Firefox 1.0.7 and XP here - works great

Doug

I called them Dunes when I interviewed Steve, and he was quite carefull in using the word Ripples. I think there are probably dictionary definitions for all these things (like Sand, Gravel and Pebble all have quantitative ranges )

Doug

I know.

BUT

They know in advance the path overhead of Odyssey

They know the items on the rover deck that can cause a line of sight obstruction

They can thus rotate in place to ensure the maximum possible ammount of clean line-of-sight coverage in any one UHF pass - i.e. ensure that the PMA doesnt obstruct during the pass.

If you check back thru the updates on the Mer Website, you'll see they've done it a lot in the past.

Thought I would given that I'm now on my new laptop...

oh, did I not mention it..

My UBER LAPTOP WITH 17" 1920x1200 screen oh BABY



Yup - trying to keep things a bit more organised, it was highly eclectic on 'Geri' (my old laptop) but it's all a bit more organised on FatBoySlilm (my new laptop)

I decided that allowing for the S10K bug would be silly.


Doug

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_im...6_3x1_South.jpg (580kb)

What I like about this..
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...pe=post&id=2090

Is the darkness of the solar cells despite all the recent dust deposition we seem to have had on the Hazcams. The dirtier the cells get, the lighter they appear.

Doug

I think someone mentioned (well, me actually ) Stardust observing Mars during the distant flyby it will make, but THAT was written off.

Distance between MRO and Stardust would be interesting though. Obviously FAR too far for imaging, but perhaps an interesting DSN issue

Doug

I think AMICA ( the camera on board ) is Nadir pointed along with the sampling funnel-tube-thing. Dont they intend to image a marker that they drop?

This probably gives the game away..



Looking at the huge boulders on that thing - they'd have to be carefull to not damage the solar arrays. Given the approach speed ( tiny ) and the force of gravity (also tiny) I'm sure it could probably happily sit on the asteroid balances on a solar array with no risk to the structure of the spacecraft, but it's not something you want to try, right

Doug

If you look here..

http://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/Admin/resources/ms_mpf.html



http://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/DI...IMP-5-MIDR-V1.0
is MPF LANDER MARS IMP 5 MOSAICKED IMAGE DATA RECORD V1.0

and is classified as...
[I[if you are a NASA CODE-S funded researcher, you may order them from the IMAGING node of the Planetary Data System.[/I]

Doug

Wow.

This place just keeps asking more questions that we're able to answer

Doug

The mosaic data set is Nasa funded researchers only - perhaps they're in there?

Doug

I'm sure that if someone has Celestia and all the right things installed, they could tell us.

Doug

Ted - I mentioned this in another thread but it has probably got lost...

I'm assuming you're using this Pathfinder data set..
http://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/DI...-IMP-2-EDR-V1.0

Do you know of anyone/anyway that one can beg/steal/borrow/hold things to randsom for the Pathfinder equiv of RAD's ?

Doug

I dont mind it running in IDL, but I would really like a batch processing tool.

Doug

And everyone's ISP (plys UMSF's host) would prefer a JPG

Doug

I think that's what you get when you shuffle back and forth whilst steering with only 3 of the 4 steering wheels

Perhaps a slight turn in place to optimise UHF passes?

Doug

Ted have you ever found the equiv of Pathfinder RAD data. It's listed on the PDS - but you have to be a Nasa funded researcher to grab a copy, I've only been able to grab something that's basically, not too different to the plain EFF's

I think the Pancam Tracking site might be a bit out of date, perhaps they're 'doing' something to it.

Doug

Many thanks, and above all, Congratulations!
Doug

I guess she'll be dropped off at the first sampling attempt?

Doug

RN - your info is a bit outdated.

A typical sol will start with the DFE X-Band uplink containing commands for that sol, (although with Spirit they're trying it via UHF). Then typically around 4pm, a UHF relay will occur and data from that sol will get sent down. More data gets sent down, sometimes, at 4am as well. Anything that doesnt get down that sol, will get sent in the next available opportunity based on priority.

Odyssey is in a 4pm orbit - it overflies any area roughly at 4pm, and that means that a rover can have 1, 2 or sometimes 3 consecutive orbits with visibility of Odyssey in a single sol, and potential for a similar number 12 hrs later. Typically, however, they just use the one PM UHF pass, and if they're not using deep sleep, 1 AM UHF pass.

In any case, it's only very very rarely that the rover can not see Odyssey at least twice in any given sol.

Doug

No - when the rover drives, you ALWAYS gets Hazcam imagery, Penultimate, Ultimate, and if it's a long drive, 'Stumble' as well

Doug

Nothing on 629 at all, and just monitoring on the other two - perhaps something of a hunker-down-mode?

Doug

I understand that - but the question remains - WHY do they bother. They are around because they DO bother, but WHY do they bother. Why do we bother? They have no choice if they want to survive, but why does a species want to survive

Doug

Odyssey passes are usually about 4pm and 4am local time, somethines an extra one 90 or so minutes before or after that.

Doug