MSL FAQ - The pool of questions |
MSL FAQ - The pool of questions |
Jun 1 2007, 03:11 PM
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#1
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14432 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
Rob Manning and I swopped emails last night - and we think it might make sense to pool all the questions people have about MSL (and specifically MSL's EDL ) into one thread - and then answer as many as make sense either via a Q'n'A in the style of the previous ones I've done with Steve and Jim - or via Rob's typing fingers.
It'll be a few weeks till we sort this out - but submit-away until then Doug |
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Jun 1 2007, 09:17 PM
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#2
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
Apart from the obvious question that springs to mind after watching that new animation... "What were you guys smoking when you came up with the idea of the Skycrane?!?!?!?"... ... here are a couple, and apologies in advance if these have been answered elsewhere, but I can't remember reading the answers, and anyway, new people join UMSF all the time so these questions will be new to someone out there...
Will we be getting "video clips" from MSL? In the light of the success of the "purely scenic" images taken during the NH Jupiter flyby, will MSL be programmed to take any similar images ("pretty pictures" as someone calls them... ) purely for Outreach value and media appeal? Maybe dedicated imagery of Earth-in-the-sky scenes? We (and by "we" I mean we frontline Outreach troops who spread the word) really need a classic, colour, "Earth in Mars'sky" image please, thank you... How much more advanced will MSL's imaging instruments be than MER's? Ta. -------------------- |
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Jun 2 2007, 07:06 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2517 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 497 |
Will we be getting "video clips" from MSL? That's a downlinked data volume question; the hardware can certainly do it at up to 10 fps. Of course, nothing much is moving at rates that would justify a frame rate that high; the team is still considering this. (And no, we can't see the descent stage fly away; Mastcam and MAHLI are still turned off and stowed, and MARDI is pointed down.) QUOTE Maybe dedicated imagery of Earth-in-the-sky scenes? I'm certain we'll try this, but we only have 100 mm focal length, so I'm not sure the disk will even be resolved; it'll still just be a blue dot. QUOTE How much more advanced will MSL's imaging instruments be than MER's? I'm not sure how to quantify "more advanced." They're about 100x faster with about the same noise performance. The MER cameras were all fixed-focus. Mastcam has a 10:1 zoom lens with autofocus. MAHLI (the MI equivalent) has adjustable focus with autofocus. All the instruments are capable of realtime image compression and other internal image processing and have 8 GB flash buffers for data storage. They can all take Bayer-pattern color images with one frame (some might call that less advanced than multiple exposures through color filters, but Mastcam can do that too.) On the other hand, they weigh more and are a lot more mechanically complex, which I can assure you is a development challenge. -------------------- Disclaimer: This post is based on public information only. Any opinions are my own.
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