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MSL "Drive, drive, drive" toward Glenelg, The scientists (mostly) get the keys - sols 38-56
fredk
post Sep 25 2012, 02:59 PM
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Definitely starting to look interesting as we approach Glenelg. Sol 49 anaglyph:
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climber
post Sep 25 2012, 03:09 PM
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I'm starting to think that when Alan Chen said "we've found a nice spot place (for landing)" he was right after all smile.gif
Getting rough now


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EdTruthan
post Sep 25 2012, 03:25 PM
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Rough terrain it is... Hazcam from about 3 hrs ago....(Sol 49)...

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stewjack
post Sep 25 2012, 04:50 PM
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QUOTE (fredk @ Sep 25 2012, 09:59 AM) *
Definitely starting to look interesting as we approach Glenelg. Sol 49 anaglyph:


That depression, straight ahead, might have some fine grained soil that Curiosity could eat. If it is time for her first meal that is.

Jack
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fredk
post Sep 25 2012, 04:55 PM
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Long baseline stereo view from sols 19 and 42 (there's some residual headachiness I couldn't get rid of):
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EdTruthan
post Sep 25 2012, 05:54 PM
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Nice Fred, I almost did that one too as it's one of the few latter day MC100 overlaps from the Sol19 and 23 pans. I'm anxiously awaiting the hi-res versions of the Sol 45 MC100 full panorama of Mt. Sharp to pair with the Sol 23 pano to render the foothills to the south and the slopes above. With that baseline it will be stunning. A handful of the upper slopes came in today. Hoping the rest follow soon... In fact, I went ahead and stitched some of the Sol 45 thumbnails together just to do quick check of level of depth it would provide. It's a little wonky to view because the left eye's red band is quite blurry but it clearly confirms what kind of eye-popping results can be achieved with a Sol 23 & 45 pairing when the full 45's are down.

Here is my very rough and preliminary depth test (left eye is the Sol 45 thumbnail mosaic) :



When the full resolution version of this can finally be rendered it'll be "chewing gum for the eyes"...


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climber
post Sep 25 2012, 08:10 PM
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On today Mars program conference they announced that there will be a Televised Curiosity Science conference this Thursday at 2PM eastern. Stay tuned for Official announcement.


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Zeke4ther
post Sep 25 2012, 08:23 PM
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An interesting article in Information Week.

Looks like there is a plan for Curiosity to get little sister Opportunity's AEGIS software capability. smile.gif



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Ondaweb
post Sep 26 2012, 12:56 AM
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In 9 to 12 months, Curiosity will be up in the highlands and probably not roaming long distances or over fields of rocks. Anybody know why not now when it would be most useful on the trek to the hills?
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Astro0
post Sep 26 2012, 02:57 AM
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"Anybody know why not now....." what?

1) Short drives to longer ones later during commissioning/early phases - drivers getting the hang of the vehicle characteristics in an 'alien' environment
2) Challenging terrain - rocks, craters, dust bowls etc
3) It'll take a year to actually get to the hills and there's lots of awesome geology and science inbetween
4) There are dunes and inverted terrain to cross first
5) They'll be climbing in difficult terrain when they do get there
6) Orbitial imagery suggests pretty dusty environs in the valleys, not quite so rocky as out on the plains
7) etc, etc

Am I hearing: "Are we there yet?!" from the backseat smile.gif
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fredk
post Sep 26 2012, 02:59 AM
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Some MR shots are down showing Phobos in the late afternoon sky - here's the best one I noticed:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/ms...2000E1_DXXX.jpg
Can anyone check to see the altitude of sun and Phobos at the time that was taken? It was taken around 5:30 pm LMST, so the sun was probably very low. Judging from the phase of Phobos, it's probably around 30 degrees from the sun.
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atomoid
post Sep 26 2012, 03:04 AM
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Oh too bad they didn't build AEGIS in from the start!! im guessing it was on the planning board but shelved for perfectly reasonable reasons like risk to the development/launch schedule. But jamming a major upgrade into MSL's package in just 9-12 months does seem ambitious. though risk may seem minimal, unforseen complications and interactions with other elements of the system require vigilant pre-emption through extensive test planning and retesting under various conditions and its good engineering sense to plan on such tasks taking at least 4 times longer than you plan for (the last 20% takes 80% of the work!!)..

Mainly, im guessing they dont want to risk the 1 year "mission success" milestone for MSL and so would rather tack it on after the warranty runs out. As with MER (and i dont know how much testing it got before they popped v1.0 into Oppy), they would have still had a wildly successful 5+ years at 2009, so then if an unfortunate software upgrade croaked the platform, it wouldnt lead to a big media frenzy fiasco like MCO/MPL/DS1 and would have mostly lead to bored UMSF'ers waiting for MSL to touch down...safely..
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djellison
post Sep 26 2012, 03:39 AM
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QUOTE (atomoid @ Sep 25 2012, 07:04 PM) *
But jamming a major upgrade into MSL's package in just 9-12 months does seem ambitious.


On what basis are you saying it's 'jamming'. You don't know how long AEGIS has been worked on at JPL for MSL deployment. You don't know when it started, what the schedule is like, what the testing plan is etc etc. You're talking as if the flight software engineers are morons.

They are not.
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Zeke4ther
post Sep 26 2012, 03:47 AM
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QUOTE (Astro0 @ Sep 25 2012, 09:57 PM) *
"Anybody know why not now....." what?
...


Astro0, I believe Ondaweb was posing his question based on the article on the AEGIS software.
His point is, why are they going to wait 9 to 12 month (as per the article) to install the software, when
it would be more useful during the approach phase to Mt. Sharp; where we will start doing longer, autonomous, drives.


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walfy
post Sep 26 2012, 03:48 AM
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QUOTE (fredk @ Sep 25 2012, 06:59 PM) *
Some MR shots are down showing Phobos in the late afternoon sky - here's the best one I noticed:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/ms...2000E1_DXXX.jpg


OMG! I've never seen such an image, such a clear shot of an alien moon taken from the surface of another planet in which the moon is clearly outlined. I know images have been taken showing the other-worldly moons of Mars, and even distant Earth, as mere points of light, wonderful in their own way. But this is a first, is it not? I'm blown away by this image. It's like gazing up at our own moon, yet outrageously different with its not-so-circular crescent through an alien haze. As some on the team said after the first pics came down, the landing place looks familiar. This Phobos moon shot makes it more so. Alright, 'nuff said.
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