FYI - I've found some info on the CIVA Mars sequences...

4CIVA-P Mars imaging is proposed to be done in the following conditions (refer to CIVA-ROLIS_LIOR_0260_01): - CIVA-P Heaters switching on 7 hours before t0 (01:54:49, Closest distance to Mars)

- CIVA-P Heaters switching off 3 hours before t0

- Back CIVA-P Heaters switching on 1 hour before t0

- 6 Mars (plus one solar panel) pictures taken with CIVA-P#1 (fix exposure time), one every 80 s, 4 pictures before t0, one at t0 and one after on the basis of the CNES simulations (see Regis presentation)

- 1 Phobos picture taken with CIVA-P#2 at t0+10 mn (fix exposure time)


And from elsewhere - the images we should expect in full, attached - we've seen image 1 so far.

I tried to be a bit diplomatic in my closing blog entry yesterday evening - but I also fudged a colour frame from the movie

My objection has nothing to do with what is and isn't a planet under the definition....

well, actually, it does.

As it stands, the status of Jupiter, Mars and Earth as planets is frankly, shakey.

So - as long as you have no problem with a rule that excludes Pluto....and Earth....then we're all good


Doug

To be fair - they were watching TV in the XMM-Newton / Integral control room

Doug

I think 'this' season needed editing as 'this' season could be any season - so I've changed that bit

The ammount of time that ESA has been around is in no way a mitigating factor in their current press efforts.

I am very proud of what my money does with ESA (even more so having visited ESOC) ...but I still maintain, based on the facts of what is and is not available to the public, they are not doing enough.

I was discussing only last night with someone who was in the room with me when I asked Bernard Foing when Smart 1 data would start being released. That was last October in Valencia and he said a few weeks.

Hmmmmm.. (checks PSA) . Nope. DISR, SSP.....Nope. VEX.....Nope.

If you want to compare something for a laugh - look at the speed with which every ounce of DI data was dumped onto the PDS before the end of '05.

It's a two fold problem - they're not in the habit of release science data as quickly and as completely as they should which is unacceptable from a scientific perspective - and the ammount of imagery released by VEX and Smart 1 was nothing short of disgracefull. I'm not looking for MER and HiRISE like performances....although that would be nice...I'm just looking for enough information so that if someone goes "can you give a talk about Venus Express" - I don't have to go "Sorry - there's not enough information out there to do a talk about"

BUT - to be fair...at least we see something from MEX and HRSC and VEX. I'm beginning to think MARCI has fallen off MRO.

Doug

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00000883/

and

http://www.flickr.com/photos/doug_ellison_tps

Good question about the drag - but I left ESOC 12 horus ago and wont be able to get in and ask anyone now - it really was a short, sweet event - I will send an email and ask the right person though (ps - sent an email to Kristin who sent me the planning docs that helped make the flyby timelines)

My net access is about to die in the hotel so I'll be out of touch till I get home, monday lunchtime. More OSIRIS images should be out in about 7-8 hours.

Doug

I'd wait for the out-bound images from ESA...they should be very very very special. That distant inbound image is nice - it trumps HST stuff - and it does look more 3d than your average Mars shot.....BUT....

This is the sort of shot I'm looking forward to.

Keller was a really nice chap - chatted to him for a while - he liked the fact that because I was 'from' TPS as he said "ahh...knowledgeable bunch" - and we talked cameras for a while. I mentioned how stunning the approach image was from a few weeks ago and he said that he loved it because it's really not a big telescope of a camera - 700mm FL at f8 - and he then said each image is fairly big - about 5 mbits - and I remarked on the large 2048x2048 ccd ( to act knowledgeable ) and he said he thought it might be the best camera flying right now. I added it is possibly the best framing camera flying - and he conceeded that pushbroom, obviously HiRISE takes the honours. He's a really nice guy - and I think he gets the value of Kodak moment pictures - but I couldn't get out of him just what the outbound sequence was like.

Also - throughout all of last night there was almost no mention of Philae. They said it was going to be on, taking pictures in in-situ obs - but not what pictures it would be taking, when, in what filters etc etc. They could be stunning - as 'mum' was essentially turned off for the closest part of the flyby.

Doing a better write up now for the blog

I have a couple of hours of continuous recording of the media room from last night - would it be worth chopping it up, encoding it and uploading it for true diehard enthusiasts? It'd have to be about . The funnies tthing is that CA went totally totally un-noticed

Doug

What time is it.

What day is it.

Osiris observation from about 100,000km out in just Red and Green filters fudged to make a colour image - presented by Horst Uwe Keller, PI for OSIRIS.

Since 0730 on Friday - I've had 4 hours sleep. Going to do a brief "that was fun" blog entry - with a more verbose entry at about 1300 tomorrow.

This post was brought to you by Red Bull. Other caffine drinks are available.

Other pictures are available here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doug_ellison_tps/

Doug

And that's not even a science product...didn't see that one coming at all.

First blog entry
http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00000876/

Pah - I did about 20k trying to get out of Frankfurt airport

Doug

Using the European DDOR ability that I mentioned in my Valencia blog - they're currently within 5km of that target point, which isn't bad

Emilys points about P.A. stuff is very true - which is why Voyager can't really help - but NH can during some of it's pseudo-hibernated cruise phases.

Doug

I'd like to thank Carolyn for her input, and at this point I'm going to close this thread to make sure it doesn't get out of hand in the future.

I think it's right and fair that Carolyn air her comments at UMSF in response to recent goings on - however I think I should further clarify a few points.

The source of the 'rumors' is that on multiple occasions, for whatever reason, people have responded to Carolyn's feedback by stopping their work with Cassini imagery all together. In one case this was the removing of an amateurs work from the private website (which would rather fly in the face of the suggestion that it is only via media outlets this is a problem) , and indeed one person responded by vouching to never work with imagery from any current mission. One has to ask - what inspired them to react so strongly?

It seems unlikely that anyone was told that it was great to see them working with raw imagery but could they just keep it to their own website and not share it via any media outlets. That's not the sort of message that stops you working on imagery all together. Perhaps the message they got was a little too broad and too strong.

But, truthfully, I don't believe any of that actually matters. The creation of movies, mosaics and colour images form the raw imagery and the publishing of those creations anywhere on the scale from forum, to personal website to media outlet or print, is entirely allowed within the JPL image useage policy.

Given that it can be days, weeks or even several months until some imaging products are put together officially (and given the limited resources science teams have, this is understandable) , it seems a little counterproductive to not encourage people to produce and display the 'stop gap' pretty pictures that many here and elsewhere enjoy. No one is ruining the party by having one next door...we're simply having a few drinks to get everyone in the mood before the party gets started because sometimes, the party starts quite late.

Once the raw images are online - everyone can see them, everyone can see anything they might show be it geysers, spokes, or the next new discovery, everyone can turn to someone who understands what they might be seing and say 'what do you make of this', but not everyone can enjoy them fully because they don't know how to put them together. The role of the amateur enthusiast has been to make the absolute most of every image as often and as quickly as possible.

I believe that any image that a media outlet considers of sufficient quality to be published is an achievment of which all parties should be proud - amateur and scientist alike. Surely the whole point is to have as many movies, maps, mosaics and pretty pictures as possible seen by as many people as possible - whoever has made them and wherever they are posted. Every time something makes it to APOD or the cover of a Magazine or elsewhere it's a credit to the mission, the decision to share the pictures, the people who made that decision and the instrument they built and command.

We have all seen the revised scope of the image useage policy, and that opinions from both sides of the issue have been made fully public. There is little more that can be said on the matter and I think it is now time that enthusiasts were left to make up their own minds, to create what they feel they should and share it how and where they feel appropriate.

Doug

The Li-Ion on my Dell went from 2 hours life to less than 40 minutes in about 14 months.

Doug

Well -

Omega
Imaging capability

128 contiguous, across track fields of view, each of 1.2 mrad, corresponding to < 500 m at periapsis

Spectral capability

352 contiguous spectral channels to acquire the entire spectrum from 0.36 to 5.2 µm for each resolved pixel

Photometric capability

SNR > 100 over the full spectral range, allowing the identification of percentage absorptions and thermal variations



VIRTIS

The imaging channel VIRTIS-M is required to provide
a minimum signal to noise ratio (SNR) of 100 in both
spectral ranges, 0.25 - 1.0 mm and 1-5 mm at the
nominal sampling under the measurement baseline
conditions relative to the mapping and close
observation phase, which is considered as the design
driver for VIRTIS-M.
The high-resolution channel VIRTIS-H is required to
perform high resolution spectroscopy in the spectral
range between 2 and 5 mm. The above mentioned
scientific requirements imply for VIRTIS-H to provide
a SNR better than 100 and a minimum resolving power
of 1000 to resolve molecular bands. VIRTIS-H design
is driven by the requirements in both the mapping
phase and the coma observation phase, that lasts until
the comet is escorted to its perihelion.

(from http://servirtis.obspm.fr/virtis/virtis_exp.html )


At the sort of range that Virtis will be working (i.e. not CA) - It's going to be lower res than Omega - but higher spectral res ( 3x by my guessing )

Doug

And - courtesy of the brilliance that is Dave Seal's Solar System Sim ( http://space.jpl.nasa.gov )

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_im...philae_mars.mov ( 3 meg )

This is the view of Mars at 1 minute per frame and played at 15 frames per second (i.e. 1hr = 4 seconds) during the three hours of Philae operations during the middle of the flyby.

Doug

I would imagine there will be something here - http://television.esa.int/default.cfm

Sorting out my stuff ( laptop, mini-disc recorder for interviews and press con. etc ) and my colleague Josh had a GREAT idea...



Maybe not

Doug

Well - I've not been able to find anything about Philae, the lander, during it's 3 hour phase of operating on its own....but it's cameras should, I think, provide a spectacular view of Mars - and i'm trying to make a little movie of that segment using Dave Seals frankly awesome Solar System Simulator

I'm looking forward to it - it's going to be a flying visit and I'm not sure just how much of a 'live' blogging I will be able to do - but hopefully I provide something more than what people will get from just watching ESA TV

Doug

As you might all know by now - I'm heading to ESOC for the media event that ties in with the flyby and so with a lot of help from Emily and the Rosetta Science Operations Centre at ESA - I've done a flyby chart...just the imaging instruments, but it's fairly usefull. Emily's got a vertical one in the works in the same style as her excellent New Horizons timeline.

Other interesting resources...

http://www.space.irfu.se/rosetta/sci/mars/
http://www.cosis.net/abstracts/EGU2007/069...88baf6c8092ff18
http://spaceurope.blogspot.com/2007/02/ros...ng-lessons.html
http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov/dsp_mars.cfm?b...uttonSelL2=mars
http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov/dsp_aliceMars....uttonSelL2=mars
http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov/dsp_miroMars.c...uttonSelL2=mars
http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov/dsp_iesMars.cf...uttonSelL2=mars

And - in CET ( one hour ahead of UT )
25 February 2007, 2 a.m. start

02:00 - Doors open & Filming opportunity in Mission Control Room
02:40 - Welcome by David Southwood, ESA Director of Science Programme
02:50 - Rosetta Mars swingby the manoeuvres and flight dynamics, Uwe Feucht, Head of Flight Dynamics Division/Team
03:00 - En route science, first images, Gerhard Schwehm, Head of Solar System Science Operations Division & Rosetta Mission Manager
03:10 - Introductory comments on approach ; Paolo Ferri, Head of Solar and Planetary Missions Division and Rosetta Flight Operations Director Comments on eclipse, Andrea Accomazzo, Rosetta Spacecraft Operations Manager Comments on closest approach/eclipse, Andrea Accomazzo & Paolo Ferri
03:15 - Closest approach to Mars, eclipse starts
03:17 - Ground stations, Manfred Lugert, Head of Ground Facilities Operations Division
03:28 - Occultation ends - signal back
03:30 - Imagery from Rosetta and Mars Express , Uwe Keller, Mas-Planck Institute
03:40 - Comments on eclipse end and telemetry acquisition, Andrea Accomazzo,
03:52 - Conclusions, Manfred Warhaut, Head of Mission Operations Department
04 :00 - End of event


I'd say I was looking forward to it....but that's somehow not quite enough.

Also attached - Anim Gif of 1 frame per hour flyby

Doug

Both http://trs.jpl.nasa.gov/ and http://trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/handle/2014/6130 appear to be very dead unfortunately

Doug

So am I.

Sure- they're not going to be doing 50m+ drives or climbing >8 degree slopes - but the wheel issue has not been the primary factor in the small ammount of driving done in the last 12 months.

Doug

of course, there's the tiny issue of 6 months sat on a slope to survive winter that might, just maybe, be a contributing factor to not much mobility recently.

Doug

It got porn spammed - we locked it away to stop it getting worse, but my ever wonderfull admin team have culled the appropriate memebers account...we just forgot to open the thread again

Doug