Huygens News Thread, News as and when we find it Options

[Pando]

Furthermore, the author claims that had NASA done a mission like this, there would be no focus on politicans on the Big Day. Strangely enough, I remember NASA TV paying plenty of attention to Al Gore and Arnold Schwartzenegger during the MER landings.

I was glued to the TV and web when the two rovers landed, and they released the images to the public the moment they were downlinked. In essence, all the world got to see them pretty much at the same time, with Squires, Arnold, and everybody else. That felt really good since we all shared the wonder and awe with the mission scientists. During the MER landings the focus was on the images and the reaction of the scientists. They paid attention to Arnold, yes, but I don't remember him announce anything and congratulate anybody before the first images were shown.

How ESA handled the first image release today was really in a bad taste in my opinion. They are still sitting on a mountain of images, spoon-feeding them to us as *they* feel like it. Same thing goes on with the Mars Express to this day. Seems they want to be 'priviledged' and it is backfiring on them big time.

The DISR guys at arizona.edu put the images up as they got them (in good faith most likely); whether they were removed due to bandwidth or whether ESA came down on them like a hammer, we'll probably never know.

[lyford]

I have seen several landings in my life, and I really appreciate the NASA image release policy.
Nothing beat that feeling when MER landed and watching live at JPL - basically they had some imagers desktop on the screen- one thumbnail came down, then another, then the whole screen filled with pictures in a flood of data. The applause and screams oversaturated the mic on the cameras there... it was amazing!
I really felt the emotion of the event, as well as the technical triumph.

This is very different. I feel "naughty" for even trying to get leaked images.

[lyford]

here is a combo of all the sideways shots I got from slashdot - (don't worry they don't know about this board... )

http://homepage.mac.com/lyford/ramm/pano567-nodupes.jpg

I think it was a "splashdown" into a few inches of ???????

[djellison]

11:38:11 GMT was the Impact timeaccording to the SSP

The SSP wokred fine - all 8 instruments got data

I'm not sure what the hell was going on with the Images - but the practice of a news conference that tells you nothing and includes back slapping and metaphors is certainly not an ESA invetion

That 7th image from the end is just very very VERY like a shoreline, with waves

I thikn we're missing some images from that massive set ( which I got all of ) - as there are two sets of 3 or 4 images that show that coastal feature really well Hopefully the imaging team will focus in on that when they put stuff together for a conference tomorrow

Doug

[Mongo]

here is a combo of all the sideways shots I got from slashdot - (don't worry they don't know about this board... )

http://homepage.mac.com/lyford/ramm/pano567-nodupes.jpg

I think it was a "splashdown" into a few inches of ???????

Are those images running in the order that they were taken? If so, it certainly looks to me like Huygens has landed onto a 'reef' some distance offshore.

Looking at the post-landing image, it looks like it is resting in a few cm of liquid, with numerous 'boulders' rising above the liquid.

Once more data are released over the next few days, we should know for certain.

[M_Welander]

I completely agree with you, that the way ESA handled the publicity was very bad, and the way NASA handles it is very good - at least for the MERs (I still want better Cassini quick-and-dirty raws, even though they seem to have improved recently!).

However, I think the reason for the involvement of politicians during the landing is a lot more benign than some of you seem to think. You have to remember that the Huygens mission is a truly international mission. It's not created by a single country, like the MERs, but by a large number of vastly different countries, many which fought a world war against each other only half a century ago. I don't think it's a stretch to see the involvement of politicians from different countries as part of the political process going on in Europe right now, rather than seing it as a malicious act of mismanagement.

[djellison]

And lets be honest - we're just impatient - we've waiting 7 years for this - another 48 hours isnt going to kill anyone

Doug

[lyford]

However, I think the reason for the involvement of politicians during the landing is a lot more benign than some of you seem to think. You have to remember that the Huygens mission is a truly international mission. It's not created by a single country, like the MERs, but by a large number of vastly different countries, many which fought a world war against each other only half a century ago. I don't think it's a stretch to see the involvement of politicians from different countries as part of the political process going on in Europe right now, rather than seing it as a malicious act of mismanagement.

Very well put.

And Mongo I think those are in order - the probe was spinning at a variable rate so it's facing all over the place...

[Pando]

Perhaps, but I think they are completely missing it with their PR engine. The best way to bring everybody together in one cause is to release it in one go, without anyone using their priviledges deciding what and when something gets released. That way all people from all nations can feel they are part of the discovery and excitement. I grew up in Europe, I know the cultural and ideological differences all too well.

[djellison]

I'm looking at the penetrometer data graph -

They think it was a clay, or a wet sand or a snow - with a bit of a crust on the top (Creme Brulle)

Doug

[djellison]

I think the problem with Europe is that we're happy to work on something together - BUT - we want OUR credit at the end of it - congratulations not as 'europe' but for each member nation.

With MER - you can just go "well done america, now here's some pictures"

Doug

[lyford]

With MER - you can just go "well done america, now here's some pictures"

Doug

Well done, Europe - now here's some pictures :

http://homepage.mac.com/lyford/j/raw/_._.html

Mirror of the raw files. Please let me know if ESA and INTERPOL are on my case...

[M_Welander]

I grew up in Europe, I know the cultural and ideological differences all too well.

Really? You must have been traveling a lot, if you know the cultural and ideological differences between, say Estonia and Lithuania, or France and Germany, or Norway and Sweden. I've lived my entire life in Europe, and even I only know a tiny fraction of those differences. Europe is exceptionally heterogeneous. And yes, i deliberately chose countries geographically close to each other. Pick two countries for from each other, and the differences will be even larger.

...we want OUR credit at the end of it - congratulations not as 'europe' but for each member nation.

That's very true. If anything, that could be seen during the management of the Beagle 2 mission.

[Pando]

lyford -- you da man!

Really? You must have been traveling a lot, if you know the cultural and ideological differences between, say Estonia and Lithuania, or France and Germany, or Norway and Sweden. I've lived my entire life in Europe, and even I only know a tiny fraction of those differences. Europe is exceptionally heterogeneous.

Well, I was a musician and did some traveling back then , culture was a big part of what I did and where I went, and ideological differences were very apparent when the iron curtain was still up. Oh, and I did grow up in one of the countries you just named above

[djellison]

It's landed in a bloody STREAM

Watch this carefully

http://www.mars.asu.edu/~gorelick/huygens1.gif


Doug