MSL Post Landing - Commissioning Period & Early Observations, Commissioning Activity Period 1B - Sols 9 through 16 Options

[orgetorix]

Apologies if this has been mentioned before, but regarding this image (also attached):

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/pr...NCAM15000M_.JPG

Looking in the lower-right quadrant of the lower-left quadrant: that roundel with the JPL logo on it: is this post-flight damage? Or was that scar there before launch?

Really enjoying seeing all the images, guys, thanks a ton!

--
jgb

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[nprev]

Looks like a dust smudge from the landing to me. Notice that there's a dust 'shadow' behind the disc itself on the beam.

[ugordan]

Context for one of the ChemCam images:



CC image
MCL image

[jmknapp]

Thanks! do you happen to know which raw image(s) contain the first chemcam target N165? Space.com shows a mosaic of mastcam images, but I can't find the corresponding image in the mastcam raws that have been released. Easy to overlook a little rock though.

EDIT: found it--it's in the upper left quadrant of this image:

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/ms...4000E1_DXXX.jpg

[ugordan]

As Emily already pointed out, I think neither of the 3 (newest) images actually show N165.

[Stu]

Thanks! do you happen to know which raw image(s) contain the first chemcam target N165?

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/ms...4000E1_DXXX.jpg

[akuo]

I think the Chemcam laser has fired. At least there seems to be a new spot on the calibration target.
Sol 12: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/pr...CCAM02012M_.JPG
Sol 13: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/pr...CCAM03013M_.JPG

So she shot herself :-P

[Phil Stooke]

Confirmed now - they shot N165 and renamed it Coronation, sol 13. Did we get a steering test?

Phil

[belleraphon1]

Chemcan did indeed....
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-248

"We got a great spectrum of Coronation -- lots of signal," said ChemCam Principal Investigator Roger Wiens of Los Alamos National Laboratory, N.M. "Our team is both thrilled and working hard, looking at the results. After eight years building the instrument, it's payoff time!"

ChemCam recorded spectra from the laser-induced spark at each of the 30 pulses.....

"It's surprising that the data are even better than we ever had during tests on Earth, in signal-to-noise ratio," said ChemCam Deputy Project Scientist Sylvestre Maurice of the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie (IRAP) in Toulouse, France. "It's so rich, we can expect great science from investigating what might be thousands of targets with ChemCam in the next two years."


No word yet on steering test.

Craig

[MichaelJWP]

Hi all - great forum and amazing resource; just de-lurked to ask a question, but also congrats to the whole MSL team for an amazing achievement and looking forward to all the science to follow.

Basically is there anywhere JPL posts a "sol-by-sol" list of what's planned in terms of surface operations for Curiosity for the next few sols?

[climber]

"It's surprising that the data are even better than we ever had during tests on Earth, in signal-to-noise ratio,"

Does somedody know if ChemCam was ever tested in a simulated Martian atmosphere? can't find any answer myself.

[pospa]

Looking in the lower-right quadrant of the lower-left quadrant: that roundel with the JPL logo on it: is this post-flight damage? Or was that scar there before launch?

Nope
It's not any damage. The background of JPL logo is our Sun (I guess) with planets on their orbits, see this picture.

[jmknapp]

Basically is there anywhere JPL posts a "sol-by-sol" list of what's planned in terms of surface operations for Curiosity for the next few sols?

The mother lode would be the MSLICE software they use internally for mission planning:




Wouldn't hold my breath for that one though! It's interesting that that the Cassini mission puts their science plans on the public NAIF website, encoded as "event kernels." That's kind of rare & maybe a reflection of the old school. The data include when exactly each image/measurement will be taken and for what purpose.

[Lightning]

Does somedody know if ChemCam was ever tested in a simulated Martian atmosphere? can't find any answer myself.

Yes: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xrmdgu_le...tech#from=embed at the 34th second.

If you don't speak french, the gray "cannon" tube is where the Mars atmosphere is simulated (pressure, temperature and composition).

[Antonb]

Hello everyone. My first post, so a brief introduction. A newbie poster here, but a daily reader and lifelong spaceflight fan. I still have all the newspapers I collected as a boy when any space-related item appeared, from Sputnik to the moon landings. At 13, when I saw the first Mariner photos of Mars, I was utterly convinced that one day I would go there myself and have a good look around.

Well, all these years have passed, I've travelled far and wide but and I never did make it to Mars. And yet, thanks to NASA, JPL, guys like you and the wonders of the internet, I have indeed been to Mars. In fact, I go there every day and have a good look around, just like I always wanted. Thanks to Stu's excellent "Road to Endeavour" blog, I've followed Oppy every step of the way of her epic journey, and now I'm soaking up every detail of the fantastic, fascinating landscape of Gale Crater.

Thank you, one and all. I am truly grateful.

OK, enough romantic hogwash, I'll stick to science now I've said hello.

Can anyone identify for me which mastcam raw image contains the target site of Glenelg? Using the following data I've walked the route on Google Mars and so I know the part of the panorama I should be looking at, but I'm uncertain as the exact location within a particular raw frame.

Curi: 4°35'22.15"S, 137°26'30.00"E
Glenelg: 4°35'24.00"S, 137°26'55.00"E (estimated)

Antonb