And here is The Martian Way update to sol 3280. Always good to confirm the target names with your maps!

Fernando

 The_Martian_Way_MSL_Curiosity_Sol_3280_2021OCT30.kmz ( 1.26MB ) Number of downloads: 194

_____________________________________________________________________
The Martian Way files can also be downloaded from:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OJH...BbQ?usp=sharing

Included are "The Martian Way" KMZ file, User's Guide, and MSL Orbital map of Gale crater.

NASA, please, do notice: loosing Phil is not an option! There has to be a third way!
My first post-conjuntion update -to sol 3278. Good progress towards Maria Gordon Notch, now only 170m away as Ingenuity flies.
Fernando

 The_Martian_Way_MSL_Curiosity_Sol_3278_2021OCT26.kmz ( 1.26MB ) Number of downloads: 180

_____________________________________________________________________
The Martian Way files can also be downloaded from:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OJH...BbQ?usp=sharing
Included are "The Martian Way" KMZ file, User's Guide, and MSL Orbital map of Gale crater.

Curiosity's 3rd quarter was busy (as usual). Here is a look at its travels, as suggested by Floyd on post #1560. I hope I've got it right! In all images North is at the top.

The path for sols 3164-3253 (July 1st to September 30th, 2021):



The above in a wider context (since November 30, 2017):



Zooming out to the landing ellipse and full path for the mission:



And the landing ellipse plus full path in the Gale crater context:



Fernando
PS: a future similar update might, perhaps, only have the first two images and refer to this post for the wider contexts.
_____________________________________________________________________
The Martian Way files can also be downloaded from:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OJH...BbQ?usp=sharing

Included are "The Martian Way" KMZ file, User's Guide, and MSL Orbital map of Gale crater.

Thank you very much for your feedback and kind words Séan. It is very much appreciated

Fernando

It is now a little over seven years since I started plotting Curiosity's route in Google Earth.

From a simple path, the project grew to include a multitude of features. Although I have provided a short description every time I introduced one, they are scattered in this thread. Occasional visitors and new members following the thread may, thus, have difficulty getting the whole picture.

I have received requests to create more solid documentation, so here is a user's guide to The Martian Way project. My thanks to all who have generously provided their help, encouragement, and feedback during this already long period. I've also placed the Guide in the Google Drive folder, see the previous post and find the link below. Any future updates will be posted to both locations.

Fernando

 TheMartianWay_UserGuide_V1.0.pdf ( 2.14MB ) Number of downloads: 269


_____________________________________________________________________
The Martian Way files can also be downloaded from:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OJH...BbQ?usp=sharing

Included are "The Martian Way" KMZ file, User's Guide, and MSL Orbital map of Gale crater.

Though Curiosity remains at the sol 3222 location, a few names have been added, including Siccar Point, and the Maria Gordon Notch location was corrected. The drill hole #33's image was replaced by a more detailed one.

I have completed the merging of the Planned/Notional Routes kmz file with The Martian Way kmz file (the kmz did grow a bit). Please find all the routes in the Route-> Path and Sols -> Notional Routes folder.

The routes are listed (from top to bottom) in reverse chronological order, I presume the most recent will be the most consulted one. To highlight this change, MSAR v10 is visible at load time and all others are hidden (but, as usual, can be made visible from GE's Places side panel.) In the future, however, all the planned/notional routes will be hidden by default.

I have created a new folder in my Google Drive (see link below.) Named "The_Martian_Way", it contains, at the present, the very large HiRISE mosaic and the latest release of the KMZ file. Anyone with the link can access it, there is no need to sign in to Google or even have a Google account. I will continue to post here all updates to the KMZ file, and Google Drive will have the latest update only.

Fernando
 The_Martian_Way_MSL_Curiosity_Sol_3245_2021SEP23.kmz ( 1.26MB ) Number of downloads: 180

______________________________________________

The Martian Way files can also be downloaded from:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OJH...BbQ?usp=sharing


See post #1078 for a description and installation instructions of the Gale crater/MSL route base map (HiRISE mosaic)
See post #1392 for a description of the Collection of Planned/Notional routes

Update to sol 3235 (Curiosity is still at the 3222 location) including the new drill hole, Maria Gordon.
Fernando

 The_Martian_Way_MSL_Curiosity_Sol_3235_2021SEP13.kmz ( 1.07MB ) Number of downloads: 195

______________________________________________
Gale crater/MSL route base map (HiRISE mosaic):
- see post #1078 for description and installation instructions
- direct link to the file (1.6 GB) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bww-fQ2HUe...iew?usp=sharing
KML Collection of planned/notional routes: see post #1392

Glad you're back!
Sometimes it is hard to find which sol the targets' names belong to: I had misplaced Blis-et-Born.
I did not include Gogar on sol 3209 because it refers to a knoll ("Gogar") crosscut by veins in our drive direction which location I am not sure of. I combed the images but could not positively identify it. Any help much appreciated!

Fernando

PDS has released its first set of Mars 2020 Perseverance data.
Meanwhile, the Analyst's Nobebook for Perseverance is still "under construction".

Here is the full text of the release:

The NASA Planetary Data System announces the first release of data from the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover mission to Mars. This release contains raw, calibrated, and derived data products covering the first 90 sols of the mission, February 18 to May 20, 2021. The data are archived at various PDS Nodes. Links to all the archives can be found at
https://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/missions/mars2020/

Data from the following science investigations are included in this release.
Mastcam-Z – Mast-mounted Zoom Camera System
Engineering Hazard and Navigation Cameras
Helicopter Cameras
EDLCam – Entry, Descent, and Landing System Cameras
MEDA – Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer
MOXIE – Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment
PIXL – Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry
RIMFAX – Radar Imager for Mars Subsurface Exploration
SHERLOC – Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals
SuperCam – LIBS, Raman, Time-Resolved Fluorescence, VIS/IR spectrometers, Remote Micro-Imager and microphone
SPICE – Observation geometry and ancillary data

Future releases covering sols during which sampling events occurred will include 'sample dossiers' – collections of science and engineering data relevant to each returnable sample or blank. No sampling events occurred during the first 90 sols of the mission.

To subscribe to future announcements of Mars2020 data releases:
https://pds.nasa.gov/tools/subscription_service/top.cfm

To access all data archived in PDS:
https://pds.nasa.gov
The PDS Team
Mailto: pds_operator@jpl.nasa.gov
Phone: (818) 393-7165

Curisity roved another 30m on sol 3212.
Fernando

Another move of aproximately 17m to the WSW on sol 3211.
Fernando

Thank you Paul. I think that the Notional/Planned Routes file will add under 200k, so it is feasible to add it all. But I'll add MSAR 10 first and see how difficult that is.
Fernando

I had promised to take a look at MSAR 10. It is very similar to MSAR 9 minus the loops around the big hill.

It should be easy to add it to the Notional/Planned Routes collection, but would it be better to keep that file separate or merge it with "The Martian Way"?

Either way is fine with me.

Fernando

Since Phil is away, here is Curiosity's progress on sol 3210.

Fernando

This [long] update to sol 3206 includes data from PDS Release 27 and introduces a new version (version 4!) of the KML file. The file shows a new features' arrangement and structure in the Places panel (GE's left side panel). I felt the old structure was becoming very large and more difficult to handle. Over many months I completely rebuilt and expanded the software I use to manage the data and generate the kml file, making it more easy and faster to update the data and generate the kml code.

Data from PDS Release 27 includes:
- Route localization data for sols 0-3113 (the full path has been reviewed and updated)
- Analyst's Notebook data for sols 1-3068

In the new version, with the exception of the Mars clock, all the old and new features have been placed under two groups according to them being route related or science related.

Route features:

• Landing ellipse.
• 1km and 100m distance grids.
• Odometer marks, subdivided into kilometres and miles.
• Date marks subdivided into:
  • "landiversaries" - I love it, thank you Dr. Fraeman! - that is Earth years since landing, which show up by default.
  • January 1st position, Martian years since landing, and Mars year which are turned off by default but can be enabled.
• Path and sols, which comprise:
  • Full path, a new feature, is a continuous, thin, line without any sol markings, which is off by default. I've found it useful in a variety of situations so I decided to include it.
  • Route segments which have both the path and sol markings, as usual.

Science features:

• Quadrants, subdivided into the full set and traversed ones. In both you can separately turn on and off the quadrants themselves and their labels.
• Names of major locations.
• Locations and targets, which include:
  • Drill locations set, a new feature (see below for more information).
  • Minor location names and target names, as usual, the latter being off by default.

Each drill location has a panel with three images showing the area, the drill site, and the drill hole. To exploit it:

• Click on the underlined drill name to see the panel.
• Double click on the name to fly to the location and view it from a perspective position.
• Open the name twistie to reveal three components: area, drill site, and hole - represented by its name (underlined). Here you can:
  • Click on the area or drill site to fly to the are (vertical view).
  • Click on the hole (name) to see the image panel.
  • Double click on the hole (name) to fly to a closer position.

Here is the "hole" collection:


I'd appreciate to know your opinion and please let me know if you find any errors or have any suggestions such as, for instance, including the Planned/Notional Routes set (eliminating that separate file) in the routes group.
Thank you and enjoy as Curiosity starts a new chapter of its adventures!
Fernando

 The_Martian_Way_MSL_Curiosity_Sol_3206_2021AUG16.kmz ( 1.07MB ) Number of downloads: 249

______________________________________________
Gale crater/MSL route base map (HiRISE mosaic):
- see post #1078 for description and installation instructions
- direct link to the file (1.6 GB) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bww-fQ2HUe...iew?usp=sharing
KML Collection of planned/notional routes: see post #1392

This is a remarkable rover, carefully guided by remarkable team!
Update to sol 3199. The next update will use the data from the latest PDS release.
Fernando

 The_Martian_Way_MSL_Curiosity_Sol_3199_2021AUG06.kmz ( 854.22K ) Number of downloads: 197

______________________________________________
Gale crater/MSL route base map (HiRISE mosaic):
- see post #1078 for description and installation instructions
- direct link to the file (1.6 GB) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bww-fQ2HUe...iew?usp=sharing
KML Collection of planned/notional routes: see post #1392

As pointed out by Dr. Abigail Fraeman, Curiosity is ready to start its 10th [Earth] year on Mars.
How fruitful the last 9 years have been, and how far has it come!




Congratulations to the MSL Team!

Fernando

Mars Science Laboratory Release 27
The NASA Planetary Data System announces Release 27 of data from the Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity) mission. This release contains raw and calibrated data
products covering the time period from November 7, 2020, through March 24, 2021
(sols 2935-3068). The data are archived at various PDS nodes:
APXS (Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer) at the Geosciences Node
ChemCam at the Geosciences Node
CheMin at the Geosciences Node
DAN at the Geosciences Node
Engineering Cameras at the Cartography and Imaging Sciences Node
MAHLI (Mars Hand Lens Imager) at the Cartography and Imaging Sciences Node
Mastcam at the Cartography and Imaging Sciences Node
PLACES Database at the Cartography and Imaging Sciences Node
RAD (Radiation Assessment Detector) at the PPI Node
REMS (Rover Environmental Monitoring Station) at the Atmospheres Node
SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) at the Geosciences Node
SPICE at the NAIF Node

The data may be accessed from
https://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/missions/msl/
or for a dataset-oriented perspective:
https://pds.nasa.gov/datasearch/subscriptio...-20210802.shtml

The next MSL release is scheduled for December 6, 2021.
The PDS Team
Mailto: pds_operator@jpl.nasa.gov
Phone: (818) 393-7165

Update to sol 3192 using geojson location data from JPL's interactive map.
Lots of new names, some with hifens, some with grave accents. I could not locate "Fergeas".
Fernando

 The_Martian_Way_MSL_Curiosity_Sol_3192_2021JUL31.kmz ( 853.79K ) Number of downloads: 181

______________________________________________
Gale crater/MSL route base map (HiRISE mosaic):
- see post #1078 for description and installation instructions
- direct link to the file (1.6 GB) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bww-fQ2HUe...iew?usp=sharing
KML Collection of planned/notional routes: see post #1392

I am not a geologist but I can definitely say that these ridges,
however interesting, are not similar to the ones the Planet Four:Ridges
Citizen Science project has focused on.
Fernando

As a very active participant in the citizen science project Planet Four:Ridges (P4:R) I, too, am eager to see some ridges up close.Nothing like ground truth!

After combing through more than 125K subject images, from many tens of CTXs, I must say these ridges do not seem to be as tall as the "average" I've come across, but they are double, which is interesting. CRISM data can be used in some places and seems to point to different material for the ridges (as compared to the embedding terrain) although dust and instrument resolution impose limits. Hopefully a paper using the results from P4:R will be published in the near future.

The northern route will also pass relatively close (100 m ?) to another set of ridges. Fingers crossed

Fernando

Here is the update to sol 3165. Another small bump, since the sol 3163 location was not perfect.
This time I'm using geojson data for sols 3163-3165. It wil be replaced with more precise data when available.

Fernando
 The_Martian_Way_MSL_Curiosity_Sol_3165_2021JUL03.kmz ( 852.92K ) Number of downloads: 201

______________________________________________
Gale crater/MSL route base map (HiRISE mosaic):
- see post #1078 for description and installation instructions
- direct link to the file (1.6 GB) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bww-fQ2HUe...iew?usp=sharing
KML Collection of planned/notional routes: see post #1392

It is always good to see your maps, Phil. You put in some really hard work and they've helped me many times.

Though I enjoy knowing the rover's whereabouts in as near-real-time as possible, the amount of time I am able to dedicate to this project is not much so, as I've said several times, my updates can lag behind, despite trying to make them weekly. Meanwhile you've already appeased our thirst.

The data I use for the route comes almost exclusively from JPL (not geojson data, which has few data points), so I can not take any credit in having the location right. Those data sometimes takes days to be updated, especially at weekends, but I am not complaining. This is perfectly fine with me and it is great to be able to have it available.

Thank you and please keep up your great work.

Fernando

Hi Floyd, I agree it is an excellent suggestion. I'm sorry I do not have the time right now to properly address it, but it is easy to get it from the kmz file, as Phill and Paul have pointed out (thank you both!). I hope you fix your GE install problem.


The data for sol 3161 gives me this path, slightly different from Phil's

Lastly, I'll take a look at MSAR 10 and the notional paths collection.

Fernando

This is another great image! Curiosity's path is really inclined and she's climbing fast.
This is a feeling I can't get from the Google Mars path despite having the vertical exageration turned on to the maximum.
I am so grateful to you and all the other image wizards who really "take us there".

Fernando