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mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 21 2021, 02:35 PM


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QUOTE (nprev @ Feb 21 2021, 03:25 AM) *
My impression is that they want to have something--maybe a few somethings--to hopefully blow some minds at the Monday presser... But that's just my guess. smile.gif

For some definition of "they" that doesn't include the team that may be true. Do you really think we can't process the data in a couple of minutes to a release-ready state?

You (and we) are just going to have to wait until Monday at 11 AM PST for the press conference.
  Forum: Perseverance- Mars 2020 Rover · Post Preview: #249962 · Replies: 477 · Views: 263318

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 21 2021, 05:18 AM


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QUOTE (Explorer1 @ Feb 20 2021, 05:33 PM) *
He has been very accurate over the years...

The specifics might be true (I can neither confirm nor deny) but his spin is basically garbage. See Emily L's twitter for a more accurate take, specifically
QUOTE
I feel bad for mission personnel who've been told not to even mention images on social media. They should get to be excited in public. It's some of the best STEM outreach @NASA does.

  Forum: Perseverance- Mars 2020 Rover · Post Preview: #249952 · Replies: 477 · Views: 263318

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 21 2021, 04:52 AM


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QUOTE (Decepticon @ Feb 20 2021, 06:56 PM) *
I'm starting to worry it's not happening anymore because it's not mentioned anywhere...

Just chill. What makes you think the broad descriptions of the extended mission linked to upthread are not happening? They are happening. The first Ganymede encounter isn't until June and some of us are a little busy working on other things just at the moment.
  Forum: Juno · Post Preview: #249951 · Replies: 88 · Views: 208465

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 20 2021, 09:08 PM


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QUOTE (Greenish @ Feb 20 2021, 12:17 PM) *
Does anyone already have a list of the proper instrument credit lines we should be using for Mars 2020 where different from MSL?

The below would be my preferences, but MSSS has no PIs on this mission so my opinion counts for even less than usual. MSSS is frequently omitted in such cases, e.g., explicit guidance for LROC is just NASA/GSFC/ASU.

Engineering cameras should be the same as MSL: NASA/JPL-Caltech
LCAM: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
SHERLOC: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/LANL
Mastcam-Z: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

I'm not sure about the others.
  Forum: Perseverance- Mars 2020 Rover · Post Preview: #249939 · Replies: 477 · Views: 263318

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 20 2021, 07:11 PM


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QUOTE (vjkane @ Feb 20 2021, 11:04 AM) *
The color images are from Sol 1 I believe.

All the press release says is "this is the first high-resolution, color image to be sent back by the Hazard Cameras (Hazcams) on the underside of NASA's Perseverance Mars rover after its landing on Feb. 18, 2021" but I encourage you to look at the shadows from the first raw image (obviously taken on sol 0) and this image, the rover heading, the time of the press conference, and the LMST at landing and intuit which sol it was. rolleyes.gif
  Forum: Perseverance- Mars 2020 Rover · Post Preview: #249932 · Replies: 477 · Views: 263318

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 19 2021, 05:12 PM


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BTW, the documentary "Built for Mars: The Perseverance Rover" on NatGeo last night was excellent. Usually I find these things pretty cringeworthy for a variety of reasons, but this one was great. As someone who has on occasion gotten to be a technician (I torqued several screws on MCZ) it's a nice perspective of what it's like to build flight hardware, not often seen on TV.
  Forum: Perseverance- Mars 2020 Rover · Post Preview: #249852 · Replies: 122 · Views: 103950

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 17 2021, 09:20 PM


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QUOTE (PaulM @ Feb 17 2021, 11:50 AM) *
I wonder in retrospect whether whether the Opportunity Meridiani Planum landing site might have been a better destination for Insight.

https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/timeline/prel...site-selection/ describes the landing site selection process, which was almost entirely focused on landing site safety, elevation, power, and the need for ~5m of regolith rather than potential hard rock surfaces. I see no evidence that the possibility of cleaning events was considered, if we even have enough data to do that reliably. Elysium was settled on fairly quickly ("Several workshops took place in 2013, 2014 and 2015, to evaluate 22 candidate landing ellipses and then four finalists. All 22 of those sites are in Elysium, which is one of only three areas on Mars that meet two of InSight's needs.")

See also https://spiral.imperial.ac.uk/bitstream/100...C321_Author.pdf especially figure 2.
  Forum: InSight · Post Preview: #249631 · Replies: 1270 · Views: 1002250

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 17 2021, 02:00 AM


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QUOTE (MahFL @ Feb 16 2021, 04:41 PM) *
...how exactly does the TRN work ? Are they aiming for a safe spot at the center of the landing ellipse, or any safe spot ?

It has a catalog of multiple safe spots within the ellipse and guides toward the closest one based on imaging. See https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/a-neil-armstr...mars-2020-rover and https://trs.jpl.nasa.gov/handle/2014/46186
  Forum: Perseverance- Mars 2020 Rover · Post Preview: #249617 · Replies: 75 · Views: 93860

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 12 2021, 12:42 AM


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QUOTE (mcaplinger @ Feb 9 2021, 08:33 AM) *
it's been "approved for phase A" but I'm not convinced it's fully funded at that level in the FY2021 budget, maybe somebody who's waded through the budget knows more.

http://spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=54522 says
QUOTE
Exceeding NASA’s request, Congress is providing $264 million for the Mars Sample Return mission, with direction to have it ready for the launch window that opens in 2026.

  Forum: Past and Future · Post Preview: #249546 · Replies: 579 · Views: 574619

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 12 2021, 12:14 AM


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QUOTE (fredk @ Feb 11 2021, 03:54 PM) *
Sorry if I'm missing something but can't you use the x,y coordinates that various places give?

Good point. Assumes Mars is flat, which on this scale is probably true to any reasonable accuracy. I was just answering the specific question that was asked.
  Forum: MSL · Post Preview: #249545 · Replies: 990 · Views: 555597

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 11 2021, 05:57 PM


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QUOTE (PaulH51 @ Feb 10 2021, 03:07 PM) *
Can anyone point me to an online tool that can be use to more accurately calculate the drive distances using lat/long for Mars?

See equations in https://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong.html and scale by Earth/Mars radius or use the code below.

Of course these are "as the crow flies" distances and don't account for topography, the spheroid, etc.

CODE
import math

def haversine(lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2):
"""
Compute and return range in km and bearing in degrees from lat1,lon1 to lat2,l
on2.
See http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong.html for details.
"""
R = 3396 # in km for Mars, approx
dLat = math.radians(lat2-lat1)
dLon = math.radians(lon2-lon1)
lat1 = math.radians(lat1)
lat2 = math.radians(lat2)

a = math.sin(dLat/2) * math.sin(dLat/2) + math.sin(dLon/2) * math.sin(dLon/2)
* math.cos(lat1) * math.cos(lat2)
c = 2 * math.atan2(math.sqrt(a), math.sqrt(1-a))
d = R * c

y = math.sin(dLon) * math.cos(lat2)
x = math.cos(lat1)*math.sin(lat2) - math.sin(lat1)*math.cos(lat2)*math.cos(dLo
n)
brng = math.degrees(math.atan2(y, x))

if brng<0: brng += 360

return d, brng
  Forum: MSL · Post Preview: #249540 · Replies: 990 · Views: 555597

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 10 2021, 04:21 PM


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QUOTE (vjkane @ Feb 10 2021, 07:51 AM) *
One of the Titan spectral windows falls in the near infrared range that is commonly covered by visible-to-near-infrared imaging chips used for spacecraft instruments. I forget the specific band.

938 nm, and depending on the sensor, "covered" is overstating it a little. For one sensor we commonly use, the sensitivity at 938 nm is about a factor of 6 lower at 938 nm than it is at say 600 nm. Still, you have to work with what you've got.
  Forum: Saturn · Post Preview: #249512 · Replies: 221 · Views: 326457

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 9 2021, 04:49 PM


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QUOTE (vjkane @ Feb 9 2021, 07:42 AM) *
But here's hoping for a selection that limits the travel time...

See https://trs.jpl.nasa.gov/handle/2014/48626 for trajectory details.

The LV selection is obviously a tradeoff between LV cost and mission ops costs. Since the former is a lump sum up front and the latter is spread out over time, the latter tends to be favored by budgeteers, but we'll see.
  Forum: Saturn · Post Preview: #249491 · Replies: 221 · Views: 326457

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 9 2021, 04:33 PM


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QUOTE (Steve G @ Feb 9 2021, 06:14 AM) *
Is the sample return mission going to be NASA's next planned Mars mission?

Currently yes, though not yet committed to AFAIK (it's been "approved for phase A" but I'm not convinced it's fully funded at that level in the FY2021 budget, maybe somebody who's waded through the budget knows more.)

MEPAG docs are the best source of information. https://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/meetings.cfm

https://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/meeting/2021-01/...1_2021%20V5.pdf

https://mepag.jpl.nasa.gov/meeting/2021-01/...2021%20v1.1.pdf
  Forum: Past and Future · Post Preview: #249490 · Replies: 579 · Views: 574619

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 5 2021, 07:20 PM


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Any penetrator discussion should start with a reading of https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~rlorenz/penetrators_asr.pdf

QUOTE
Because the success of emplacement and operation depends inevitably on uncontrollable aspects of the target environment, unattractive failure probabilities for individual vehicles must be tolerated that are higher than the typical ‘3-sigma’ (99.5%) values typical for spacecraft. The two pathways to programmatic success, neither of which are likely in an austere financial environment, are a lucky flight as a ‘piggyback’ mission or technology demonstration, or with a substantial and unprecedented investment to launch a scientific (e.g. seismic) network mission with a large number of vehicles such that a number of terrain-induced failures can be tolerated.

  Forum: Mars · Post Preview: #249440 · Replies: 24 · Views: 19411

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 5 2021, 03:57 PM


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QUOTE (djellison @ Feb 5 2021, 07:08 AM) *
Neither used guided entry and thus didn’t need the offset CoG. Ditto MPF, MPL, PHX and InSight.

Actually, while Viking was unguided, it was lifting (constant lift up), not ballistic. I'm not sure how/if they managed balance for parachute deploy. Viking entered from orbit, not directly, and in the cruise phase was 3-axis stabilized, not spin-stabilized, so the less-critical cruise balance could have been managed with fixed offsets on the orbiter.

It's worth noting that avoiding the use of balance masses doesn't directly translate to more landed mass. The more landed mass, the more fuel, heavier structure, etc -- there are many ripple effects.

Similarly, penetrators IMHO are one of those things that sounds easy enough to do but turns out being harder than expected.
  Forum: Mars · Post Preview: #249433 · Replies: 24 · Views: 19411

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 4 2021, 09:10 PM


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QUOTE (fredk @ Feb 4 2021, 12:26 PM) *

Worked for me just now in Firefox 84.
  Forum: MSL · Post Preview: #249416 · Replies: 990 · Views: 555597

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 4 2021, 07:46 PM


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Mods: penetrator discussions have taken over several threads recently (off-topic; I'm as guilty as anyone) so perhaps a dedicated Mars penetrator thread could be created and this traffic moved.
  Forum: Mars · Post Preview: #249414 · Replies: 24 · Views: 19411

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 4 2021, 07:17 PM


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QUOTE (JRehling @ Feb 4 2021, 10:20 AM) *
I'm sure that part of the challenge of making those into something actively useful is that they get ejected at a pretty unfortunate time in the sequence.

The cruise balance masses would have to go through entry, but the smaller ones get ejected at more reasonable speeds and altitudes.

Having said that, one would have to make something that has the same mass and form factor as the balance mass, requires no power or data interfaces of any kind during cruise, survives the landing, communicates on its own, and does something useful. Perhaps doable, but certainly very challenging.

The winning challenge entry looks like it was completely passive, but I don't know the details.

Paradoxically, one of the biggest problems is probably making them heavy enough.
  Forum: Mars · Post Preview: #249412 · Replies: 24 · Views: 19411

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 4 2021, 05:34 PM


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QUOTE (vjkane @ Feb 4 2021, 06:52 AM) *
There was a program to examine if there could be small science payloads that could be substituted for the dead weights that were used for Curiosity.

There are the cruise ballast masses (2*75 kg) dropped before entry and then 6*25 kg of ejectable mass that goes before chute deploy. It was the latter that were the subject of the contest: https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-announces...mass-challenge/

There was a proposal for a system that would pump ballast mass around but that ended up being heavier and more complicated than just dumping the mass. You need the mass offset during entry to fly the descent.
  Forum: Mars · Post Preview: #249408 · Replies: 24 · Views: 19411

mcaplinger
Posted on: Feb 2 2021, 05:19 PM


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QUOTE (phase4 @ Feb 2 2021, 03:47 AM) *
To improve the positioning and scaling of Mastcam images, the subframerect information is also needed. Since this information is not available in the JSON files maybe someone here can help and tell me if and/or how the Mastcam subframe information can be extracted from Spice data?

AFAIK it can't be -- the SPICE only describes the RSM pointing, not what subframes are being acquired.

As a general rule, a subframe is going to be roughly centered on the boresight, exceptions being images of the cal target, sun, moons, etc.

You could perhaps back it out on an image basis if the subframe contained recognizable pieces of crud on the sensor, but that's pretty gross.
  Forum: Image Processing Techniques · Post Preview: #249390 · Replies: 85 · Views: 399868

mcaplinger
Posted on: Jan 21 2021, 11:10 PM


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QUOTE (fredk @ Jan 20 2021, 10:31 AM) *
Presumably the PDS values are more accurate...

See https://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/data/msl/M...CES_PDS_SIS.PDF for an extensive (61 pages!) discussion of how localization is done. Presumably if you overlaid the localization data on the map data, all from that volume, it would be close? I've never tried it.
  Forum: MSL · Post Preview: #249297 · Replies: 990 · Views: 555597

mcaplinger
Posted on: Jan 16 2021, 08:42 PM


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QUOTE (Mercure @ Jan 16 2021, 12:04 PM) *
Would you know of a good resource with a timeline of all EDL events? - I have been struggling a bit to find a source for all events with the precise Earth time as well as the expected altitude and speed at the time of the event.

The EDL timeline is not precisely known in advance but can vary by as much as a minute or two at least.

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/lan...escent-landing/ is as good as we know. Predicted landing time is Feb. 18, 2021, at approximately 12:30 p.m. PST (that's 20:30 UT.)
  Forum: Perseverance- Mars 2020 Rover · Post Preview: #249246 · Replies: 75 · Views: 93860

mcaplinger
Posted on: Jan 15 2021, 11:47 PM


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Rover position in any reference frame you want can be computed from the SPICE kernels at https://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/naif/MSL/kernels/spk/
  Forum: MSL · Post Preview: #249243 · Replies: 990 · Views: 555597

mcaplinger
Posted on: Jan 14 2021, 03:54 PM


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QUOTE (volcanopele @ Jan 13 2021, 06:21 PM) *
Animation of Io encounters as promised...

Very nice work. You're definitely better at setting the Cosmographia viewpoint than I am.

You can see from this how these encounters might benefit from a little off-pointing of the spin axis, if this is allowed.

As a public service, you might consider doing animations of the Ganymede and Europa close encounters as well, if you have time.
  Forum: Juno · Post Preview: #249227 · Replies: 88 · Views: 208465

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