MSL landing site: Gale Crater |
MSL landing site: Gale Crater |
Jul 25 2011, 06:17 AM
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#91
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14431 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
The water/beer/vodka theme is a repeating joke by Ken.
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Jul 25 2011, 01:58 PM
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#92
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 4763 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Glendale, AZ Member No.: 197 |
And worth noting is that he was careful not to include whiskey which comes from the Gaelic term uisce beath meaning "water of life" and of course all the connotations that would imply.
-------------------- If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
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Jul 25 2011, 06:38 PM
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#93
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Member Group: Members Posts: 568 Joined: 20-April 05 From: Silesia Member No.: 299 |
HiRISE team has gathered together all images of MSL's landing site (84 images).
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/releases/msl-gale-crater.php -------------------- Free software for planetary science (including Cassini Image Viewer).
http://members.tripod.com/petermasek/marinerall.html |
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Jul 30 2011, 11:27 AM
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#94
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Member Group: Members Posts: 713 Joined: 30-March 05 Member No.: 223 |
Here is a simulated late-evening view from the dune field near the MSL landing area looking south-west along the western edge of the crater mound:
here for context the whole (yet unfinished) DTM mosaic, although at a preliminary resolution. This is still a work in progress but I thought, I'd share some preliminary results with you More images and flyover-movies are in the making ... |
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Jul 30 2011, 12:01 PM
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#95
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Member Group: Members Posts: 593 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 279 |
I'm glad I was sitting down when I saw those, Nirgal - absolutely beautiful. Many thanks.
Andy |
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Jul 30 2011, 02:35 PM
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#96
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Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10146 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
Beautiful... We hardly even need to go there now!
Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
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Guest_Oersted_* |
Jul 30 2011, 03:20 PM
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#97
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Guests |
Mindboggling! - And no vertical exaggeration?
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Jul 30 2011, 07:18 PM
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#98
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Member Group: Members Posts: 706 Joined: 22-April 05 Member No.: 351 |
The journal Science has just published an article that gives the back story on the ultimate MSL landing site selection process. Unfortunately, a subscription is required, so anyone without a university library account is unlikely to be able to read the piece. So, I'll give a quick summary of the key points.
Gale Crater stands out for its geomorphic and compositional diversity. Unfortunately, no one knows how that big mountain in Gale Crater with all its layers formed. Wind blown dust? Volcanic ash? Impact debris? Science titled its story, "How an alluring geological enigma won the Mars rover sweepstakes." That term, enigma, Science reports, comes up a lot in discussions about Gale. So, why did an enigma win? Here's what Science reports: Mawrth has the most ancient materials (big plus), but as with Gale, no one knows how they formed. Also, the geology of Mawrth has been changed by a nearby impact, and the fear was that scientists wouldn't be able to tease out its history. As an additional problem, this site lacks geological diversity, and driving there might be like driving across the surface of Meridiani Planum, the Opportunity rover's site. (Fortunately, Opportunity has had craters to explore, but there's not a whole of diversity in between.) Holden Crater lacks a delta to indicate that it ever had a lake, and the MSL mission is all about exploring sites modified by water. Eberswalde Crater has a delta and eventually became the runner up site. While the layers in the delta would make an enticing target for exploration, this site lacked the diversity of Gale Crater. In the end, the diversity of Gale Crater plus its abundance of water-altered strata won the day. As a bonus, the smooth plain where the rover will land may be a delta. -------------------- |
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Aug 1 2011, 11:12 AM
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#99
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Special Cookie Group: Members Posts: 2168 Joined: 6-April 05 From: Sintra | Portugal Member No.: 228 |
Nirgal, just awesome work man, awesome. Counting the days to confirm how accurate your images are...
-------------------- "Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied, "If you seek for Eldorado!"
Edgar Alan Poe |
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Aug 4 2011, 11:50 AM
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#100
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Member Group: Members Posts: 399 Joined: 28-August 07 From: San Francisco Member No.: 3511 |
...careful not to include whiskey... they've been careful not to call it a wild rover too -------------------- 'She drove until the wheels fell off...'
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Aug 4 2011, 06:57 PM
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#101
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Member Group: Members Posts: 808 Joined: 10-October 06 From: Maynard Mass USA Member No.: 1241 |
nirgal,
Your 23rd century image skills are very impressive to the people of the 21st! !! -------------------- CLA CLL
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Aug 5 2011, 12:14 AM
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#102
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 3431 Joined: 11-August 04 From: USA Member No.: 98 |
Really great stuff, Nirgal. Currently on my desktop.
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Aug 5 2011, 12:36 AM
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#103
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Member Group: Members Posts: 796 Joined: 27-February 08 From: Heart of Europe Member No.: 4057 |
Nirgal, your images are really majestic!
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Guest_Oersted_* |
Aug 12 2011, 10:25 AM
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#104
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Guests |
Anything similar to this near Gale?
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/mult...a/pia14472.html |
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Aug 12 2011, 11:24 AM
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#105
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
I don't think so. In any case it would be very difficult to drive a rover up such a slope.
I think that the most sensitive idea to explore these sites (and WE MUST explore them) is this: http://web.mit.edu/iang/www/pubs/artillery_05.pdf or a tethered rover unreeled from the top of the cliff (I think JPL was working on something like that a decade or so ago) |
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