MSL landing sites |
MSL landing sites |
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![]() Member ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 428 Joined: 21-August 06 From: Northern Virginia Member No.: 1062 ![]() |
As there are some pictures being released from HiRISE of proposed MSL landing sites, I thought I'd give you what little I know about the process. As of the HiRISE team meeting a month ago or so, there were about 40 proposed sites to land MSL. These sites were prioritized, and are being photographed roughly in priority order. Each site requires a picture from each of the 3 main cameras (CTX, CRISM, and HiRISE) in their highest resolution in order to proceed. If it's determined that there can be a safe landing site, as well as interesting science targets, then they will advance to the next level, where I presume they will "wallpaper" the areas with HiRISE and CRISM (CTX, well, they get the whole landing ellipse in one shot, I think...). They likely will also photograph science areas near the proposed sites to look for interesting targets. After that, well, your guess is as good as mine. Note that none of this is official, but it's what I would expect. Also note that the landing site selection is still opened to new suggestions, the ones they have so far are not a complete list. The priority also doesn't mean anything right now other than they are the targets which will be photographed first, these priorities are still subject to change. But, well, I thought I'd send this out there for you all sink your teeth on, it really is quite interesting!
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#2
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![]() Senior Member ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 ![]() |
I've got a couple of simple (simplistic?) questions about the Gale crater central peak. Why is it so much higher than the crater rim, and why is it so neatly stratified? I've read about the supposed burial and exhumation, but if that mountain consists of sediments all the way down then surely it's not a central peak in the usual sense at all? Is it really a sort of residual mesa that is located in the middle of Gale purely by chance?
I thought central peaks in craters were normally chaotically jumbled piles of uplifted material, usually a bit lower than the crater rim. Can someone explain briefly what's hypothesised to be going on here or point me to a (not too technical) reference? |
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