Phil Stooke's Mars mission maps, Changes in the New Year |
Phil Stooke's Mars mission maps, Changes in the New Year |
Dec 17 2021, 08:15 AM
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#1
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Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10194 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
I want to look ahead to the new year and beyond, regarding Mars mission mapping on UMSF.
My book 'The International Atlas of Mars Exploration', vol. 2, covered events up to June 2014, coinciding with Opportunity sol 3700 and Curiosity sol 669, the end of its primary mission. Ever since then, for the last 7.5 years, I have been mapping activities on Mars for UMSF, but those maps were always intended for a 3rd volume of the series. You have been able to follow, sol by sol, the construction of the maps that will fill the atlas. That work will conclude at the end of this year. Then I begin a period of intense editing work to pull roughly 250 pages of text and 250 full page illustrations into publishable form. I hope you will understand that I cannot go on making new maps while also editing the book. So many things are happening on the Moon (my other love) and Mars that mapping has been a full time job, but now my efforts must be redirected. I will still be doing some things - I like making circular panoramas and will keep doing that as time permits, but making them for Perseverance is time-consuming and they might not happen with every drive unless I have access to a panorama from someone else. I will try to keep up with Zhurong whenever there is an update, but almost daily updates for Curiosity and Perseverance are no longer possible. I must give up Curiosity altogether, but I will follow Perseverance with less frequent updates. I will be following events on the Moon (Chang'e 4 and future landers) and when the Mars editing work concludes my focus will be mostly on the Moon. I hope someone else will be able to take on the role of Mars cartographer. We have had other contributors, and as a start someone could simply annotate the mission maps after each drive with names taken from status reports and other sources. I will be checking in every day, I just can't continue mapping as I have in the past. But I will see you on the Moon! Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke Maps for download (free PD: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...Cartography.pdf NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
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Dec 17 2021, 02:53 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 701 Joined: 3-December 04 From: Boulder, Colorado, USA Member No.: 117 |
Thanks for letting us know, Phil, and good luck with finishing your book. There will be collective withdrawal symptoms across the forum, as many of us have grown addicted to your always timely, accurate, and beautiful map updates. I hope someone can pick up the Martian reins, but you're a hard act to follow!
John |
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Dec 17 2021, 04:44 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
Phil, what you've already given us freely is beyond value. I have to say that, while it's accurate to call it cartography, your drive maps and phil-o-vision images, among other postings, feel like something even better; they often feel, to an extent, like exploration – like being there. The experience is as close to John Carter of Mars as anyone has yet known. It's always appreciated.
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