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Posted by: Redstone Aug 25 2005, 03:57 PM

According to the http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Breaking.html, there is an MER news conference set for September 1, at 1 pm EDT (5 pm GMT). Take it with a pinch of salt, because these schedules change a lot. Whenever it happens it will be shown on http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html.

This is the first press conference since when? I can't remember when we saw the last one...

I'm guessing this is when we'll see the "Mother of all Panoramas". Hopefully some news on the science too, and future route plans.

Posted by: ustrax Aug 25 2005, 04:28 PM

Well...This would be...to say the least...surprising...


http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b14/ustrax3/sq2.jpg

Posted by: MizarKey Aug 25 2005, 06:24 PM

Ustrax, that was very funny...thanks for that!

Eric P / MizarKey

Posted by: dilo Aug 25 2005, 06:59 PM

Posted by: aldo12xu Aug 25 2005, 08:41 PM

Posted by: djellison Aug 25 2005, 08:55 PM

Reminds me of a worrying incident between Cook and Theisinger on the night of Spirits landing



Doug

Posted by: dvandorn Aug 26 2005, 04:44 AM

Reports of cannibalism on the MER Teams are very overblown. This kind of thing hardly ever happens anymore on the New MER Teams...

Besides, I thought Pete had a gimpy leg...?



-the other Doug

Posted by: MichaelT Aug 26 2005, 07:30 AM

Posted by: Tman Aug 26 2005, 08:15 AM

Ustrax you should still show the other image with Steve that show him saying (as I remember roughly): "Nooo, can at last someone stop this guy..." (or something like that)

Posted by: Nix Aug 26 2005, 08:38 AM

Yeah, that was a good one

Nico

Posted by: djellison Aug 26 2005, 08:52 AM

http://www.marstoday.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=17669

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has reached the summit of Husband Hill, part of the range the rover first observed on the distant horizon from its landing site in January 2004.

A news briefing Thursday, Sept. 1 at NASA Headquarters will reveal what Spirit is seeing as well as the current status and what we have learned from both Spirit and its twin, Opportunity. The briefing will begin at 1 p.m. EDT in the NASA Headquarters auditorium, 300 E St. SW, Washington and will be carried live on NASA Television.

Briefing participants:

* Douglas McCuistion, NASA Mars Exploration Program Director, Science Mission Directorate, Washington

* Dr. Steve Squyres, Principal Investigator for Mars Exploration Rovers science payload, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

* Chris Leger, Rover Planner, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif.

* Jacob Matijevic, Mars Exploration Rover Engineering Team Chief, JPL

* Ray Arvidson, Deputy Principal Investigator for Mars Exploration Rovers science payload, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.

NASA TV will provide question-and-answer capability from participating agency centers. Media interested in asking questions via phone during the briefing should call Grace Reardon on 202/358-0884, by noon EDT, Wednesday, Aug. 31, to receive instructions.

Posted by: ustrax Aug 26 2005, 09:12 AM

Do you mean...This one?...:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b14/ustrax3/sq.jpg

Posted by: Tman Aug 26 2005, 09:53 AM

Exact!

Both match..., dosent it.

Posted by: ustrax Aug 26 2005, 10:39 AM

Yes...
I believe the truth must be rise above anything else.
Cannibalism, conspiracies, wild wild parties...Everything must be known.
That is why I'm releasing my latest book.
Doug, let me tell you that I'm available for the more than necessary Q&A.
Just check my agenda...

Here it is, you can find in the best Amazonian libraries:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b14/ustrax3/raving.jpg

Posted by: Bill Harris Aug 26 2005, 12:31 PM

You are all sick puppies.



--Bill

Posted by: Burmese Aug 26 2005, 02:10 PM

Squyres interview by ABC in Australia

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2005/s1445148.htm

(and the reporter spells his name Squires, btw)

Another article that is not one of the carbon-copy jobs spewed onto Google:

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/12477325.htm

Posted by: ustrax Aug 26 2005, 02:29 PM

'You know, if I could go there myself, I'd do it in a heartbeat. No question about it, I would love to go to Mars. This is the closest I'm going to come in my lifetime and I'm trying to enjoy it as much as I possibly can.'

We know you are...

Posted by: Burmese Aug 26 2005, 03:13 PM

What I found interesting in that 2nd article was the indications that some scientists thought taking a panorama a waste altogether and wanted to get back immediately to using 'their' instruments.

Posted by: tedstryk Aug 26 2005, 03:29 PM

Brings back visions of the late fifties/early sixties, when scientists doing particle and fields work were really angered by having to let remote sensing not only tag along, but often take precedence, as the felt that remote sensing was just glorified sight-seeing, and that their work was the real science. Many probably still feel that way. Fortunately, because it is remote sensing that generates much more public interest, this narrow approach usually loses.

Posted by: mike Aug 26 2005, 04:18 PM

Strange, I always thought light was part of the same electromagnetic spectrum as radio, infrared, microwave, and everything else..

Posted by: dvandorn Aug 26 2005, 08:45 PM

It is. But tedstryk is right -- and it's not just a phenomenon seen in the late 50s and early 60s. Particles & fields experimenters have historically had a bias that would have you believe that imagery is worthless -- after all, *anyone* can see things in visible light, but it takes their own special instruments (and their peculiar abilities to understand the results from those experiments) to understand everything *unseen* out there in the Universe.

I've spoken to people who are so antagonistic to imagery that they believe there should *never* have been a camera flown in space, period -- they just can't understand how anyone can gain any *important* data from images.

For an example of such anti-imagery prejudice, Pioneers 10 and 11 were originally designed without any imaging system whatsoever. Many of the people involved in the design of those probes went to their graves feeling that imaging on those probes was a waste of time and effort.

I feel comfortable saying that the anti-imaging prejudice is just plain wrong -- particles and fields sensors, for example, would *never* have discovered the basic truth about Io that non-scientific *navigation* images revealed. And nothing except imaging could have established the water-laid nature of the evaporite rocks at Meridiani. But the anti-imaging prejudice did exist, and still does exist to a certain extent.

-the other Doug

Posted by: djf Sep 1 2005, 05:36 AM

Wasn't entirely sure which of the many great current topics to post this in, but there's a new mission update at http://athena1.cornell.edu/news/mubss/.

Figured this one might become a focal point for discussion a little later today...

Posted by: jamescanvin Sep 1 2005, 06:44 AM

Thanks.





Insane indeed!

Posted by: Decepticon Sep 1 2005, 10:00 AM

Will the conference be available for download after the event?

Or will NASATV replay later in the evening?

Posted by: djellison Sep 1 2005, 10:05 AM

They are bound to replay it - but I will TRY and get a capture of it. If not - spaceflightnow.com (well worth the subscription) will surely have it as a QT movie in a day or so - or even just the audio as an MP3

Doug

Posted by: Bill Harris Sep 1 2005, 10:46 AM

We need an "applause" smilie. As a geologist, I've been having wet dreams over the Layered Outcrops for a year now. The drive to the summit has been a good ride, but I think that the Inner Basin will answer (and ask) a lot of questions.



He is joking about having to shut down, isn't he?

--Bill

Posted by: djellison Sep 1 2005, 11:22 AM

Nope - back when Spirit landed, it got so hot they started taking UHF passes out from the afternoon session to let it cool down

On the upside - they can do lots of night time stuff with all that power,

Doug

Posted by: Marcel Sep 1 2005, 11:40 AM

The only reason what i can think of why they should do that is, that there's major currents flowing around in the WEB. This only happens if the battery is not full and (thus) draws a high load current, or if there's a lot of parts inside drawing amps at the same time. But then using the rover extensively makes it warm, not the energy input. If there's normal operation and no excesive use of transmitter, instruments, wheels or whatever uses energy: the arrays just put a 36 volts on the bus and this doesn't cause any currents that can heat. Potential (volts) does not cause heat, amps (and thereby watts: squared amps times resistance) does.

So, i don't understand either.

But it makes me so happy, that i don't even care. I knew it when i saw these arrays at the first navcam images at the summit: they almost look as crisp and clean as they looked on jan. 4, 2004. Gusev is a very windy place, especially on top of this hill.

Posted by: abalone Sep 1 2005, 11:54 AM

Could be that when its up and running the batteries can not be offline. Online batteries could act as a current sink even when fully charged. This would turn power into heat inside the batteries.

Posted by: abalone Sep 1 2005, 11:56 AM

Why didnt someone tell me he was coming to OZ. I could have gone to listen to one of his lectures.

Posted by: Marcel Sep 1 2005, 12:10 PM

Don't think i agree on that. When a battery is fully charged it's internal resistance is high, so no (or neglible) current is flowing. Also if the battery is "online" all the time: it is in parallel configuration with the bus it provides power to AND with the arrays. The amount of power it gives to the bus fully depends on the amount of current "asked" by the bus on the on hand, and the amount of sunlight on the arrays on the other hand. Once the sun is down, the batteries are used completely, once the sun's up, a part of the drawn current is taken over by the arrays. As soon as they put the rover to sleep IN THE DAYTIME, there almost no current flowing to the instuments or WEB, and all the energy that is provided by the arrays flows to the battery, EXCEPT when it's fully charged. Then no current is flowing at all.

Except for Oppy, that drains at least half an amp on the still stuck arm heater continually, unless put into deep sleep mode.

I think Steve mend to say, that there's plenty of energy in the rover (batterie) and on the arrays in the same time, and the intense use of transmitters, camera, driving, memory, and so on that can be fed with this wealth of energy, might make the WEB a bit of a HEB. So shutting down might be needed then.

Just like we want to cool down with a beer in the backyard after a hard day of work !

Posted by: djellison Sep 1 2005, 12:41 PM

It's fairly simple.

With only 600 whrs, there's not much you can do really - basic function, couple of naps during the day, a uhf pass - jobs-a-goodun.

But if you've got 950 whrs - you can do a couple of UHF passes, loads of imaging, loads of Minites work, lots for the rover to do - you can expend all that energy

But so well insulated is the WEB, that doing all the work generates a lot of heat (anything except mobility and IDD work involves heat being generated in the WEB ) - 300 Whrs of it Thats like putting a really REALLY bright lightbulb in there for the afternoon. No wonder it can get so hot in there! So - to stop it overheating - you throttle back on what you want to do in the day.

Doug

Posted by: Marcel Sep 1 2005, 12:52 PM

Exactly, it took me some more words to say the same.....(English is not my mother tongue....sometimes i wish it was, participating between you all....).

Who the .... would have ever thought by the way, that after 590 sols of operation, we could need a FAN and RADIATOR to pump martian air through the web to cool it !! It's fantastic news !! I suddenly get the feeling that this missions (or at least one of them) could be supported by MRO passes

Posted by: djellison Sep 1 2005, 12:54 PM

That's something I've thought in the past - use MRo during aerobraking for relay - but it's not something they're going to do - the post launch press conf mentioned that.

Doug

Posted by: Decepticon Sep 1 2005, 01:01 PM

I would love to see more of these press conferences or monthly solar system news reports.

With all the missions lately it could be done.

Posted by: Jeff7 Sep 1 2005, 02:42 PM

Your punctuation and grammar are better than plenty of people on other forums.


I wonder if a mission extension at 1000 sols is going to be an issue?

Posted by: jaredGalen Sep 1 2005, 03:33 PM

It seems the poor rovers are damned if they do and damned if they don't (in terms of having energy that is, more or less)
With too much they have to slow down so as not to overheat, with too little they have to slow down to conserve it.
Tricky business this 'oul martian exploration lark.

Posted by: David Sep 1 2005, 05:31 PM

The conference did start on time. But that last sentence is now slightly ironic, for other reasons.

Posted by: Redstone Sep 1 2005, 06:03 PM

Table salt, to be precise.

Amazing, Spirit is now at 950 WHr per day!

No news on what route Spirit will take down from the summit, or how soon the descent will begin.

I was a little disappointed that Arvidson was unable to really give much of a story of the Hills. They seem to have a lot of varied and interesting pieces of the puzzle, but can't put them together yet. Hopefully the descent will help put it together.

Posted by: jamescanvin Sep 2 2005, 12:24 AM

Sorry, I didn't think I should advertise the one I went to as it wasn't a public event. His talk at the Sydney Obervatory however was mentioned on this site, see http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=1208&view=findpost&p=16011 although easy to miss!

James

Posted by: SigurRosFan Sep 2 2005, 09:48 AM

Additional new press images ...

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/targetFamily/Mars?start=0

... and a new Spirit 3d route map:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20050901d/SQUYRES_3_Oblique_Traverse_full_size-A591R1_br2.jpg (78 KB)

Posted by: SigurRosFan Sep 2 2005, 11:46 AM

"Greeley has calculated that if the number and frequency of dust devils Spirit has encountered are similarly spaced throughout Gusev Crater, the crater probably experiences about 90,000 dust devils per martian day, or sol. Collectively, the whirlwinds lift and redeposit an estimated 4.5 million kilograms of sediment per sol."

Posted by: abalone Sep 2 2005, 11:57 AM

Thanks James, it was not meant as a criticism, I was just kicking myself. Do you work at U.N.S.W., my son has just started his 1st year Chem/Physics Deg there ?

Posted by: Marcel Sep 2 2005, 01:02 PM

Thanks for that one...

I am wondering myself too. No, stronger than that: i am almost convinced that at least one of them is going to make i through sol 1000. Spirit makes a good candidate, because she's almost back to the sol 0 power condition and there's no reason to believe that these cleaning events will stop.
Seems that one of the greatest fears of the EDL guys (winds at Gusev) became one of the biggest advantages for the power situation nowadays.

Posted by: algorimancer Sep 2 2005, 01:19 PM

Good conference, but I really wanted someone to ask for speculation about Homeplate's geology. This strikes me as a real anomaly, as if part of the evaporites from Meridiani were transplanted to Gusev. Probably one of those things they're saving up for a separate conference, after they explore it directly.

Posted by: Jeff7 Sep 2 2005, 01:27 PM

Some things have me concerned though - hasn't Spirit been tilted generally the same direction for quite some time now? For the most part, it's been facing north. What happens if it ventures onto the south side of the hills? It might be out of the main winds then.
And there's Ultreya (did I spell that right?) - if that turns out to be a lot of dark sand, going in that area could leave the rover open to a lot of dust deposits. Hopefully they'd avoid going down there if that is the case. Pictures from afar would have to suffice.

Posted by: Myran Sep 2 2005, 03:10 PM

The geology of Homeplate are indeed what should be the main objective for the rover right now if you ask me. What little we know from remote images tells us it might indeed be one anomaly, and at least something different from what we seen in Gusev so far.



Agreed on that one, I used to be intruiged by that dark spot in orbital images, but we already have seen several of the other smaller spots in these hills now, and there were nothing special about those. So remote sensing could be quite enough. Dust deposits there could even be very loose, we've seen a bit of that earlier.

Posted by: ElkGroveDan Sep 2 2005, 07:32 PM

Has anyone located a stream of this press conference? CSPAN used to archive them, but they suddenly dropped them cold earlier this year.

I don't have any Mars Bars but if anyone can find me the press conference I'll meet you instead at my local "bar" for a round.

http://www.elkgrovebrewery.com/

Posted by: SigurRosFan Sep 3 2005, 09:38 AM

" The highest point in the "Columbia Hills" inside Mars' Gusev Crater, the summit of "Husband Hill," sits 82 meters above the plains at the base of the hills. For comparison, this image shows the Statue of Liberty, which is 93 meters tall from the foundation of its pedestal to the top of Liberty's torch."

http://www.br-online.de/wissen-bildung/thema/mars/foto/spirit-husband-statue.jpg (25 KB)

Posted by: jamescanvin Sep 5 2005, 12:53 AM

Yeah, I got that you were just kicking yourself, and pointing out that it had (just) been mentioned here so you'd kick yourself even more.

I actually work at U.Syd but thankfully we got invited to Steves talk as well, was certainly worth taking a few hours off for!

Cheers, James

Posted by: glennwsmith Sep 5 2005, 04:20 AM

SigurRosFan -- Cool picture with the Statue of Liberty -- many reverberations from that! It does give you a sense of how high Husband Hill is. --Glenn

Posted by: Tom Tamlyn Sep 5 2005, 11:50 AM

The JPL rover site archives a few of the briefings, on a sporadic and unpredictable basis.

I've always had trouble finding a link to the page without googling. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mer/briefing.cfm The September 1 briefing isn't there now.

The only other source I know of for Rover briefings is the "plus" subscription service offered by spaceflightnow.com. I signed up towards the end of 2004, when it became clear that we couldn't rely on C-SPAN for Mars Rover archives anymore.

The SFN "plus" service is expensive ($50/year), and I've found it disappointing. The site is extremely focused on manned spaceflight and the commercial booster industry, at the expense of its coverage of unmanned space exploration. I seem to recall several reasonably significant press conferences which I hoped to find on SFN, but didn't. (Can't recall specifics.) Quite a few of the Rover press conferences are archived at a tiny resolution, and many can't be downloaded. (I've noticed that recent briefings are larger and consistently downloadable.)

Finally, the SFN site is organized in an extremely confusing way, and I can rarely find anything in the archives without thrashing around.

HOWEVER, you will find the September 1 Rover press conference on the SFN "plus" service, as well as very complete coverage of prior briefings (including many pre-launch briefings) and (for the hard core) some clips of the landings.

Tom Tamlyn

Posted by: Sym05 Sep 5 2005, 12:46 PM

I recorded the stream at home, the file is 60 Mb.
If legal I can put it somewhere (eg. rapidshare.de) this evening.

Posted by: paxdan Sep 5 2005, 06:39 PM

IANAL but as far as i know all US gov stuff, e.g., nasa images etc., is by definition public domain:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights#U.S._government_photographs
Works produced by civilian and military employees of the United States federal government in the scope of their employment are public domain by statute. However, note that, despite popular misconception, the U.S. Federal Government can own copyrights that are assigned to it by others. As a general rule photographs on .mil and .gov sites are public domain.

also

NASA images generally are not copyrighted. You may use NASA imagery, video and audio material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits and Internet Web pages.

i dont see a problem with posting it...

Posted by: CosmicRocker Sep 5 2005, 08:04 PM

I noticed that NASA TV did at least show one replay of the conference on their Video File program, but I haven't noticed it again. I guess it is hard for a press conference about a lowly, unmanned space mission to compete with important stuff, like month-old Space Station and Shuttle reruns.

Posted by: Sym05 Sep 5 2005, 08:48 PM

Ok, for the legal part is better to check before

The file is Pressconf-01-09-2005_top_of_the_hill.rm

Due to rapidshare limits I splitted the file in a brutal manner (unable to find a .rm video splitter) using Gsplit 1.8.

Here the two segments:
http://rapidshare.de/files/4766295/Pressconf-01-09-2005_top_of_the_hill.rm1.html
http://rapidshare.de/files/4766876/Pressconf-01-09-2005_top_of_the_hill.rm2.html

..and the executable to rejoin:
http://rapidshare.de/files/4766948/Pressconf-01-09-2005_top_of_the_hill.EXE.html