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Unmanned Spaceflight.com > All posts by a member| Posted on: May 12 2006, 09:37 PM | |
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Founder  Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 
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And across the Atlantic, every Imax theatre in the British Isles is still not showing it. Doug |
| Forum: Spirit · Post Preview: #53976 · Replies: 175 · Views: 198975 |
| Posted on: May 12 2006, 08:12 PM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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Well - I'd be happy to spend £25 on a cheap crap digital camera to see if it works after a night in the freezer  Doug |
| Forum: Cassini general discussion and science results · Post Preview: #53954 · Replies: 71 · Views: 66072 |
| Posted on: May 12 2006, 01:17 PM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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fwiw - I've done an 'ask' on the unannotated version of that newer, shockingly good Victoria MOC image, but no luck I'm afraid. Doug |
| Forum: Opportunity · Post Preview: #53893 · Replies: 778 · Views: 414939 |
| Posted on: May 12 2006, 11:32 AM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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This is the problem isnt it "Go to the moon in this decade...here's a huge ammount of cash" "Go to the moon...what...you want money?" One's feasable...one isn't. Doug |
| Forum: Exploration Strategy · Post Preview: #53881 · Replies: 100 · Views: 113468 |
| Posted on: May 12 2006, 09:20 AM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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Well - remember, it's not as if Venus is the ignored neigbour at the moment...we have VEX giving it the once over. Without VEX, I'd be inclinded to agree with you in that any Venus science would be worth it (i.e. a drop of water when you're really really thirsty is great...but do you care about a drop of water when you've got a 25 litre water-bottle on your desk )Doug |
| Forum: Venus · Post Preview: #53867 · Replies: 129 · Views: 233677 |
| Posted on: May 12 2006, 08:53 AM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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You don't want the spacecraft to be doing anything other than looking after itself, and maintaining appropriate pointing during Conjunction. Adding a science program into the mix would increase the risk of having a safing event, and frankly, on a Discovery budget - the money to get the people together to write, test, and then look at the resulting sequences and data isn't going to be easy. Doug |
| Forum: Venus · Post Preview: #53862 · Replies: 129 · Views: 233677 |
| Posted on: May 12 2006, 08:51 AM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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I can't find the Contour animation now - really annoying, it was lovely Someone has Contour Frags A, B and C in Celestia - I think you would be suprised just how far apart 73P and the Contour fragments are...the burn that 'killed' Contour didn't actually complete as I understand it, and there would be a lot of TCM's from then till the various encounters, so whilst I'm not certain, I'd be fairly confident that actually, the three Contour frags are quite some distance from 73P Doug |
| Forum: Tech, General and Imagery · Post Preview: #53861 · Replies: 14 · Views: 15222 |
| Posted on: May 12 2006, 08:49 AM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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Unfortunately, my holiday schedule is sort of screwed for '06 ( A week in the north of England in June, and a week in Valencia in October ) If it was over a weekend, I could probably do Madrid though - it would be nice to visit a DSN station, and Easyjet rules Doug |
| Forum: Chit Chat · Post Preview: #53860 · Replies: 15 · Views: 13216 |
| Posted on: May 11 2006, 09:04 PM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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There is already an international agreement that lays out who does what for the ISS. If the US is getting a bad deal out of it, then the US is to blame for not . In launching Columbus (and the module from Japan) - the US also earns itself access to a considerable percentage of those facilities time on orbit (i.e. we'll build this module, and give you 50% of it if you launch it for us) If the US were to go "sorry - no can do" then Europe would be entitiled to some sort of renumeration imho - a deal's a deal as far as I'm concerned, if you made a bad deal, then tough luck, should have made it better. Besides all of that - I agree with just about everyone here in saying that the ISS is a financial pain in the backside...but I still think it should be finished - the prospect for ANY international cooperation in the future will take a serious dive if it isn't. Doug |
| Forum: Exploration Strategy · Post Preview: #53791 · Replies: 100 · Views: 113468 |
| Posted on: May 11 2006, 09:02 PM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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QUOTE (Wyl2006 @ May 11 2006, 07:19 PM)  I am really wondering on those funny self beloving of some ESA-"professionals" and the things told about these bunch of lousy photos they have gotten. Welcome to UMSF - but carefull on the 'self beloving' stuff - no need for insults. The camera was built in the very early '90s, with a tiny volume, mass, power and data budget and sent to a very dim, cold, harsh environment - and given those constraints it was about as good as it could possibly have been. Given that, its origin is unimportant - but just to set the record straight, the camera was infact a US contribution to Huygens http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/DISR/ - so if you feel the need for totally unjustified criticism, then lay it at their door, not ESA's. Doug |
| Forum: Cassini general discussion and science results · Post Preview: #53790 · Replies: 71 · Views: 66072 |
| Posted on: May 11 2006, 05:44 PM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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Prospector's been done - I know it was Lunar...but still. Avatar could work for some live telepresence stuff, but I still think it just sounds a bit wierd. Doug |
| Forum: MSL · Post Preview: #53756 · Replies: 114 · Views: 89121 |
| Posted on: May 11 2006, 11:34 AM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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If you notice, the calibrated images through flatfield, darkfield etc etc, suffer a lot less noise. Also - your average pancam frame, because it's thru a fairly narrow band filter - doesnt have much dynamic range - so when it's stretched to go on the JPL/Exp sites as a JPG - even a little noise becomes exagerated. A Navcam frame, being unfiltered, probably has more dynamic range, thus requiring less stretching, thus the noise is less obvious. Doug |
| Forum: Opportunity · Post Preview: #53725 · Replies: 1472 · Views: 708277 |
| Posted on: May 11 2006, 11:30 AM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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Rushes of the Phoenix anim are here http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/multimedia/videos/ I can't find the Contour animation online anywhere and it took me forever to find the 2001 animation! Doug |
| Forum: Tech, General and Imagery · Post Preview: #53724 · Replies: 14 · Views: 15222 |
| Posted on: May 11 2006, 10:01 AM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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Odd thought I've just had...I wonder how different I would have done things if I was in charge of the rovers I think I might have gone " do we really need another full filter sequence of a patch of random ground? " and taken more pictures of where we've been ( Pancam images of tracks behind us, particularly at Meridiani ) and I think some long time lapse images of the Southern Basin from the summit showing sunrise to sunet if it was doable with the power. Other than that though, taking into account the power, time and data budgets, I don't think I'd have done very much very differently. At this point, Wolff will be screaming for a Sky hemisphere but hey  So - in terms of what was taken and when - what would you drop, what would you do different - remember, for every image you would have taken, you have to think of a frame you wouldn't to free up the data budget. Also take into consideration power etc - no late night obs when you're low on Whrs etc. Doug |
| Forum: Tech, General and Imagery · Post Preview: #53706 · Replies: 8 · Views: 10247 |
| Posted on: May 11 2006, 07:58 AM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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I've just remembered - I saw an odd animation that looked like the 2001 animation he did, but it deployed little flying bots that went off and collected samples - I can't find it anymore, but it was very interesting. You know - I don't think it's an exageration to say that without Dan's earliest animation of MER ( with the round-edges solar arrays ) - MER might never have happened and we might have had MRO in '03 and something else in '05 - I honestly think that bit of animation was just enough to get the senior NASA management and politicians to go "we can do that? COOL....let's build one" Doug |
| Forum: Tech, General and Imagery · Post Preview: #53695 · Replies: 14 · Views: 15222 |
| Posted on: May 11 2006, 07:56 AM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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Oh - I know avatar means something else - but it also means something very specific to a particular culture. If I'm honest, I think 'Avatar' sounds just a bit silly, seing as most internet-aware people will think "Avatar, you mean that picture of Donald Duck I use for that forum I post in?" - it doesnt suggest exploration or discovery in any way. Explorer, Ranger, Mariner, Voyager, Pioneer, Surveyor.....those are the great spacecraft names of our time - but it's hard to think of something to match them. Global Surveyor, Odyssey, Express, Exploration Rover, Pathfinder, Recon Orbiter...apart from Odyssey, they are all descriptive and simple. Now - with those as a background, 'Avatar' or 'Mars Avatar' just sounds plain wierd. Doug |
| Forum: MSL · Post Preview: #53694 · Replies: 114 · Views: 89121 |
| Posted on: May 11 2006, 07:46 AM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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Yes - it seems unintuitive at first, but the number of flybys and the fuel mass ratio of Messenger show just how difficult Mercury is. Doug |
| Forum: Pluto / KBO · Post Preview: #53692 · Replies: 43 · Views: 63579 |
| Posted on: May 11 2006, 07:45 AM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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Well - the Spice data's going to tell you where it was and which way it was pointing at the time - but we don't really care about that - Mars24 work's quite well - I was wondering how I could find out LMST for any point on Mars given an earth time...and the answer was sat on my HDD all the time Doug |
| Forum: Mars Express & Beagle 2 · Post Preview: #53691 · Replies: 28 · Views: 36893 |
| Posted on: May 11 2006, 07:41 AM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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The only planetary animation effect for which I'm at a total loss to understand is the churning clouds of Jupiter that the BBC did beautifully for 'The Planets' Doug |
| Forum: Earth Observations · Post Preview: #53690 · Replies: 5 · Views: 8942 |
| Posted on: May 11 2006, 07:38 AM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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I spotted frag B last night in my new binos that I got FOR FIVE POUNDS Using Stellarium this morning, I think it would have been just above and to the left of n-Lyr - My new Binos tell me they have an FOV of 7.l1 degrees and I think that the ammount of tail I was seing was probably a degree, heading out from the comet at about 2 O'Clock. The thing to do now, is spot it again tonight and see how far it's moved (Looking at Spaceweather's just-right-for-hunting-with-bino's charts) it'll be a lot, I may have to wait till 1am for it to have got high enoughDoug |
| Forum: Telescopic Observations · Post Preview: #53689 · Replies: 34 · Views: 31134 |
| Posted on: May 11 2006, 07:29 AM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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I have a DVD somewhere ( one of those obscure DVD's you think's going to be rubbish but has some nice footage on it ) , Eye's on Mars I think, I'll double check - and he does an lovely description of how they went about the animation - cracking stuff. And of course, he did the power-tool spoof animation of the rat getting stuck and the rover spinning round throwing off a wheel Doug |
| Forum: Tech, General and Imagery · Post Preview: #53688 · Replies: 14 · Views: 15222 |
| Posted on: May 10 2006, 08:16 PM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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Mars 24 - of COURSE.....stupid me, should have thought of that - I'll get the ND image and see if we can get better values Doug |
| Forum: Mars Express & Beagle 2 · Post Preview: #53625 · Replies: 28 · Views: 36893 |
| Posted on: May 10 2006, 08:14 PM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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Epson sell A3 width 10m rolls for about 20-30 quid I think - and I'm sure other manufacturers make it as well After my shed, and a 24" monitor - an A3 printer (Epson R1800 perhaps) is next Doug |
| Forum: Spirit · Post Preview: #53624 · Replies: 603 · Views: 379795 |
| Posted on: May 10 2006, 07:13 PM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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Consider that your average monitor is 70 - 90 dpi, then at a viewing distance of anything more than about 3ft, 150dpi is serious overkill Doug |
| Forum: Spirit · Post Preview: #53608 · Replies: 603 · Views: 379795 |
| Posted on: May 10 2006, 07:12 PM | |
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14457 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1
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Unfortunately, ESA being ESA - they've not gone that far.... CODE /* FILE DATA ELEMENTS */ RECORD_TYPE = FIXED_LENGTH RECORD_BYTES = 761 FILE_RECORDS = 9093 LABEL_RECORDS = 13 /* POINTERS TO DATA OBJECTS */ ^IMAGE_HEADER = 14 ^IMAGE = 24 /* IDENTIFICATION DATA ELEMENTS */ FILE_NAME = "H1089_0000_GR3.IMG" DATA_SET_ID = "MEX-M-HRSC-5-REFDR-MAPPROJECTED-V1.0" DETECTOR_ID = MEX_HRSC_GREEN EVENT_TYPE = "MARS-REGIONAL-STEREO-Vo-Te" INSTRUMENT_HOST_ID = MEX INSTRUMENT_HOST_NAME = "MARS EXPRESS" INSTRUMENT_ID = HRSC INSTRUMENT_NAME = "HIGH RESOLUTION STEREO CAMERA" MISSION_NAME = "MARS EXPRESS" MISSION_PHASE_NAME = MR_Phase_3 PROCESSING_LEVEL_ID = 3 PRODUCT_CREATION_TIME = 2006-02-25T19:37:42.000Z PRODUCT_ID = "H1089_0000_GR3.IMG" RELEASE_ID = 0014 REVISION_ID = 0000 /* TIME DATA ELEMENTS */ SPACECRAFT_CLOCK_START_COUNT = "1/0049306128.57946" SPACECRAFT_CLOCK_STOP_COUNT = "1/0049306423.01508" START_TIME = 2004-11-23T16:09:25.323Z STOP_TIME = 2004-11-23T16:13:19.412Z /* ORBITAL DATA ELEMENTS */ ASCENDING_NODE_LONGITUDE = 205.87 MAXIMUM_RESOLUTION = 90.9 <m/pixel> FOOTPRINT_POINT_LATITUDE = (27.9346,27.9344,27.9342,27.933,27.9328 ,27.9316,27.9314,27.9301,27.9299, 27.9286,27.9283,27.9269,27.9266,27.9252 ,27.9247,27.9234,27.9231,27.9228, 27.9215,27.921,27.9196,27.919,27.9167, 27.9164,27.9134,27.913,27.9111,27.9107, 27.9088,27.9084,27.9067,27.9064,27.9044 ,27.7339,27.5671,27.4003,26.8988, 26.7313,26.2345,25.9094,25.7463,25.5834 ,22.5711,22.417,22.1085,21.7999,21.4907 ,21.3364,21.1872,21.0395,20.8898, 20.7401,20.5905,20.4405,20.2907,19.9912 ,19.8414,19.5414,19.3913,19.0908, 18.9434,18.7981,18.508,18.3624,18.217, 18.0725,17.9272,17.6366,17.4909,17.3452 ,17.1992,17.0528,16.9066,16.7605, 16.6142,16.4681,16.3218,16.0295,15.8825 ,15.7404,15.5991,15.4583,15.3155, 15.1743,14.7515,13.7638,13.0574,12.6363 ,12.6364,12.6373,12.6375,12.6378,12.638 ,12.6423,12.6424,12.6449,12.6464, 12.6465,12.648,27.9346) FOOTPRINT_POINT_LONGITUDE = (231.495,231.482,231.469,231.392, 231.379,231.301,231.288,231.21,231.197, 231.119,231.106,231.028,231.015,230.936 ,230.909,230.844,230.831,230.817, 230.751,230.725,230.659,230.632,230.526 ,230.512,230.379,230.365,230.285, 230.271,230.19,230.176,230.109,230.095, 230.088,230.096,230.103,230.11,230.13, 230.136,230.156,230.169,230.174,230.18, 230.279,230.284,230.294,230.304,230.313 ,230.319,230.325,230.336,230.34,230.344 ,230.348,230.351,230.356,230.365,230.37 ,230.379,230.383,230.39,230.393,230.396 ,230.403,230.405,230.407,230.414, 230.418,230.425,230.427,230.43,230.431, 230.431,230.432,230.433,230.434,230.435 ,230.436,230.44,230.438,230.434,230.434 ,230.436,230.429,230.43,230.435,230.446 ,230.452,230.456,230.464,230.543, 230.553,230.583,230.593,231.0,231.009, 231.285,231.462,231.472,231.478, 231.495) ORBIT_NUMBER = 1089 ORBITAL_ECCENTRICITY = 0.574 ORBITAL_INCLINATION = 86.59 ORBITAL_SEMIMAJOR_AXIS = 8632.71 PERIAPSIS_ALTITUDE = 282.96 PERIAPSIS_ARGUMENT_ANGLE = 169.82 PERIAPSIS_TIME = 2004-11-23T16:14:01.000Z SPACECRAFT_ORIENTATION = (0.0,-1.0,0.0) ^MEX_ORIENTATION_DESC = "MEX_ORIENTATION_DESC.TXT" SPACECRAFT_POINTING_MODE = ACROSSTRACK ^MEX_POINTING_DESC = "MEX_POINTING_DESC.TXT" RIGHT_ASCENSION = -1e+32 DECLINATION = -1e+32 OFFSET_ANGLE = -0.62 SPACECRAFT_SOLAR_DISTANCE = 2.41014e+08 TARGET_NAME = MARS /* CAMERA DATA ELEMENTS */ DETECTOR_TEMPERATURE = 18.1666 <degC> FOCAL_PLANE_TEMPERATURE = 8.1755 <degC> INST_CMPRS_NAME = "DISCRETE COSINE TRANSFORMATION (DCT)" INST_CMPRS_RATIO = 13.4668 INST_CMPRS_QUALITY = 0 INST_CMPRS_QUANTZ_TBL_ID = 0 INSTRUMENT_TEMPERATURE = 10.8262 <degC> LENS_TEMPERATURE = 9.6028 <degC> MACROPIXEL_SIZE = 8 MISSING_FRAMES = 0 PIXEL_SUBSAMPLING_FLAG = N SIGNAL_CHAIN_ID = 2 /* RADIOMETRIC DATA ELEMENTS */ BANDWIDTH = 88.0 <nm> CENTER_FILTER_WAVELENGTH = 538.0 <nm> RADIANCE_OFFSET = 0.0 <W*m**-2*sr**-1> RADIANCE_OFFSET = 0.999522 RADIANCE_SCALING_FACTOR = 0.0263032 <W*m**-2*sr**-1> RADIANCE_SCALING_FACTOR = 0.0128937 REFLECTANCE_SCALING_FACTOR = 0.00131548 REFLECTANCE_SCALING_FACTOR = 0.000644843 /* DATA OBJECT DEFINITIONS */ OBJECT = IMAGE INTERCHANGE_FORMAT = BINARY LINES = 9070 LINE_SAMPLES = 761 SAMPLE_TYPE = UNSIGNED_INTEGER SAMPLE_BITS = 8 BANDS = 1 BAND_STORAGE_TYPE = BAND_SEQUENTIAL MAXIMUM = 163 MEAN = 89.6954 MINIMUM = 38 STANDARD_DEVIATION = 7.2111 END_OBJECT = IMAGE /* MAP OBJECT DEFINITIONS */ OBJECT = IMAGE_MAP_PROJECTION ^DATA_SET_MAP_PROJECTION_CATALOG= "DSMAP.CAT" A_AXIS_RADIUS = 3396.19 <km> B_AXIS_RADIUS = 3396.19 <km> C_AXIS_RADIUS = 3396.19 <km> CENTER_LATITUDE = 0.0 CENTER_LONGITUDE = 231.0 COORDINATE_SYSTEM_NAME = PLANETOGRAPHIC COORDINATE_SYSTEM_TYPE = "BODY-FIXED ROTATING" EASTERNMOST_LONGITUDE = 231.495 FIRST_STANDARD_PARALLEL = "N/A" LINE_FIRST_PIXEL = 1 LINE_LAST_PIXEL = 9070 LINE_PROJECTION_OFFSET = 16560.6875 MAP_PROJECTION_ROTATION = 0.0 MAP_PROJECTION_TYPE = SINUSOIDAL MAP_RESOLUTION = 592.746965121889 <pixel/degree> MAP_SCALE = 0.1 <km/pixel> MAXIMUM_LATITUDE = 27.9346 MINIMUM_LATITUDE = 12.6363 POSITIVE_LONGITUDE_DIRECTION = EAST REFERENCE_LATITUDE = "N/A" REFERENCE_LONGITUDE = "N/A" SAMPLE_FIRST_PIXEL = 1 SAMPLE_LAST_PIXEL = 761 SAMPLE_PROJECTION_OFFSET = 483.4375 SECOND_STANDARD_PARALLEL = "N/A" WESTERNMOST_LONGITUDE = 27.9346 END_OBJECT = IMAGE_MAP_PROJECTION /* IMAGE HEADER DATA ELEMENTS */ OBJECT = IMAGE_HEADER HEADER_TYPE = VICAR2 INTERCHANGE_FORMAT = ASCII BYTES = 7610 ^DESCRIPTION = "VICAR2.TXT" END_OBJECT = IMAGE_HEADER END |
| Forum: Mars Express & Beagle 2 · Post Preview: #53607 · Replies: 28 · Views: 36893 |
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