Sol 2695: Just a short drive / climb, but a very welcome one to get all 6 wheels off the slope and onto the top of the pediment
Roughly stitched L-NavCam partial pan using MS-ICE with the available images. I'm sure the full 360 will be memorable...
BTW: maybe a good time for a new thread? (Traversing the Greenheugh Pediment?)
Some context shots with a roughly scaled Curiosity perched on the edge of Greenheugh...
https://flic.kr/p/2iBxvek
https://flic.kr/p/2iByTQw
...grabbed from my 1.8 billion pixel http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/196659 map.
Stunning, Sean.
Re new thread: Yeah, possibly. That's Emily's call, though; she's been most carefully curating the journey of MSL here.
Greenheugh pediment looks like its going to be a rough traverse for the rover. What does the pediment represent?
Julius: "Greenheugh pediment looks like its going to be a rough traverse for the rover. What does the pediment represent?"
Not sure, but you might find this LPSC abstract interesting:
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2020/pdf/2337.pdf
Originally the pediment was interpreted as an alluvial fan, sediment swept down Gediz Vallis by flowing water, but that's not the prevailing view at the moment.
Phil
Here's an abstract from 2019 showing in Fig. 4 a projection from the Greenheugh to the Stimson.
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/ninthmars2019/pdf/6296.pdf
Thanks Phil, pbanholzer.appreciated.
How do you pronounce "Greenheugh"? (Not evident for a French speaker.)
Not evident for an English speaker either!
Everyone I’ve heard say it says Green Hue.
Better angle on Greenheugh...
https://flic.kr/p/2iChW6D
...Curi at sol 2695 position.
Panorama taken with MC Right on sol 2696 merged with two MC Left pictures:
https://flic.kr/p/2iCqTT3
The Navcam L view on Sol 2698.
The rest of the images will be added later.
Jan van Driel
Sol 2596 Mastcam100 panoramic.
http://www.db-prods.net/marsroversimages/curiosity-2020.php#3
Really enjoying the expertly de-bayered panoramas posted here. Many thanks...
Here's the raw L-MastCam 2698 arm workspace assembled in MS-ICE
Here is Jan's sol 2698 panorama in circular form. It shows the rugged landscape quite well. This looks like wheel-busting terrain to me.
Phil
Hi folks, new rocks, new thread! http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=7442&view=findpost&p=246873 where Phil et al. documented this moment.
Partial end-of-drive R-Navcam pan from sol 2700 (Site/drive 79-588) hopefully to assist in pinpointing the location while we wait for the remaining frames.
The plan stated they were driving west looking for a drill site... This location appears to tick some of the drill site boxes
@tanjent : which images ? The panoramic ? If that's the case, just follow the link by clicking the picture, you would find a gallery with the image, and links bellow.
Edit : Sol 2700 Navcam panoramic.
http://www.db-prods.net/marsroversimages/Curiosity/2020/Sol2700_pano.jpg
Sol 2699 R-MastCam partial pan of just 30 frames, assembled in MS-ICE, reduced to 5000px wide, debayered, but without further processing
This is Damia's panorama in circular form - giving a good location for a map update. Thanks, Damia!
Phil
This is caprock so it might be hard to drill. I hope we get one!
Looking towards the edge of the Greenheugh Pediment and some rather nice strata seen in this R-Mastcam partial pan from sol 2700, debayered in GIMP and stitched using MS-ICE, no additional processing, so apologies for the green hue as I can't find a way of removing it.
Sol 2700 loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong Mastcam100 mosaic showing a hell of details there.
http://www.db-prods.net/marsroversimages/curiosity-2020.php#4
Sol 2703 animated GIF showing the pre-drill (load test) of the potential drill target: 'Beinn Fhada'
Reduced to 800x400px
The Navcam L view on Sol 2702-2703.
Added 5 images taken on Sol 2703.
Jan van Driel
Edinburgh drill hole on sol 2711, judging by the HazCam images acquired during drilling and the tailings shown in this L-NavCam frame there should be a good chance of a viable sample in the sleeve
Partial view of the Mastcam L view on Sol 2711.
Jan van Driel
Thank you for that nicely debayered and stitched pano of the sol2711 mastcam set. Its quite a view and am especially intrigued by highly eroded sections especially as seen in the snippet of the pano below, representing https://mars.nasa.gov/raw_images/793249/?site=msl of https://mars.nasa.gov/raw_images/793247/?site=msl, looking closer a sinuous curve of apparent eroded pediment boundary appears sharply shadowed appearing in the exposure as if it were some sort of slack cable draped over the landscape. I keep losing my bearing as to where we are so have no idea if Curi is heading towards that particular area or onward elsewhere..
We had this MR view of that feature, though with a bit different lighting:
https://mars.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/02700/mcam/2700MR0141340180405167C00_DXXX.jpg
Sol 2713 GIF: Sample drop for 'portion characterisation' in this cropped L-MastCam of the powdered rock from the 'Edinburgh' drill site.
A long distance 10 frame ChemCam-RMI mosaic of what I believe is a face of Gediz Vallis Ridge, images acquired on sol 2715. Roughly assembled in MS-ICE and annotated, but otherwise unprocessed.
Another long distance ChemCam-RMI Mosaic, possibly a basal section of the Gediz Vallis Ridge a little closer to the rover?
Once again from sol 2715, roughly assembled in MS-ICE without additional processing
Sol 2711 Mastcam34 panoramic. This is such a beautiful place
http://www.db-prods.net/marsroversimages/curiosity-2020.php#6
Postcard version :
http://www.db-prods.net/blog/2020/03/28/curiosity-at-greenheugh/
Lovely work Damia, looking forward to seeing more of your excellent panoramas!
Meanwhile, another long distance RMI mosaic across the pediment, this time wider view (19 frames from sol 2719) It was roughly assembled in MS-ICE without additional processing.
Indeed a very lovely view, the composition gives a feeling almost of a Martian sort of tropical, taking in a relatively balmy afternoon as wavelets of sand gently lap up against the near shore and relax sipping a perchlorate cocktail under the instrument cluster standing in as mock parasol, take a glance over near to the right a bit into the distance many barchan dune islands poke above the surface as the seas of sand grow rougher dissappearing into the murky distance, in splendid isolation I will be to remain here for some while..
Another version of sol 2711 panorama (de-bayer)
https://flic.kr/p/2iKuNSw
Yet another long range ChemCam RMI mosaic checking the distant terrain, this one appears to focus on the hills beyond the Greenheugh Pediment. Images from Sol 2725, composed of 12 frames assembled in MS-ICE without further processing. Note, there appears to be 14 images in this sequence, but one processed frame has not made it to the server as of the time of this post.
I may be a tad bidirectionally challenged, but isn't that the marker bed?
Yet another long range RMI mosaic, I can't recall so many of these being acquired from one location.
This one is from Sol 2728, assembled in MS-ICE
Quoting myself because this panorama is finally over. I missed one frame to complete it, and this frame was available tonight. So…
new navcams! and why not view them in the latest version of my navcam viewer?
https://captainvideo.nl/rob/navcamdiary.html
press tab or the topright circle for a sol list
press h for other options
stay safe, all of you!
Here is my take on the huge MC100 panorama, http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/220269:
https://flic.kr/p/2iPbrBg
Thanks, Jan. Here is a circular view of it showing how we have moved away from the edge of that depression. The recent updates have indicated we will drive off the pediment and resume the previous path around its edge to the east, then up into the hills.
Phil
My take on the MastCam Right mosaic of sol 2729, with 5 extra Matt Damon added to give a scale
The furthest one is at ~580m from Curiosity rover.
https://flic.kr/p/2iQjswp
Don't jump, Matt! There's still hope for a sequel!
Also, here is Jan's new panorama in circular form. We have moved right to the edge of the pediment again at the same place we climbed it earlier. The tracks are visible just below us.
Phil
Found Wally. Thanks for the humour neo.
Thanks neo56 for the great image treatment, i inspected jvandiel's stitch of the same sequence yesterday and was frustrated trying to get a handle on the scale of things, and since i tend to overestimate the scale of things in the near-scope pancams, i now see im overcompensating for the larger scale sequences, i so misunderestimated that protruding part of the rock to be only about the size of Mark Watney's boot, off by over 3x..
Right off the pediment! We ended up just about at the sol 2658 location - get those brakes checked, Curiosity! The map may be delayed a day or two because people won't leave the Moon alone.
Jan's panorama in circular form.
This thread might have to be renamed 'Around the Greenheugh Pediment' because that's where we will be going now.
Phil
Topic title edited to reflect circumstances.
An uncomformity.
Curiosity rover bypassing Tower Butte on sol 2742:
https://flic.kr/p/2iUbttn
Was it always planned for the rover to descend off the pediment back onto the clay unit or did I miss something?
Here is Jan's panorama for sol 2745 in circular form. A nice view of the two buttes nearby.
Phil
One of the most important targets of the entire mission is the contact between the clay unit in Glen Torridon and the sulfate hills above it, which is assumed to mark a major change in global climate from (let's call it) moist to arid. The Pediment straddles that contact, so if you stay on it you have missed the crucial exposures. They went up because it was possible at that location, so why not have a quick look at it in case a failure ends the mission before they meet it again higher up the mountain.
This LPSC abstract shows the planned path ahead, as of just a few months ago.
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2020/pdf/2426.pdf
Phil
One approach is to use the https://www.uahirise.org/hiwish/browse search for Gale and zoom into the Gedis Valles area and pan and poke around through the madly overlapping needles in that haystack to find the good views https://hirise-pds.lpl.arizona.edu/PDS/EXTRAS/RDR/ESP/ORB_053700_053799/ESP_053732_1750/ESP_053732_1750_MRGB.abrowse.jpg. some of that area was also in the 50th https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2019/pdf/3196.pdf
Paul:
"It would be nice to see the detail of the proposed path around the pediment up to the sulfate hills"
That image will stand quite a lot of enlargement. I don't know a better source yet.
Phil
Anaglyph of NavCam pictures of Tower Butte on sol 2742:
https://flic.kr/p/2iVSUQN
9 R-MastCam frames, possibly featuring 'Glasgow'. Images from sol 2747, roughly assembled into a simple mosaic using MS-ICE (no additional processing)
Front hazcam GIF of the planned drill press at the Glasgow drill site (Sol 2749)
A successful drill, by the look of the Hazcams. I won't post an image as much better ones will be coming soon.
Phil
I managed to build a depth map using the stereo pair of NavCam pictures of Tower Butte taken on sol 2742.
Using Wiggle Maker, a website made by Ugo Capeto, I was able to create this "wiggle" view of Tower Butte, with the same kind of effect we can find on Facebook 3D.
I can see why they termed it nodular.
10 frame RMI mosaic across “Grimbister” on sol 2761
Roughly assembled in MS-ICE
Sol 2772: ChemCam-RMI mosaic of what looks like a complex (multi event?) erosion resistant mineral filled fracture
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
Hey, could you help me ?
On Sol 2767, Curiosity took a very odd image. I've just unbayer it, so we can see that it was taken under blue filter. Given the time at this location, it was during the night.
An other pic, cropped and a bit cleaned up.
Problem is, I don't have any clue of what is that object. Could be Phobos, but after a simulation in Stellarium, this moon was just setting. And Deimos is too small to be picture with such resolution. But maybe Stellarium wasn't very accurate about the exact location of Phobos in the sky. So, I don't know…
That looks like a mid-morning image [*] through the solar filter taken as part of a dark current measurement. I'd expect the image aim to be at nearby ground. It would be a very long exposure--typically they are a set of 0-sec, short, and long exposures. The solar filter transmits ~0.001% of incident light, but the one in M-100 has a couple scratches or pinhole defects that let light into the system. And yes, the artifacts are blue because the M-100 solar filter is paired with a 440-nm, narrow-band filter.
The artifacts have been around since the start of the mission. Sun images are designed to miss them--at least they are conveniently off-center. See also: Bell et al 2017 (https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2016EA000219) section 4.2.7 (pinhole) and 4.2.1 (dark measurements).
* I see just after midnight UTC, which is a bit before 9 AM that sol.
Yeah, we don't have the LMST publicly yet for that image (without calculating it ourselves of course), but it was taken at around 0:29 UT, which is only a few minutes before this image was taken, which is clearly daytime:
https://mars.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/02767/mcam/2767MR0144940011202028C00_DXXX.jpg
Thank you both for your answers
It explains… A LOT actually. I suspected something like this but I was like "Come on ! A hole in a solar filter ? Makes no sense !". I was wrong…
As for my Stellarium simulation, I don't understand where I made a mistake. I input the correct location, the correct time, and this gave me nighttime. Not daytime. I should dig deeper to find where I made a mistake…
But again, thank you
A bit quiet lately as Curiosity digests its Glasgow lunch. This shows where and when a few events happened:
Back to the RMI observations of Gediz Vallis Ridge: I eventually finished stitching together several RMI sets and colorized them with MC Right pictures. More mosaics to come!
https://flic.kr/p/2j7dcfP
https://flic.kr/p/2j7joaV
Drive on Sol 2780: Partial pan (L-NavCam), roughly assembled in MS-ICE
This is Paul's partial panorama reprojected - this is what gave me the position on the map which should be pretty good. Today, sol 2781, we drove again.
Phil
Another drive, this time on Sol 2781: Partial pan (L-NavCam), roughly assembled in MS-ICE.
Some exposure issues caused by lighting, but it may help Phil get a position until someone can stitch it properly
Thanks, Paul - I threw in an extra image. Here is a circular version. We moved about 50 m east.
Phil
The Navcam L-R view on Sol 2781.
Added 3 images taken with the Right Navcam.
Jan van Driel
Thanks, Jan. I used the composite image to make a circular view - my orientation was a bit off with the earlier one from Paul. We will be weaving between dark sand patches for quite a while along this path.
Phil
Very nice, Jan. Here is a circular projection of it showing the location relative to these dark sandy patches.
Phil
Thanks, Jan. This drive was about 60 m northeast through a gap in the dark sandy patches. Here's a circular projection to show the new location.
Phil
Here's a small (256x256) animated GIF of the Sol 2786 drive between the sand patches mentioned by Phil. The 14 frames were acquired with the front left hazcam. The sequence concludes with the a look back towards the setting sun and the path the rover had taken. The local timestamps are taken from JSON.
Sol 2788: Left navigation camera partial pan after another drive, roughly assembled in MS-ICE, but hopefully it can be used to provide a rough location until the rest of the images are downlinked
Thanks, Jan. Here is a circular version.
I made this animation using two RMI mosaics taken respectively on sol 2295 and 2726. It provides really different points of view on this cliff located 1,2 km South-East from the rover:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49999305087_f14aebef4d_o.gif
That's really nice!
Not much to go on yet for the sol 2790 drive, but the hazcams are enough for a pretty good estimate (usually they are not so helpful).
Here's a projected version of a front-rear pair.
Phil
I made two photomontages to show RMI mosaics (sol 2295 and sol 2726) into a wider context provided by MastCam 100mm.
The featured steep cliff is about 10m high. To better grasp its scale, I added Matt Damon from the Martian movie and Curiosity rover itself.
I also added the Statue of Liberty in another photomontage to grasp the scale of the background 100m high hill.
https://flic.kr/p/2jbtwFZ
https://flic.kr/p/2jbqjgg
https://flic.kr/p/2jbqQWu
https://flic.kr/p/2jbtacg
https://flic.kr/p/2jbvpFu
https://flic.kr/p/2jbAqCi
Here is a drone's eye view of the landscape of the route ahead, with Sol 2793 approximate location in the lower right...
https://flic.kr/p/2jc74Nn
made from my Sketchfab https://skfb.ly/68HnC model of the region
That is really nice, Sean.
Phil
And Jan's panorama is nice too. Here is a circular version, and we have moved around the north end of that irregular patch of dark sand.
Phil
Yes, I checked on your Sketchfab but I'm looking for a model covering a much wider area further south like on this Google Earth view:
I concur it would be great to have a model going up the channel further to see where we may end up just a few years from now, im guessing that creating the model probably represents countless hours of sweat over aligning stitching blending and retweaking into the wee hours of the morning, getting it to optimize for loading into sketchfab was probably another strain in itself.. so its already greatly appreciated, and i just love flying around in it to get that sense of 'location', but of course more is always better!
neo56 excellent post of RMI context with statue of liberty inset, i would have tilted it halfway buried with Charlton Heston pounding the sand: "Damn you all.....
I've got all the Gale DTM's aligned in 3D but its an old project and I am keen to revisit soon for a full overhaul & update. I will upload the channel region to Sketchfab once I disentangle my archive.
Here is a https://youtu.be/grk5Y4SrBaU flying down the channel.
Another view at the end of this https://youtu.be/Kl0rMclxDL4
I'll also quickly plug a recent film I made by re-jigging some of my old HiRISE clips...
https://flic.kr/p/2j7voLf
Here it is on https://youtu.be/m_geeog42mk
Gale clips at 8:24 to 11:44 / 17:15 to 22:00
Absolutely stunning. Mesmerising. And perfect music too.
Congratulations. I will go back to this time and again...
P
ps I especially liked the flyover of the glacier. Err sorry 'glacier-like form' cough.
Can you tell me where the mountainous terrain at 28 minutes is? Is that on the edge of Argyre?
You spoil us Sean! (I don't mind )
Context for Gediz Vallis Channel and current position in the lower right of the frame.
https://flic.kr/p/2jcvqHo
From http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/196659
9x dtm augmented with CTX & HRSC
https://flic.kr/p/2jczBGZ
Been awhile since we've had the really dramatic views that so called for an anaglyph and it's only going to get better.
https://flic.kr/p/2jcAoFahttps://flic.kr/p/2jcAoFa
Stunning work Sean! I particularly appreciate the gigapan version. I'm looking forward an updated 3D model once you have time to do it!
Mosaic of 3 NavCam Right pictures taken on sol 2795 at 5:20 pm local time:
https://flic.kr/p/2jcQ49w
And the anaglyph:
https://flic.kr/p/2jcQXcQ
This is a Mastcam image from sol 45, during the drive to Yellowknife Bay. Bloodstone Hill is shown by the arrow.
Phil
I added Matt Damon on top of Bloodstone Hill to better grasp the scale of the landscape. That hill is about 10m high and 35m from the rover.
https://flic.kr/p/2jcZsC3
A dream coming true...
When I was a kid, I gazed at Mars Pathfinder pictures dreaming about the view we would see if Sojourner had ever driven on Twin Peaks.
Then Spirit climbed to the top of Husband Hill and Opportunity reached the top of Endeavour crater wall, unveiling marvelous vistas.
I always loved hiking! Pictures taken by Curiosity these days and in a not so far future provide, in my opinion, an even more exciting experience of martian hiking.
What a great period of exploration we live in!
https://flic.kr/p/2jd4iQg
Source Images
https://mars.nasa.gov/raw_images/821492/
https://mars.nasa.gov/raw_images/821494/
Beautiful work from everyone! What an amazing place this is.
Phil
Jan's panorama in circular form. I will have to modify my position on the map a little bit - it was based on only the first few images.
Phil
Sol 2800, a small move to increase stability before using the arm. It looks like just a couple of meters downhill, north, pretty much back along the tracks. I will not update the map for this.
Phil
Tracks made this Monday on Mars by NASA's Curiosity rover
https://mars.nasa.gov/raw_images/823567/
The stitching of this L-NavCam partial pan is rather poor, but it may assist in narrowing down the location after a drive on sol 2802. but it's a nice look back at Bloodstone Hill as the rover returns to the path that will take it to the Sulfate unit. Looking forward to Jan's version
Mosaic of 3 NavCam Right pictures taken on sol 2802 (24 June 2020) at 3:20 pm local time:
https://flic.kr/p/2jf8fTY
Mosaic taken by NavCam Right, with Matt Damon(s) added for scale and an anaglyph. There is a good feeling of 3D here.
https://flic.kr/p/2jfcdxN
https://flic.kr/p/2jf9miA
https://flic.kr/p/2jfcdAD
Here is Jan's panorama in circular form. We will be heading to the right, and that's a choppy sea of rock ahead.
Phil
Thanks, Jan. This is a circular version of your panorama. Looks like we will be here for a few days for some software updates etc., giving me a chance to catch up with some Mars 2020 stuff.
Phil
A piece of panorama on sol 2804 with NavCam Right.
https://flic.kr/p/2jfzcAy
And the anaglyph version:
https://flic.kr/p/2jgAzTY
Sol 2803 Dust Devil:
https://mars.nasa.gov/raw_images/825142/
Nice catch. Here's a differenced/stretched/added version:
2803_nrb_dd_diff_add.mp4 ( 1.04MB )
: 888
Edit: it seems with firefox you may need to save the file and then play it in a standalone player.
Very nice! This is a set of seven difference images - one image merged with the negative (inverted gray scale) of another to show changes.
I take one image, then the next, invert one and merge it with the other. That produces a very bland image so the result is very heavily stretched in contrast. A moving feature will be a composite of a dark object and a bright one - a bit complicated, I know. In the lower row that image is laid over the original view of the scene to help locate features. This is just the last seven image pairs from the sequence.
The biggest feature is a DD blowing across Glen Torridon, but another can be seen in the distance to the middle left, behind Vera Rubin Ridge. At far left in the last few frames a more distant DD is near the Bagnold Dunes.
Phil
ChemCam mosaic from Sol 2811 (raw) roughly assembled in MS-ICE
The MASTcam R view on Sol 2799.
The original pano is 118 MB and consists of 337 images.
Jan van Driel
Sol 2812 : the atmosphere is visually becoming more dusty
sol 2813 L-NavCam pan: Roughly stitched in MS-ICE, can't wait to see the refined version. The view from this location is stunning...
The Navcam L view on Sol 2813.
Curiosity's Workspace L-MastCam Sol 2813, bayer reconstruction in GIMP, roughly assembled in MS-ICE.
Reduced to 8000px wide to allow upload.
Is there a reason why Mt. Sharp always looks so much lighter in Curiosity's images than the ground nearby? Catching more sunlight?
If you want the images from sols 2816 & 2817, try using the JSON feed as the raw image server appears to be in need of a reboot as it's stuck on 2815...
Here's a very roughly assembled partial pan (L-NavCam) from 2816 that may assist in estimating the location
Another scrape from JSON as the raw server is still down.
Judging by the number of traverse images this could be a long drive.
There were some wicked exposure issues so I roughly hacked what I could and squeezed this out of MS-ICE.
Sol 2817 pan
I am having great difficulty locating the new position using that panorama. Not Paul's fault - it's a complicated terrain. I'll keep trying.
Phil
Could it be here, based on the two snaking dunes/ridges to the south?
I had independently estimated the same location as Fred.
Ah yes, thank you. But Dagnabbit, now I have to modify my map base.
Phil
Sol 2817 (site index: 82, drive index: 938) L-MastCam mosaic of 8 frames that was assembled in MS-ICE after bayer reconstruction in GIMP.
Nice view across the clay unit with a backdrop of the Vera Rubin Ridge.
And these are the previous two Navcam panoramas from Jan in circular form.
Phil
sol 2816:
A Navcam portrait of Vera Rubin Ridge on Sol 02820...
https://flic.kr/p/2jmwHaE
Partial view of the Sol 2822 Navcam L panorama.
The rest of the images will be added later.
Jan van Driel
Another quick and dirty stitch from MS-ICE, this time from sol 2824, that may assist in narrowing down the new location (L-NavCam)
Thanks, Jan. This is the sol 2824 panorama in circular form. I used it to update the map.
Phil
Mosaic of 3 MastCam Left pictures taken on sol 2826 (18 July) at 12:10 pm martian local time:
https://flic.kr/p/2joJjXG
And an older one taken on sol 2816 (8 July) with MastCam Right at 12:50 pm martian local time:
https://flic.kr/p/2joS4CY
Jan's panorama in circular form - we moved north about 15 m.
Phil
Fine for now - but don't push your luck! If you drive off the edge of the world don't say I didn't warn you.
Phil
We’re probably parked here for some time....then heading back SE. Lucky escape.
Candidate drill site 'Mozie Law'?
Sol 2829 L-MastCam, quick and dirty stitch of roughly reconstructed compressed bayer images.
EDIT: Now called https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission-updates/8720/sols-2831-2835-the-one-where-curiosity-takes-mary-anning-to-mars/
Panorama taken with MastCam Left on sol 2829 at 2:20 pm martian local time:
https://flic.kr/p/2jp7LUu
And an animation between sols 2826 and 2829 showing the parallax due to a ~20m drive:
A little later than originally planned, but we now have another sample hole on Mars, "Mary Anning" was drilled during sol 2838
Front HazCam animated GIF (reduced in size for upload)
This is part of a MAHLI image from sol 2833. Most of the image is occupied by the DRT brushed area, a bit lighter than its surroundings and surounded by little dust grains. At the middle of it is a little notch pointing roughly in the 5 o'clock to 11 o'clock orientation - that's where the drill tip did a preload test, pushing against the rock to check it was stable enough to drill. It was not present when the DRT was first done earlier that sol.
Phil
Nice view!
The ellipse in this image shows a cluster of small light-toned particles (plus a few scattered outside the ellipse) from a sample drop on sol 2839.
Phil
Here's a dust devil from the sol 2847 sequence. I make a difference image where a single DD shows up as a pair of features indicating its motion between frames. One of the raw frames is at the bottom, the difference image is at the top, and a composite in the middle. Probably more to come from this sequence.
Phil
Well spotted Phil - It's one of the best I've ever seen. Tried processing from the raw JPGS - lots of noise but it comes out well if you diff it to a mean of the full sequence.
Wow, that's super Phil: I wonder is there someone researching relationships between dust-devil heights to surface height contours? Very complex, I would imagine.
John
A long distance ChemCam RMI mosaic roughly assembled in MS-ICE from 5 overlapping frames from sol 2849.
There's a bit of dust devil activity on the next sol, 2848, as well. This is a sequence where the whole horizon is imaged with 3 frames per pointing to track dd activity everywhere. The sol 2847 set was one long movie.
Phil
A bit more on sol 2850 as well, but Curiosity blocked most of the best view with its turret.
Phil
Really enjoying the DD's
Here's a nice crisp telephoto mosaic assembled from 8 overlapping RMI's, roughly assembled in MS-ICE, without additional processing.
Mission Sol 2853 / August 15, 2020 (I think it's looking South)
Thanks for the mosaic, Paul - I always like the distant chemcam mosaics. The field is to the SE, on the left side of this frame:
https://mars.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/02829/mcam/2829ML0148140010108764C00_DXXX.jpg
Starting around sol 2850 the MSSS images at mars.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images have been provided with incorrect MIME types. This means they won't display correctly in browsers. For example, clicking on this mastcam link:
https://mars.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/02860/mcam/2860ML0149380631100307C00_DXXX.jpg
browsers will typically ask what you want to do with the file or just download it. Clicking on an engineering pic, eg:
https://mars.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/proj/msl/redops/ods/surface/sol/02861/opgs/edr/ncam/NRB_651489827EDR_F0822176NCAM00543M_.JPG
will open the image in a new window/tab as it should.
I've sent a message about this at the https://mars.nasa.gov/feedback/, but I'm not sure if there is someone I can contact more directly.
Technical detail: the mars.nasa.gov web server incorrectly sets the response Content-Type header to binary/octet-stream when it should be set to image/jpeg for those MSSS images, so the browser doesn't know what to do with it. This seems to be a problem with AmazonS3 servers when the MIME type isn't provided on upload.
Sol 2858: DRT and pre-load test. The DRT brushed patch is outlined by black lines. The notch cut by the drill bit during the pre-load test is shown by white arrows.
Phil
2853 Right Mastcam plus a few tests building a 3D perspective using both the left/right views.
https://flic.kr/p/2jyywic
https://flic.kr/p/2jyzwkL
https://flic.kr/p/2jyyy6L
The MSL mosaic page appears to be getting updates again
https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/mosaics/
Good to see those. I guess that should've been 2829, not 2858, for the latest mosaic.
Any time there is something that isn't a dust devil / cloud survey / documentation image.....then the mosaic gets remade.
In this case - it would have been remade on 2858 with the addition of this workspace image
https://mars.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/proj/msl/redops/ods/surface/sol/02858/opgs/edr/ncam/NRB_651222545EDR_F0822176NCAM00353M_.JPG
The NAVcam L view on Sol 2865.
( almost the same view as on Sol 2829 and added the images taken
on Sol 2845 and the 5 images at the top taken on Sol 2865 )
Jan van Driel
Sol 2865: There was a https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission-updates/8745/sols-2864-2866-spot-the-difference/ planned, but the rover is still at site 82, drive 2176.
Here's the 2865 ML workspace: Slightly different camera pointing compared with the 2829 ML workspace, but looks to me to be the same location?
In this mosaic we have the Mary Anning sample hole, the dump pile of the unused sample, a stowed arm and some subtle changes in the sand ripples between the outcrops.
Another DRT brushing job at Mary Anning. Here is a map of the rock slab (oriented approximately north-up) showing the activities at this location.
Phil
No, Glen Etive was sampled twice and so was another place which slips my mind for a moment. But this place is the best yet for the chemistry analyses:
"Curiosity has been in the area of the “Mary Anning” targets for a while now, and that’s for a very good reason: she came here to find the ideal rocks for a very special SAM experiment (see the blog from sols 2867-2869). First, we confirmed we had the rock-type we desired. Appearance can always deceive (and yes, that’s not just for rocks, we all know that!). Chemistry, however, doesn’t lie, and ChemCam and APXS have confirmed that we have under the drill what we came for. SAM has confirmed that all procedures are now ready to go. Thus, the big headline today is: We are "go" for drilling the “Mary Anning 3” target in this plan and to perform the SAM wet chemistry experiment later this week. "
That is from the latest update:
https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission-updates/8747/sols-2870-2871-we-are-go-for-drilling/
Phil
Fingers crossed.
Looks like we have a nice new sample hole in Mars (sol 2870)
Mary Anning 3?
Animated GIF (reduced format to fit upload limit)
As noted above, there had been a plan to 'bump' or move slightly on sol 2865 to position the rover better for a drill hole at Mary Anning 2. Looking at the images I can't see any evidence that a bump happened. Then work proceeded at Mary Anning 3 instead. Can I assume from this that the bump was dropped at the last minute after a switch to Mary Anning 3 was decided?
Phil
A bit more action in the dust devil sequence on sol 2874. This one is a DD up high on Mt. Sharp. There's also a very disorganized billow of dust seen to the northeast over Vera Rubin Ridge.
Phil
It's been over a week since the last update on this thread. Are there any issues?
No issues as far a I know. You can check out the mission updates here:
https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission-updates/
Phil
The RAW page on the mission website? No, I'm in it now on Firefox.
Phil
Sol 2884 - the dust devil search saw some very faint dust features over Vera Rubin Ridge. Not very pretty! So I won't post them but the wind is very active at the moment.
Phil
It's in the 2845 mosaic - here's the MR frame:
https://mars.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/02845/mcam/2845MR0148760190505029C00_DXXX.jpg
(Pre-sol 2850 so the link works.)
Another long distance RMI mosaic, this time from Sol 2889, 8 frames roughly assembled in MS-ICE, kindly try to ignore the poor processing of the forth frame as it was not pre-processed in the image pipeline like the other 7.
The mission update refers to:- "ChemCam RMI mosaics to document stratigraphy and to investigate the feasibility of extracting stereo information from overlapping RMI images". Fingers crossed they can tease that stereo information from their versions.
Curiosity has been busy expanding the long-distance imaging of the terrain around "Housedon Hill" using its RMI-ChemCam while stationed at the Mary Anning sampling site. However some of the 'PNG processed' RMI's have not made it into the raw image server, making it difficult for me to process them into what is a rather nice mosaic.
Background:
The JSON page and the MSL raw image server both contain all the RMI's in JPG format, these raw images appear 'unprocessed' as they are very underexposed and heavily vignetted. Thankfully the PNG versions that correct the exposure and vignetting are also loaded in the raw image server, but not on the JSON http://msl-raws.s3.amazonaws.com/images/images_sol2891.json I use.
Is anyone here aware of a different JSON page where I can download the missing PNG format RMI's, as my processing skills and tools are not developed enough to restore the JPG files.
Example:
The most recent set of RMI's from Housedon Hill are from sol https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw-images/?order=sol+desc%2Cinstrument_sort+asc%2Csample_type_sort+asc%2C+date_taken+desc&per_page=100&page=0&mission=msl&begin_date=2020-9-23&end_date=2020-9-23&begin_sol=2891&end_sol=2891&af=CHEMCAM_RMI%2C%2C Note that there are 10 RMI frames in JPG format, but only 8 frames in PNG format. Here is a mosaic assembled from just 4 of the PNG frames.
It seems that there will be a third drill adjacent to the “Mary Anning” site. From the September 23, 2020 update, "...we are already on the look out for the nearby target "Ayton." We want to drill there too, to follow up the chemical changes we have observed in the area."
"Ayton" target:
There was more dust activity on sol 2895, north of (below) Vera Rubin Ridge (and a bit of activity south of the ridge, east of our position). Not very pretty again so i won't post it, but it's happening.
Phil
RMI-ChemCam mosaic using the overlapping frames from Sols 2878 through 2894, assembled by Neville Thompson:
Link to Neville's post on Gigapan: http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/222734
Here's a reduced preview (6144x1229]
The RMI-ChemCam mosaic of 'Housedon' has been extended by Neville Thompson.
It now contains frames from Sols 2878-2898. A reduced version is attached 6144x1212px.
Link to Neville's post on Gigapan: http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/222783
Land Ahoy: a short time-lapse animated GIF of Curiosity checking out a small section of the distant terrain around one the 'Marker Units' higher up Mount Sharp.
Images were acquired during mission sol 2904 using the rover's RMI camera in telephoto mode. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
Here is an abstract from Amanda Rudolph from the 9th Mars Conference discussing the 'Marker Units' on Mt. Sharp for background
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/ninthmars2019/pdf/6358.pdf
Another successful drill hole although it cracked 'Groken', seemingly along a horizontal vein.
After a ~18 month hiatus - the Navcam quicklook mosaics are flowing to the public website again - these include Az/El grids and are PNGs, not JPGs
https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/mosaics
Near the end of our time at Groken. We will be moving very soon.
Phil
And we're off, after no substantial moves for 94 sols:
https://mars.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/proj/msl/redops/ods/surface/sol/02923/opgs/edr/fcam/FLB_656987270EDR_F0822638FHAZ00302M_.JPG
Full res selfie from Sol 02922
https://flic.kr/p/2jZxaKR
Lots of manual cleanup on this... in addition I replaced the sky and patched gaps in the coverage to complete the comp.
And here is my take on this nice selfie with 3 drilling sites gathered on a single selfie :-)
This selfie was taken with Curiosity's head in 2 different positions, shown in this animation:
Beautiful mosaics, and so quick too.
I don't recall seeing motion blur in these turret images before:
https://mars.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/proj/msl/redops/ods/surface/sol/02922/opgs/edr/ncam/NRB_656893938EDR_F0822188NCAM00141M_.JPG
I would've thought the shutter speeds were quite short during midday.
To set the stage for the drive which just happened, this is Jan's most recent panorama (after the bump to Groken) in circular form. We just drove to the prominent outcrop to the south in this view (north is at the top).
Phil
Tumbleweed!
Phil
Think, it's a Bob Ross painting.
John
Rover vaporized by the locals after they lost patience due to the never ending laser strikes.
Thanks, Jan. Here is a version in circular form showing the new position adjacent to the outcrop. I'm impressed how accurate the drive was.
Phil
Quick and dirty animation of the first and latest selfies taken on sol 84 and 2922. Nearly 8 years apart!
I remember someone said the RTG stays cleaner because it's hotter: convection movement removing dust?
Besides the dust, the other big change is in the Rover wheels.
Thanks, Jan. Here is a circular version which gets very distorted by being so close to a rock face.
Phil
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