HiRISE and Mars Polar Lander Options

[hendric]

Remcook,
Yes, that's exactly what I'm thinking as well. I'll bet that reflective or not, the net effect would be to make a depression in ice. If it's not reflecting the light it absorbs heat would tend to make a hole, and since the sides of the hole would be more vertical than the surface, the sides would tend to enlarge over time. And if does reflect the light, said light would mostly impact nearby, making the surface around the lander slightly hotter due to the reflections.

I'm betting MPL will be in a small depression, larger than the size of the lander, whether it landed correctly or not.

To do this properly, I created a spreadsheet on the Yahoo groups site with picture names across the top, and ppl checking them going down vertically. Post here which photos you have searched and to how far (Y pixel number), and I'll try to update the file. This way efforts can be divided appropriately.

Link here.

BTW, as a suggestion for future futile searches, adding some false positives to the mix is a good idea. Maybe 25-100 every picture might cut out the boredom, and give ppl something to score each other on.

[ugordan]

The image my gizmoid is in is PSP_005536_1030. The objects look similar to a "lander" and "backshell", but they're too big.

Argh. I can't find a trace of your objects in the said image and that image is the most studied one by me yet. I also looked at the IRB version since you said there's color coverage, but found nothing remotely interesting. Would you mind showing us how your objects look (not necessarily giving locations) so we can see what they're supposed to look like?

Plus, this is just driving me crazy

[tim53]

Argh. I can't find a trace of your objects in the said image and that image is the most studied one by me yet. I also looked at the IRB version since you said there's color coverage, but found nothing remotely interesting. Would you mind showing us how your objects look (not necessarily giving locations) so we can see what they're supposed to look like?

Plus, this is just driving me crazy

Okay, here ya go!

They're in opposite corners of this cropped frame from that image. And they live near the north end of the image. In this case, north is toward the bottom of the scene.

And remember, though the file is titled with MPL and backshell in the file name, it really can't be hardware, because of the things I noted above...

...unless it is. We'll see when the sun comes back around.

But seriously, though I have looked at all the HiRISE images taken thus far, I might have missed something. I'd love to hear what all y'all might find!

-Tim.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[Juramike]

Wow. I give up. I see nothing in that image even remotely out of place.

(Savagely beautiful, yes; out of the "ordinary", no.)

Do you have an annotated image you could post?

-Mike

[tim53]

Wow. I give up. I see nothing in that image even remotely out of place.

(Savagely beautiful, yes; out of the "ordinary", no.)

Do you have an annotated image you could post?

-Mike

I've got to hit the freeways now, but maybe tomorrow I could do that.

-Tim.

[Juramike]

I've got to hit the freeways now, but maybe tomorrow I could do that.

-Tim.

Cool. That gives us all 24 hours to find the missing lander in the image....

[remcook]

I'm glad I'm not in charge of these kinds of searches, because I also wouldn't have spotted anything 'unusual' in that figure...

[Juramike]

(Has anyone else noticed that the deposit structure resembles a neuron?)

(I was kinda using that nomenclature to work my way down one axon then on to another during my search.)

-Mike

[tim53]

Wow. I give up. I see nothing in that image even remotely out of place.

(Savagely beautiful, yes; out of the "ordinary", no.)

Do you have an annotated image you could post?

-Mike

Actually, this is pretty straightforward, so no annotation should be needed. The object that I propose "might" be the lander (but probably isn't) is the "double-bump" looking feature near the upper left corner of that cropped image. The possible backshell object is in the lower right corner. In this region, there aren't many objects that look like this - though there are some. And this is the only case I've found where two suspicious objects are within a few hundred meters of one another.

This is the simulated image I used to convince myself that this might be the lander. But again, there are problems with the lighting/shading. The fixed solar panels should shade most of the upper deck of the lander if it's in this orientation and more or less "level". Also, the "downsun" solar panel would be completely shaded with the sun geometry of this image, and the object doesn't match this expectation.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[elakdawalla]

Well, it took me way too long to do this, but I have finally posted a page on the search:
http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/ma...der_search.html

There's more that I want to do, but I figured this was a good start. I, too, had had the idea of having people report which images they were searching, or ask to be assigned one, but hendric beat me to it. Still, if you want to let me know which images you are searching, do pop me a PM or an email and I'll maintain a tally.

One thing I want to do is create my own base map and see where there are areas of overlap between images. One good test for the viability of a candidate is to see how it looks under different lighting geometry, which you can do if you are lucky enough to have found a candidate near the edge of an image where it may have overlapped another.

--Emily

[Phil Stooke]

Just a quick one... probably nothing, of course. Same image as Tim's.

Phil

[tim53]

Just a quick one... probably nothing, of course. Same image as Tim's.

Phil

Hi Phil:

Yeah, that's the frustrating thing about this search. Some places are just chock full of hardware! ...or so it might seem.


-Tim.

[Phil Stooke]

So perhaps we should call this place 'The Boneyard'...

Yes, I was struck, not by the paucity of candidates but by their profusion. if any little lump might be a spacecraft it really is a boneyard. And proving anything will be really hard. Color might do the trick, though, as you say.

I liked it better in the old days when we were just comparing surface and orbital images!

Phil

[climber]

I liked it better in the old days when we were just comparing surface and orbital images!

Only another 10 more days and you'll do it again on the other pole

[djellison]

That'll be much MUCH easier with the triangulation we'll get via UHF

Doug