MSL landing sites |
MSL landing sites |
Sep 18 2008, 08:00 AM
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#61
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Member Group: Members Posts: 568 Joined: 20-April 05 From: Silesia Member No.: 299 |
Ranking
Eberswalde 44,53 Holden 43,20 Gale 41,95 Mawrth 37,92 Nili 37,08 S Meridiani 28,30 Miyamoto 23,84 Eberswalde on top ? Why not Gale or Holden? -------------------- Free software for planetary science (including Cassini Image Viewer).
http://members.tripod.com/petermasek/marinerall.html |
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Sep 18 2008, 08:56 AM
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#62
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Member Group: Members Posts: 877 Joined: 7-March 05 From: Switzerland Member No.: 186 |
They are still recommendations. But could it means the last three are droped out at least?
Go Gale! MSL will be a high mountain climber -------------------- |
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Sep 18 2008, 09:30 AM
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#63
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Special Cookie Group: Members Posts: 2168 Joined: 6-April 05 From: Sintra | Portugal Member No.: 228 |
They are still recommendations. But could it means the last three are droped out at least? Not definitely, but Miyamoto is in a really bad position... The Nili Fossae site and South Meridiani still have a slight chance of making it since Holden and Eberswalde are locations quite close to each other, this will, probably, left one of these out of the final selection. -------------------- "Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied, "If you seek for Eldorado!"
Edgar Alan Poe |
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Sep 18 2008, 10:20 AM
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#64
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14434 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
Damn you HRSC - two observations of it, and neither have colour....anyhooo
http://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/mex/mex-m...27_0000_nd4.jpg GO GALE. BEAT HOLDEN. Doug |
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Sep 18 2008, 10:41 AM
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#65
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Special Cookie Group: Members Posts: 2168 Joined: 6-April 05 From: Sintra | Portugal Member No.: 228 |
Damn you HRSC - two observations of it, and neither have colour....anyhooo Some nice anaglyphs here Doug... -------------------- "Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied, "If you seek for Eldorado!"
Edgar Alan Poe |
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Sep 18 2008, 10:48 AM
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#66
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
I've got a couple of simple (simplistic?) questions about the Gale crater central peak. Why is it so much higher than the crater rim, and why is it so neatly stratified? I've read about the supposed burial and exhumation, but if that mountain consists of sediments all the way down then surely it's not a central peak in the usual sense at all? Is it really a sort of residual mesa that is located in the middle of Gale purely by chance?
I thought central peaks in craters were normally chaotically jumbled piles of uplifted material, usually a bit lower than the crater rim. Can someone explain briefly what's hypothesised to be going on here or point me to a (not too technical) reference? |
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Sep 18 2008, 11:03 AM
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#67
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14434 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
There's plenty of PDF's on the meeting website that talk about Gale and explain a possible history of it - most of which I don't understand ( my favoritism is purely down to aesthetics ) - but from what I do understand it's not a central peak in the way one thinks of a normal central peak ( being formed at impact ) - but has been built up since.
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Sep 18 2008, 11:08 AM
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#68
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2922 Joined: 14-February 06 From: Very close to the Pyrénées Mountains (France) Member No.: 682 |
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Sep 18 2008, 11:30 AM
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#69
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Member Group: Members Posts: 568 Joined: 20-April 05 From: Silesia Member No.: 299 |
MSL landing site should be scientifically valuable, but should be spectacular also. Eberswalde is not very spectacular, Holden and Gale are spectacular. In case of similar scientific value, important PR aspect should be taken into consideration. Potential disappointment of simple US taxpayer can decrease support for next Mars missions.
-------------------- Free software for planetary science (including Cassini Image Viewer).
http://members.tripod.com/petermasek/marinerall.html |
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Sep 18 2008, 12:04 PM
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#70
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
There's plenty of PDF's on the meeting website that talk about Gale Thanks Doug. This 57 MB monster - http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites/...Sumner_Gale.pdf has a nice squence of diagrams. So there was no impact related central peak, the feature is all sediments, a remnant of layers that once buried Gale crater entirely. But what I still don't get is why or how a crater would empty of sediments except for one huge mound remaining right bang in the middle. Did something make the sediments there peculiarly resistant to erosion? Was there some residual volcanic or geothermal activity located near the centre of Gale that persisted for long aeons after the impact, subtly altering the sediments? My mind is wandering to the Columbia Hills . . |
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Sep 18 2008, 12:12 PM
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#71
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14434 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
Did something make the sediments there peculiarly resistant to erosion? Was there some residual volcanic or geothermal activity located near the centre of Gale that persisted for long aeons after the impact, subtly altering the sediments? Exactly. Let's send MSL and find out |
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Sep 19 2008, 04:57 PM
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#72
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Member Group: Members Posts: 877 Joined: 7-March 05 From: Switzerland Member No.: 186 |
MSL landing site should be scientifically valuable, but should be spectacular also. Eberswalde is not very spectacular, Holden and Gale are spectacular. In terms of spectacular views may Eberswalde pale, but in terms of to be the most spectacular delta on Mars that probably grew in long-standing water does Eberswalde glint. To enthuse they have only to show similar delta pictures from Earth along with the explanation that large deltas are great places for life... ok probably better not, but that there is a high potential for preserved organic matter. And that crater is older than Holden. -------------------- |
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Sep 19 2008, 11:43 PM
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#73
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
I've got a couple of simple (simplistic?) questions about the Gale crater central peak. Why is it so much higher than the crater rim I don't know who else might believe this, but for a long time, I've thought that the story is that we have a surface that became moist (in certain seasons/epochs), leaving some salty water there for blowing dust to land on. When the water froze or evaporated, the dust grains were cemented in place. If this dynamic could be sustained, for some reason favoring this surface over other surface types, you could get runaway growth. |
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Sep 20 2008, 12:09 PM
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#74
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Member Group: Members Posts: 234 Joined: 8-May 05 Member No.: 381 |
I like the geology of Holden Crater and was glad to see it make the top three candidates list. However, there has been some talk in the past of the site being too cold for full operation at the time of landing. In the "Second MSL Landing Site Workshop" thread, tglotch said this in post #28:
"Holden and Terby came very close to not making the final list. They are both very interesting scientifically, but we were told by engineers that because of their high southern latitudes and cold temperatures that if MSL landed at one of those sites it would have to lie dormant for the first month or so and then operate at only a 30-50% duty cycle." Was anything said of this at the Third Workshop? And just out of curiosity, is there some reason why RHUs (radioisotope heater units) couldn't be used instead of electrical heaters for areas not warmed by the RTG waste heat on MSL? Wouldn't that allow for less dormancy after landing? |
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Sep 20 2008, 07:33 PM
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#75
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2542 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 497 |
And just out of curiosity, is there some reason why RHUs (radioisotope heater units) couldn't be used instead of electrical heaters for areas not warmed by the RTG waste heat on MSL? Those areas are outside the rover body and there's no obvious way that RHUs could heat them without lots of additional mass and volume for insulating enclosures of some sort. -------------------- Disclaimer: This post is based on public information only. Any opinions are my own.
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