These are the new logo designs - essentially a derivative from what we have, but huge so it will go well onto Cafepress stuff

The way things are going...I'll have it all sorted for...er...well - Easter presents anyone?
Doug

A set of two whisky glasses I think.

Doug

No - a panorama is no use - we'll have a HiRISE image to reproject these X and Y's onto - pins on a panorama will be impossible to translate onto a HiRISE image when we get it. This vertical projection, as I said earlier, is just a guide - it's not an accurate reference because it's so distorted out beyond about 4 or 5 metres.

And yes - that's just about Sojourners last known position which I have previously guestimated as best I can (-4 -15 ish) - but obviously Sojourner is not allowed to vote...she's out of the country And even if she could, she would say -400,-200 or something crazy I may have gone a bit too far south with that position actually - check her own telemetry Sojourner says she's at 0,-8.961,-2.331 - I am not sure if that it the same reference frame as our vertical projection but it would put it in about the right sort of place....just under Michael.

I've added a few more and changes Sojourner's best guess of her last known position to a little yellow cross.

Doug

No - I culled the products as I wasn't happy with the quality of them - I have got the busiest week in known history going on at the moment so I can't really sort out the new stuff ( using a new shiney logo..and a special varient of the logo for kiddies already beta tested on Lakdawalla Jnr ) until next week at the earliest, which I'm afraid is too late for Christmas.

Doug

Another great article - this on HiStitch....

Tell you want I would like to read in the HiBlog - cold hard figures on the size of the downlink for some of these images as a total data product...and how that's best expressed in terms of the length of downlink time needed.

Also - one thing that would be VERY cool - a total image counter....how many images have been taken in total.....and...did you get anything interesting from the ride-along during Deimos calib

I must say - blogs and 'casts of various sorts really do bring this stuff to life for the enthused viewer/reader - kudos to the team for doing it.

Doug

I second http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2006/1...674_14color.jpg - it's a beauty.

I think some images of Aerogel and Stardust@Home obs have to go in there....

I'd also add this one - http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images...s121e06040.html -

this
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/r...s/2006/2006/41/

and this... Red jnr
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/r...s/2006/2006/19/

Also - grab a sexy pic of the Atlas V New Horizons launch...that think went off like a...a...er... rocket?



Also - the Pancam guys have just finished the Duck Bay.... James' is very good - but when you have the proper data to hand...well...you can't go wrong..

http://pancam.astro.cornell.edu/pancam_ins...t/duck_bay.html


Doug

If someone can identify Wedge and Hassock....those have been reserved by the Sojourner Rover Mission Operations Engineer and Sojourner Sequence Planner respectively

Doug

I think this is possibly the only 'anything goes' thread really - so what the hell...

if anyone is looking for a multimedia designer with excellent presentation skills and some experience in reporting from a space conference for outreach, publicity etc in the space field....you know where to find me

Doug

I may have got some wrong. Ustrax is our 'special cookie' and so has two entries - one for him, one for the voices in his head

(a few more added...tim...you nutter )

You can't have that...sojourner picked that one

Doug

I think we can say 'out of area' with a bearing.... the major 8 will do - N,NE, E, SE,S,SW,W,NW - pick one.

Doug

It was bound to happen....after the Beacon fest, and the Arrival madness.....

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA01150.jpg

Have a look at that image - and then pick your spot, expressed as X and Y.

I'm going for 2, -3 ( 2m East, 3m South)

Pick to a nearest metre and try not to pick one that's already been done.

Winner takes.....bugger all.

My best guess on Sojourner known last position is....
sojourner -4,-15

Now - this is only a guide and we will reproject these coords back onto the HiRISE map...so it's not what feature you think it's next to on that image...because that is very warped in places - it's how it seems on the HiRISE image.

list

djellison 2,-3

Spectacular water dump going on right now - and it's due to last an HOUR

Doug

I was able to get through school without being taught any astronomy. There was a small ammount of Astrophysics as an option module during A-Level physics, but nothing more than the basics.

Doug

No - that's what I thought, but actually - it was due to go back to the lander, but at the same time it had a keep-out zone at the lander. It would have kept trying to get closer, whilst nudging the keepout zone...and probably turned right and circled the lander not by design, simply as a symptom of two fighting commands..get close and keep out.

However - eventually, the rovers knowledge of its own location would drift and it could have gone basically anywhere.

The lander had no commands to send to the rover, and I think the lack of communication from the lander was probably a lander failure, not just a comms failure. But to be honest, who knows. Personally, I give the rover a 50% chance of still being at Chimp, a 25% chance of being near the rear rover egress aid, and a 25% chance of having gone rogue and gone crazy

Doug

I knew it as

"Johnny Brown whent to school
but now he is no more
For what he thought was H2O
Was really H2SO4"

Doug

I don't think so

http://hiroc.lpl.arizona.edu/images/TRA/TRA_000861_1530/

Doug

Actually every launch I've ever seen has holds in it - they make a lot of sense in terms of launch processing - and there's nothing variable about it - there was a 10 minute window and the countdown was aimed for the middle of it ( 8.47pm ET) from the beginning

Good to see them get it off the pad - particularly given the poor weather outlook and late fueling

Doug

Yes



A bit - the limiting factor is probably the manhours involved in writing the sequences to do the relay. Consider that a good MER UHF relay pass is 100 Mbits. I'm not sure about the size of the average HiRISE observation, but it's going to be an order of magnitude or two more than that. Even at the lowest normal data rate, 100 Mbits is less than 4 minutes of MRO downlink - so say three passes per day ( one per rover, plus a second on one rover...about average I think) , 12 minutes out of a near 24 hour downlink schedule. 1%. Get to closest approach and it's more like 0.1% of the downlink.

Doug

That's two of us I was very suprised there's no sign of the MPF backshell UNTIL....I saw the HiRISE imagery of the MERB Backshell and realised that MOC never really showed us the MERB backshell but actually just a large swathe of light soil kicked up by its impact...it should have been obvious when comparing to rover views of the hardware, but it never quite clicked into perspective. I'm fairly sure HiRISE will pick it up easily though.

It's interestig to compare the backshells of all 4 spacecraft imaged so far. By virtue of their EDL timeline, the Viking backshells have floated softly to the ground and look just about perfect sat there. After bridle cut, it seems that the MERA chute reinflated thus letting the backshell land softly - but the same doesn't seem to be true of MERB, where the chute appears smaller on the ground and the backshell very obviously not intact suggesting no chute reinflation and thus a hard backshell landing. It will be interesting to see what Pathfinder did!

Doug

Yup - Orbiter has been mentioned a lot here - it's got a really steep learning curve but it's fantastic.

Doug

Sorry - didn't see that post - kudos to him as well

Doug

Kudos to Emily for finding THE coolest thing yet that isn't a Mars Rover.....

http://planetary.org/image/PSP_001420_2045_RED_bridge.jpg
from this blog entry...

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00000793/



Doiug

HiDrive

Thing is - I'll fill it with HiSTUFF .

And if that's not enough...

http://descanso.jpl.nasa.gov/DPSummary/sum...orce_external=0

Those are very good reading...I love it. Now you mention it Alex - I think I do actually have a telecom fetish of sorts....