Cameras For Msl, MSSS gets all the contracts Options

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

MTO gets a brief mention on the JPL future missions page - but I couldn't find any information on it at http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/

[djellison]

http://acquisition.jpl.nasa.gov/rfp/mtodesignstudies/

The JPL Aquisition site is fantastic

Doug

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

MTO gets a brief mention on the JPL future missions page - but I couldn't find any information on it at http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/

There isn't a great deal of information on the Web but there is some. Below are a few links:

Request for Proposal
Mars Telecommunications Orbiter (MTO) Flight System
VTD-2672-MTO
http://acquisition.jpl.nasa.gov/rfp/VTD-2672-MTO/default.htm

Mars Telecommunications Orbiter Science Definition Team Report from the Mars Aeronomy Conference, August 18-19, 2004 (3.9 Mb PPT)
http://argyre.colorado.edu/life/aeronomy_w...-sdt-report.ppt

Abstract from the 35th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2004/pdf/1775.pdf

[djellison]

It's an interesting challenge. 5W and 5KG - but, compared to missions of today - an almost limitless data budget - what would YOU do I think some sort of multispectral global imager would be fairly doable - Pushbroom on multiple channels - nIR, G, B, nUV type stuff - or other particular spectral windows that would tell us something interesting - at the km-scale res. HiRISE heritage CCD's to save cash.

Doug

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

Actually, there's one extremely detailed Web description of MTO at http://acquisition.jpl.nasa.gov/rfp/mtodes...es/exhibit1.pdf (45 pg.), and an 11-page one at http://techreports.jpl.nasa.gov/2003/03-2287.pdf .

As for its science payload: the Science Definition Team report mentioned by Alex goes into considerable detail on what useful things they might be able to cram into that 5 kg, 5 watt, $5 million design limit. The top priorities would seem to be (as expected) a weather-pattern imager (which might be multispectral and include IR wavelengths), along with a follow-up to Mars Odyssey's MARIE radiation environment studies, and a detector of "pickup ions" torn away from Mars' upper atmosphere by the solar wind, to follow up on the studies by Phobos 2 and Mars Express of the rate at which this is causing Mars to lose its air. A multi-channel IR sounder to follow up on MRO's detailed altitude profiles of Mars' weather, and a UV imager to inspect the corona of H and O atoms being expelled from its atmosphere by solar UV, are probably too heavy to squeeze into that tiny weight margin with the other instruments.

[DEChengst]

Well - if the hand lends is 2.4 more than the MER MI - and all three are using the same CCD Design - it's 2.4 megapixels.

The JPL press release also states that MAHLI will have a wider field of view than the MI on MER, so it would need to be more than 2.4 megapixel.

[DEChengst]

That's one reason I really wish they were sending TWO MSL's. Since MSL is not using a tried and tested EDL sequence, there is far greater risk.

There's another reason why it's smart to send at least two rovers. It makes the chance for discovery better. The best evidence for a watery past was provided by Opportunity. Spirit didn't find real evidence until she reached the Columbia hills. If NASA would only have launched Spirit and she would have landed a few kilometers further away from the hills I don't think she would have made it to the hills to find all the rocks altered by water. A site can look great from orbit, but once on the ground it can turn out you just can't get to the evidence.

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

There are, however, good reasons to think that a single rover of the MSL type (cost considerations aside) can be far more scientifically cost-effective than a single MER could be. For one thing, it can drive vastly farther, sampling more types of geology. For another, MSL will have a precision-targeting landing system to bring it down reliably within 10 km of its landing point -- whereas the big landing ellipses for MER, which had to have survivable landing terrain throughout their areas, ruled out a huge number of extremely interesting scientific spots on Mars.

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

MSSS is providing more technical information on the three camera they are providing for 2009 MSL.

[DEChengst]

The MastCam is going to be incredible. The PanCam on MER can be used to create a 22,000 x 4000 pixels panorama. The MastCam CCD will be 1200x1200 pixels. With maximum zoom the FOV will be only 6 degrees. So a full panorama should be 72,000 x 13,000 pixels. That's about 935 Mpixel or 2.8 GB It looks like we're all going to need a new PC with several GBs of memory to create those panoramas.

[djellison]

Well - we'll all have new computers by then anyway

Doug

[DEChengst]

Well - we'll all have new computers by then anyway

And we will be playing Racing Legends on them

[DEChengst]

They should make the HDTV recording automatic. Have the MastCam at the widest zoom take a picture every second or so. Analyse the image to see if there is a dust devil in it. If there is one use a stereo image to determine where it is. Point the PanCam at it, zoom to the 6 degrees FOV and start making a HDTV movie.

[tedstryk]

Except that by the time the dust devil had been identified on earth and the command to zoom in on it had been returned to the spacecraft, the dust devil would be long gone.

Ted

[DEChengst]

Except that by the time the dust devil had been identified on earth and the command to zoom in on it had been returned to the spacecraft, the dust devil would be long gone.

You missed the word "automatic" With "analyse the image" I mean that the rover itself does the analyses.