MSL FAQs and USEFUL DOCUMENTS, But remember to Google first - the info is out there! Options

[Astro0]

HANDY TIPS

Throughout the various MSL threads, there has been a lot of noise generated by questions being asked and answered over and over again.
So we are going to try and compile here a lot of the frequently asked stuff, plus links to the abundant documents and websites that are available.

If you have a specific question or want clarification on something, then we highly recommend following these steps:

1) GOOGLE YOUR QUESTION FIRST!!!!!!
Too often people just don't bother with this easy process.
Try phrasing your question in a few words or just use some key words related to your query.
TIP: Look further than page 1. If you don't get the answer, try some other words.

2) GO TO THE MISSION WEBSITE
If Googling your question didn't already take you there, then just search around the MSL website.
There are plenty of pages with useful details and tons of documents available on both the NASA and JPL versions of the MSL website.
TIP: The NASA and JPL sites have Search capabilities built in.

3) READ BACK THROUGH THE THREAD THAT'S MOST RELEVANT
Members have been talking about MSL's mission for quite a while now and lots of information has been collected.
Read back through the thread in question and you'll most likely find the answer.
TIP: UMSF has a search capability and/or you can always search UMSF using Google.

IF AT THIS POINT YOU DON'T HAVE YOUR ANSWER, THEN POST THE QUESTION TO THE MOST APPROPRIATE THREAD.
Remember though that what UMSF is about is contributing information, rather than supplying it.
We are blessed to have a number of the mission team members as active contributors to the Forum.
While they are often happy to give their input, they are not here to support us, we are here to support them.

IMPORTANT NOTE
The UMSF Administration and Moderation team will be hard at work keeping an eye on all discussions.
If the Forum signal to noise ratio becomes an issue, we will not hesitate to delete posts, close topics or warn members for breaches.

[elakdawalla]

IMAGE COPYRIGHT

The question of copyright comes up frequently, which is why I posted a page about it. The page includes suggested credit lines for all spacecraft cameras I could think of.

The short version: All NASA mission images are in public domain and copyright free. It is not required by law, but is considered proper and polite, to give credit to NASA, the NASA Center, and any academic institutions involved in managing the instrument. Once someone else has made a derivative work that substantially modifies the original (such as a mosaic), that person DOES hold copyright, and their permission must be sought for reuse.

[Astro0]

MSL TELECONFERENCES / MEDIA CONFERENCES

At chris' request...list generated by maschnitz...now sticky!

All the news conferences are archived on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl

Pointers to individual ones are on JPL's site:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/

Press conference visuals are usually found here:
http://go.nasa.gov/curiositytelecon which redirects to
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/telecon/index.html
and are archived here:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/images/index.html

Generally, the visuals show up archived either in the raws, the vetted "Images" section, in JPL's Photojournal, or in some combination of the three.
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/targetFam...ry+%28MSL%29%3A

Reason for edit: updated links to press conf visuals