was saying "wait wait" when they were trying to aquire the signal after the first bounce. Talk about a nail biter. I was having visions of a dead rover. I was SO relieved when everything was ok. And I really liked his "airliner" commentary during Opportunity's landing. "if you look out the window you can see Olympus Mons..." That was great!.

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-31 03:00:04

Looks like we're going to get a little "lunchtime lecture" from one of the camera guys. This ought to be interesting.

After noting all sorts of things about how camera dynamics are... he started talking about mini-TES indications of.... gray hematite.

Fantastic.

Edited By Josh Cryer on 1075540728

1smlstp · 2004-01-31 03:32:33

Looks like the Odyssey pass will be at 3:15AM PST. I think that's where I got the 3 hour thing above.

I thought the "lunchtime lecture" was excellent. I wished they would have showed earlier ones. Maybe they'll show some of the future ones.

Edit: They just got the confirmation beep that Opportunity has 6 wheels on the soil. Yeah!

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-31 04:03:17

Agreed, that would've killed some good time. I think I'll stick around for the next hour and a half or so, waiting for the Odyssey pass. Can't wait for the pictures.

Michael Bloxham · 2004-01-31 04:21:46

3:15am? Argh, the curse of Mars!

Michael Bloxham · 2004-01-31 04:57:02

Here we go...

1smlstp · 2004-01-31 05:07:19

We got em. Hurray!

Edit: I can't wait for them to put 'em on the web site.

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-31 05:11:06

1smlstp · 2004-01-31 05:43:33

This makes me smile REALLY big... like Josh.

I wish I worked at JPL. So is anybody here a current or former NASA employee?

Josh Cryer · 2004-01-31 05:46:39

Nah, I wish. I don't think anyone here is in the space industry. Maybe RobertD; but I'm not so sure abiout that.

They're playing the conference BTW, same old exciting, emotional great stuff.

edit: Phil, Icantspellhislastname, just announced that they have in fact found hematite at the Opportunity site.

And the audience just exploded in claps.

Edited By Josh Cryer on 1075550096

1smlstp · 2004-01-31 06:28:32

Darn, I figured this might be the place where NASA people hang out. I think we need to tell them they should hang out here.

The hematite thing is great and it looks like a low temperature formation process possibly meaning water.

My favorite line from the press conference was when they were talking about the mechanical engineer that got to send the egress command and somebody said "One small click...". That was great.

They are going to replay the new conference and show the images at 5:30AM PST for anybody that missed it.

Rxke · 2004-01-31 06:37:02

Just loggd in... AAARGH missed it!

[http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/rover-i … _map-m.jpg]they modelled the crater, neat...

Whooo... shivers down my spine all over again when i saw that egress pic.

And grey hematite. It's-again-a beautiful day!

Shaun Barrett · 2004-01-31 07:53:10

Wow, it really is a crater!
A few posts ago I queried whether maybe Opportunity was just in a dip in the generally undulating sand. But that computer model of the topography is irrefutable ... YUP, it's a crater all right!!

I can't believe how versatile the instrumentation is on these MERs! They can even use their data to make brilliant 3-D maps of the ground around them. Fantastic!!

1smlstp · 2004-01-31 08:18:48

For everbody that missed it, NASA TV is playing highlights of the egress they showed earlier. And it looks like they'll show the images again. so tune in now if you missed it earlier.

Edit: [http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … 0131a.html]And they have all the images up now.

Rxke · 2004-01-31 08:30:56

Thanks a million times, 1smallstep!

i did miss it, and now i experienced it like it happened real-time.... like in the pre-sattelite period, heehee!

ON MARS, ON MARS! you hear a guy yelling, i thought that was great!

Palomar · 2004-01-31 08:54:35

ON MARS, ON MARS! you hear a guy yelling, i thought that was great!

*Yeah, I enjoy enthusiasm like that as well. Reminds me of people I've seen on storm-chasing trips where they'll spot a tornado, get in front of the camera to be in the same shot with the tornado (which is waaaaaay in the background, a few miles away at least...hopefully...), then point at it while screaming "A tornado! A tornado!"

No kidding!

They played "Who Let the Dogs Out" when Spirit rolled off its lander...what song did they play for Opportunity? Or did I missing something in a post already?

--Cindy

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