Well - of course - all the MER downlink is via Odyssey, and thus they don't pay a direct DSN cost for that. (But they do, I think, pay Odyssey for it)

The uplink via DFE X-band to the HGA is from the DSN, but that's not a long period. Maybe, between the two of them, 1hr per day. There was some discovery mission documentation that outlined the maths to figure out how much DSN time costs...I'll have to dig it up again.

Doug

I've merged this thread and the Victoria-Festoons thread. We only need the one thread on Don's alternate Meridiani hypothesis.

Doug

Look how quick the tracks, only 2 sols old, have been degraded. That's astonishing.

Doug

What would you have been be prepared to drop, instrument wise, to make room in terms of mass, volume, money and data.

Geologists don't carry anenometers

Doug

Yes - very visible from the cameras....

http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects...s/20070523.html details it a little more - the location is on the edge of the top of the lander deck - I think roughly where the sundial is shown here - http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/images/gallery/lg_72.jpg

Doug

Thread moved to appropriate sub-forum.

Mini-TES does good atmospheric science, and indeed so does the APXS w.r.t. Argon loading.

Doug

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=seasat&am...earch&meta= ?

Doug

No - thats what happens, the direct drops, the indirect increases. For 'close ops' to a cliff, you'd want a clean rover, but a filthy sky

Doug

And I've just seen that the Marsoweb landing site site has CTX images as well.

too

much


data




Doug

Not as good as Scooters, lots of it is done with good texturing, but it's good enough to stand up to the 4k res of Imax. The Imax version is a step up from the version in the usual EDL anim - for instance the arrays are 'glassy' only on the cells themselves, not on the whole panel.

Doug

Realistically, any and all commercial requirement for such a model has been well and truely covered by Dan Maas's work for the pre-launch Animation, the two Nova documentaries (for which he was Emmy nominated) and the Imax movie.

Your model is just stunning - but I can't imagine a 'market' for it.

Doug

PoSat
Made in Britain

Congratulations on the 'gig' Ustrax - great stuff.

Doug

Tomorrow. I think it will be an audio telecon with slides rather than a full NASA TV program.

That's what I heard as well - specific mention of replacing the 2nd stage.

There isn't one -it's an oral thing.

Doug

You see - NOW it makes sense. The start of the window getting pushed right because of a couple of issues has meant that they're pushed to get it away before the cutoff at which point they'd have to destack to make way for Phoenix - and because the 2nd stage is a right off once fuelled, it would have to be replaced if they had to make way for Phoenix

Now - why couldn't they say that in the press con. Get out from behind the lens and get a job with KSC PAO Ben.

Doug

Ahhh - ok - that puts a bit more pressure on - they need to be 100% sure they're good to go at the start of the window...but - why does it close on the 11th when the absolute window closes in October. A couple of days to reconfig the range for Phoenix - but what's happening at the end of the July to mean the windows closed.

Doug

1 p.m. EDT, Thursday, June 28

NASA will hold a media teleconference to discuss the scientific reasoning and risks related to the Mars rover Opportunity's planned descent into the massive "Victoria Crater."

Briefing participants are:
-- Alan Stern, NASA associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington
-- Michael Meyer, lead Mars program scientist, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington
-- John Callas, Mars Exploration Rover project manager, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
-- Steve Squyres, principal investigator, Mars Exploration Rover science instruments, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

It seemed like they were trying to say that they didn't want to trouble the science team while they were still figuring out these issues - but the issues they mentioned (LV analysis and Range ) have nothing to do with the science team.

They've got a couple of weeks to get Dawn away - surely more than enough to clear these two issues - why they felt the need to mention the $20m+ that would be involved in delaying through till september requiring a new second stage I just don't know.

Doug

What the hell are they going on about?

They have 'issues' that are no different to any previous mission....so they cancelled the science briefing.

This is the most evasive, vague, non-specific briefing I've ever heard. They've known about the launch window for several months - and now they're saying they're proceeding full steam ahead for a July 7th launch - but that they have 'late breaking' issues regarding the forward attach points for the GEM's but they're already on track on that issue and a down-range comms issue for which they already have a workaround.

I'm kind of wondering where the beef is.


Doug
(PS - a significant telecon on Thursday for Opportunity going into Victoria - I assume the NASA HQ 'OK' to go in)

Blog seems 'nominal' - bar the Solar Array ding we already knew about.

Doug

Ben's the one in the white overalls

Doug

An upgrade for the DSN based on arrays of modest ( <30m but >1m ) sized dishes is under serious study - with a test dish being used at JPL - (I think it's 12m).

Doug

While they have one mobile rover, it's unlikely the program will be shut down.


Spirit probably wont survive another winter - all the more reason to do the good science infront of us

Doug