Cameras For Msl, MSSS gets all the contracts Options

[djellison]

http://www.msss.com/press_releases/mslselection/index.html

Some astonishing proposals there - full colour motion descent imagery

Not sure what use 10fps video is - as even MSL will still crawl along at a slow pace making it very boring viewing Notice the HDTV resolution of it though - James Cameron has got involved - should be interesting!

Doug

[Phil Stooke]

In the case of a rock or a 'ripple' etc., you can make a case that the closer you view it the more you can see. From Navcam to Pancam to MI we see more and more on these targets. But is this true for a dust devil? Up to a point, certainly - it's better to see it from 500 m than 5 km. Recently we have had these 'movies' in which a fair bit of structure is visible.

But I would suggest there's no advantage to getting much closer than that. A big diffuse object is seen better from a distance than close up. So I think a strategy of viewing across a wide area from a good vantage point - e.g. looking west from Larry's Lookout - is the best way to view dust devils. You may see a bit of structure in the nearer ones - though that doesn't teach you much... but you get good stats on occurrence, direction, height, optical depth and so on. Waiting until a rover experiences a wind/pressure signature and then taking images is the worst way to study them. (IMHO)

Phil