MARDI images and videos Options

[Nix]

Do we know what Image data Curiosity will be attempting to upload on the next flyover pass? More hazcams only, or do weexpect to have the mast up and taking pics and ready to send?

in 1 or 2 days?

[Eluchil]

There is a low bandwidth ODY pass that will happen in about 10 minutes that may have a couple new HazCams. Does anyone know when the first MARDI images are expected to be downlinked? I saw that 18 had been assigned a (relatively) high priority, but the JPL Ustream was just saying that the current pass would have only a HazCam or two.

[Brian Lynch]

This is my first post at UMSF, after following the discussions with great interest I am pleased to join and hope that my contributions meet the impressive SNR of the forum!

So, they said they're going to get the rest of the full-res MARDI pictures back this Sol? I'm really, really looking forward to seeing the entire descent film in high-res.

One thing, though. At least in the thumbnail version of the film, it was not extremely obvious what camera movements corresponded with major events, such as release from backshell, avoidance maneuver, etc. Does anyone have any ideas on how the full-res movie could be annotated to indicate these landmarks?

-the other Doug

I've been trying to put together a detailed video of the descent from the MARDI thumbnails. Patrick Blau at http://www.spaceflight101.com has provided a detailed timeline of the events, which I have fused with my own estimates from the raw images to produce a video. The time index of the thumbnails is rounded to the nearest second, so the actual time at each frame may not be exact, but the frame rate is calculated to be about 3.9 fps (818 frames in 209 seconds). Here is a link to the video, which is shown at 15 fps:

http://youtu.be/CZpdP-xdDmU

Heat shield separation is quoted as occurring at 05:15:24.6 but the MARDI imagery suggests approximately 05:15:28. Therefore, my timeline is shifted by that difference for all of the events. The images also suggest that backshell separation occurs at approximately 05:17:07, where there is an abrupt change from the wrist mode dynamics to steady controlled flight.

I have also put together the same video in real-time with the mission control audio included. This was difficult to align since many of the events were not announced at the exact time they occurred, but it adds some excitement (if you didn't already find the MARDI descent video exciting enough!). Note that I've aligned the audio to match the backshell separation but the timing could probably be improved (perhaps where the constant velocity accordion is stated as nominal would be a better reference point).

http://youtu.be/jV1fIPr-fh4

Brian