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cIclops

Member

Registered: 2005-06-16

Posts: 3,230

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

It's hard to say, not sure which way it is coming in, it has to cross a lot of Mars to reach the landing zone. The cam is 300kms up and PHX is only about 10 km altitude, so the angle may be misleading.

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Zydar

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2007-08-14

Posts: 74

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

Have a look at the images posted below. What are we seeing in these images? Is the detail in the images from Phoenix real or a visual anomaly?

Look into the images, not at them, and you should be amazed at what you can see.

and here's another.....

Josh Cryer

Moderator

Registered: 2001-09-29

Posts: 3,830

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

HOLY CRAP!  :shock: Did Phoenix actually fly over Heimdall?!  Man I never thought the engineers would allow it to get even that close to a hole in a ground like THAT. 

Not at all, it was 20km closer to MRO at that point. It's just one of those weird perspective things. Imagine that the probe is significantly closer to MRO than the crater.

Probably easier to wrap your brain around it when you think about it in those terms.

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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]
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The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.

Vincent

Banned

From: North Carolina USA

Registered: 2008-04-13

Posts: 623

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

Hort enhanced MRO showing rocket influence on surface, dark area around lander and heat shield crater.

Vincent

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Argument expected.
I don't require agreement when presenting new ideas.

-Dana Johnson

cIclops

Member

Registered: 2005-06-16

Posts: 3,230

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

The lander is at top. Around the heat shield (black area on the right side) is  surface material disturbed by the impact - perhaps a bounce mark. It fell from about 1 km in very thin Martian air. The area around the back shell (just above the white blob of the parachute) is also disturbed by its impact.

High rez version

Now there's more real artifacts on Mars

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cIclops

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Registered: 2005-06-16

Posts: 3,230

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

Weather Report for Mars Sol 1 - 27 May 2008

Skies were clear and sunny on Sol 1 on Mars. The temperature varied between minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit in the early morning and minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit in the afternoon. The average pressure was 8.55 millibars, which is less than a 1/100th of the sea level pressure on Earth.

The weather station was activated in the first hour after landing on Mars. Measurements are being recorded continuously.

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Vincent

Banned

From: North Carolina USA

Registered: 2008-04-13

Posts: 623

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

When is the northern summer solstice on Mars?

viencent

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Argument expected.
I don't require agreement when presenting new ideas.

-Dana Johnson

cIclops

Member

Registered: 2005-06-16

Posts: 3,230

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

This Martian year it falls on June 25 2008

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louis

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2008-03-24

Posts: 7,208

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

Love this weather report!

Coming from the UK, weather is our favourite subject and this brings home the reality of this mission.  We have this wonderful craft on a planet that bears a true family resemblance to our own. 

Lowest Earth temp recorded was something like -87F.  -22F is almost tropical!

Is the millibars figure higher than expected?

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Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com

Vincent

Banned

From: North Carolina USA

Registered: 2008-04-13

Posts: 623

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

Looks like a stiff NE wind so no dust on the lander. NE direction means that the highest pressure is still over the ice cap. We will need for this to weaken as max daylight develops.
On Earth max heating is 3 weeks after solstice.

We will need those winds to calm down before any thawing can occur. 

Vincent

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Argument expected.
I don't require agreement when presenting new ideas.

-Dana Johnson

Josh Cryer

Moderator

Registered: 2001-09-29

Posts: 3,830

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

Vincent, care to explain your Horticolor method? While I don't think it resembles reality it does produce good results!

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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]
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The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.

RobertDyck

Moderator

From: Winnipeg, Canada

Registered: 2002-08-20

Posts: 7,926

Website

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

Maple Leaf on Mars!

Ok, it's a really dark image. If you click it will give you a larger view, but still really dark. It shows the "Canada" word mark (logo) on the Lidar imager on Mars Phoenix. The typical Canadian federal government logo has a small Canadian flag flying from the "d" in Canada. So there is a tiny Canadian flag on Mars. The Canadian Space Agency made a big deal about this before it landed.

Lidar (like radar but with a laser) is Canada's high-tech contribution to Phoenix. Canada also has a low-tech contribution: a bob on a string with a camera looking at it via a small mirror as large as a dental mirror. Well, the hot wire anamometer on Mars Polar Lander didn't work because they couldn't calibrate it; how much heat will a hot wire loose with varying pressure, atmospheric gasses, and wind speed? CSA spent all their money on the Lidar, so didn't have much left for the rest of the MET station. Oh well.

Here's the weather report via the CSA website. It's in metric.

8.5 millibar pressure is pretty good for Mars! However, a high of -30°C? That's a cold day for a Winnipeg winter. It does get colder in the coldest nights of winter, but I prefer the -7.8°C day time temperature recorded by Mars Pathfinder. But this is the Mars high arctic.

Dry ice sublimates at -79°C, so expect the dry ice over the north polar ice cap is either sublimating away, or has already completely sublimated.

Josh Cryer

Moderator

Registered: 2001-09-29

Posts: 3,830

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

New data has been uploaded, here's my first attempt, trying to colorize using the small datasets extrpolated to fit the bigger ones (haven't quite figured out luminance yet though): http://i31.tinypic.com/wce6f6.jpg

View at 1/4th size to get a good idea.

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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]
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The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.

Vincent

Banned

From: North Carolina USA

Registered: 2008-04-13

Posts: 623

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

Josh Cryer

I will give that two thumbs up. Good color variables with surface. I saw NASA was posting 17K thumbnails. If you could sharpen that up, don’t ask me how, I would be a big fan.

Viencent

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Argument expected.
I don't require agreement when presenting new ideas.

-Dana Johnson

Josh Cryer

Moderator

Registered: 2001-09-29

Posts: 3,830

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

I'm told if you use LAB color to do it it will conserve details for lack of colors, but I haven't *quite* figured out how to do it. I'm getting close though. I'm sure NASA has a nice utility that does it magically.

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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]
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The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.

Josh Cryer

Moderator

Registered: 2001-09-29

Posts: 3,830

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

Still working on how to adjust the reds.

Here we go! http://i25.tinypic.com/97jg4p.jpg

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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]
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The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.

noosfractal

Member

From: Biosphere 1

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 824

Website

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

For the colorizers, the color calibration targets are up ...

http://fawkes4.lpl.arizona.edu/images.php?gID=0&cID=7

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Fan of [url=http://www.red-oasis.com/]Red Oasis[/url]

Josh Cryer

Moderator

Registered: 2001-09-29

Posts: 3,830

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

OK, I definitely got a good method down now.

http://i26.tinypic.com/2nsw88.jpg

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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.

cIclops

Member

Registered: 2005-06-16

Posts: 3,230

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

Orbiter Relays Second-Day Information - 27 May 2008

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter successfully received information from the Phoenix Mars Lander Tuesday evening and relayed the information to Earth. The relayed transmission included images and other data collected by Phoenix during the mission's second day after landing on Mars.

The UHF radio system used by the orbiter to communicate with the lander had gone into a standby mode earlier Tuesday for a still undetermined cause. This prevented sending Phoenix any new commands from Earth on Tuesday. Instead, the lander carried out a backup set of activity commands that had been sent Monday.

NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter is scheduled for relaying commands to the lander on Wednesday morning.

Press briefing - 27 May 2008 - video 52 mins

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[color=darkred]Let's go to Mars and far beyond -  triple NASA's budget ![/color] [url=irc://freenode#space]  #space channel !! [/url] [url=http://www.youtube.com/user/c1cl0ps]   - videos !!![/url]

Vincent

Banned

From: North Carolina USA

Registered: 2008-04-13

Posts: 623

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

Was looking at the image Josh put together and it looks good. I have a lot of respect for people that do not beat an image to death. In it I found some interesting features.

Area I- shows Berry type objects on rocks. They may not be Berries but they are something.

Area II- These same features are on the ground

I will include a grayscale image that shows they are there. Thanks for not hiding them in 25 coats of red.

Vincent

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Argument expected.
I don't require agreement when presenting new ideas.

-Dana Johnson

cIclops

Member

Registered: 2005-06-16

Posts: 3,230

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

The RAC should be able to get closeups of the nearest rock marked with the red box. Perhaps it can also scrape samples from it to view with the OM and AFM.

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[color=darkred]Let's go to Mars and far beyond -  triple NASA's budget ![/color] [url=irc://freenode#space]  #space channel !! [/url] [url=http://www.youtube.com/user/c1cl0ps]   - videos !!![/url]

Josh Cryer

Moderator

Registered: 2001-09-29

Posts: 3,830

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

Vincent, http://picasaweb.google.com/joshcryer/M … nixLander/

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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.

Zydar

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2007-08-14

Posts: 74

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

Not knowing, at present, what the resolution per pixel of the images, I have been carrying out some more research into objects on the surface and have to ask the following question.

Has Phoenix landed on a city of micro-dimensions?

When processing the images slightly, some very interesting objects on a micro-scale are being revealed compared to the size of the lander. Is it possible that in this area of the Northern Plains, an existence is, or did, survive which is nothing like the size of the humans? This relates to my previous post where I made reference to - 'Martians being the size of ants' after perusing the first images.

It is very hard to comprehend that there could possibly be micro life-forms existing on Mars, but if such life-forms do exist, what could their appearance look like and why, amongst the rocks and boulders, are there recognizable structural shapes showing up in micro-form?

Zydar

cIclops

Member

Registered: 2005-06-16

Posts: 3,230

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

A city of micro-dimensions just beyond the resolution of the camera? LOL.

(Zydar, you know where to discuss this topic - any more messages will be deleted)

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[color=darkred]Let's go to Mars and far beyond -  triple NASA's budget ![/color] [url=irc://freenode#space]  #space channel !! [/url] [url=http://www.youtube.com/user/c1cl0ps]   - videos !!![/url]

Vincent

Banned

From: North Carolina USA

Registered: 2008-04-13

Posts: 623

Re: Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX)

Good job Josh, no, excellent job. Worthy of a major post. OUTSTANDING!

Vincent

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Argument expected.
I don't require agreement when presenting new ideas.

-Dana Johnson