MSL - Stopover on the Road to Glenelg - Arm Commissioning, Commissioning Activity Period 2 - Sols 30 through 37 Options

[Ant103]

I think I have no words… This is just… Wow.



Thanks to the MSSS team, you're the best

[DeanM]

Walfy:

How on Earth (or even elsewhere!) could you have possibly known a priori to look in great detail for "some Greek lettering on the MAHLI calibration target" & 'found' γδβγ ?!

Share!

Dean

[Doc]

What a perfect way of starting the day!

[Astro0]

Had a little extra time this evening to add an extra frame and fix a rear wheel.
Note: some dodgy squishy/stretchy stuff to make a pretty picture.

I'll let JPL and MSSS worry about the science



Large version on my blog: 6.34mb [6675 x 3200]

[mcaplinger]

GDBG appears to be some kind of Caltech fraternity...

Hint: Blacker House is an undergraduate house. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_System_...e_of_Technology

Other related item: here's an extreme closeup of the MMM focal plane board, on the opposite side from the CCD:


I didn't go to Caltech so I only look on these things with bemusement.

[Doc]

Made a gif animation of a depth test. Here they focus on the calibration panel going outwards...

[dombili]

Hey fellas, I have a quick question. I'm sorry if this sounds stupid, but there are some small black dots on the images that MAHLI has sent. Can anybody elaborate as to what they could be? Since the same dots are present on almost every image, it's obvious that the problem caused by the camera. It's probably nothing, but I'm just curious

Examples: http://i.imgur.com/Pc7No.jpg - http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/ms...0000E2_DXXX.jpg - http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/ms...2000E1_DXXX.jpg - http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/ms...1000E1_DXXX.jpg

[jmknapp]

A try at a MAHLI stereo anaglyph:



News this morning:

Scientists fear Curiosity rover drill bits could contaminate Mars

On Nov. 1 [2011], after learning that the drill bit box had been opened, Conley said she had the mission reclassified to one in which Curiosity could touch the surface of Mars “as long as there is no ice or water.”

Conley’s predecessor at NASA, John D. Rummel, a professor of biology at East Carolina University, said, partly in jest: “It will be a sad day for NASA if they do detect ice or water. That’s because the Curiosity project will most likely be told, ‘Gee, that’s nice. Now turn around.’ “

If water is found, Curiosity could still conduct tests from a distance with instruments including a laser and spectrometers.

[mcaplinger]

there are some small black dots on the images that MAHLI has sent. Can anybody elaborate as to what they could be?

They're fragments of uralane threadlock that got on the CCD microlenses and couldn't be removed. (That's the last time we use that material in that application.) I'm working on an algorithm, similar to the old vidicon reseau removal algorithm, to cosmetically remove them.

[Paul Fjeld]

News this morning:

Scientists fear Curiosity rover drill bits could contaminate Mars

This is confusing. Wasn't Phoenix about finding the water? Did its landing gear contaminate the site any less than the wheels of Curiosity? I remember Viking had a "cook out" of its guts once it was encapsulated. Didn't NASA do something similar with MSL?

[Paul Fjeld]

Had a little extra time this evening to add an extra frame and fix a rear wheel.
Note: some dodgy squishy/stretchy stuff to make a pretty picture.

Phenomenal! Interesting to see all the dings on the wheels, especially the dents showing through on the interior of the left most wheel (right front). The little rocks and pebbles are so sharp, they seem like little pickets guarding the pristine surface. The dust on the interior mid part of that wheel must have been blown in from landing. Or could it be dust squeezed through the little holes in the "JPL" section of the wheel that shifts as the wheel turns to coat the whole thing?

[marsman2020]

...

News this morning:

Scientists fear Curiosity rover drill bits could contaminate Mars

MSL's sampling system never had a "bio barrier" like Phoenix. That decision was made not 6 months before launch but probably 6 years.

The "bit boxes" refer to the structures on the front panel that hold the 2 replacement bits. These structures, however, are not hermetically sealed. Neither was the location of the pre-installed drill bit on the turret. And no way the wheels were either. There was no sealed "box" to be opened accidentally.........because it wasn't part of the design. Ref. http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntr..._2010023816.pdf, page 235 for a shot of the rover front panel with the bit boxes. They look exactly like what you can see in the photos from ATLO.

The statements by the HQ PP person don't reflect the physical flight hardware on MSL, and then the reporting by the LA Times confuses things even further. I can't make heads or tales of what this is all about. I'd hate to imply that the HQ PP people weren't paying attention to their flagship mission for years, but this was discussed in multiple review cycles and what flew was what was reviewed.

However, something else interesting happened in the last few sols - it appears from the photos that the CHIMRA sample processing system was put through it's paces on the end of the robotic arm. The Sol 32 MastCam photos show the scoop, sieve clearing "thwackers", and portioner door being opened up, and the internal sample-touching surfaces of CHIMRA being inspected with the 100mm MastCam (currently only thumbnails have come down). It looks like the "thwackers" were "thwacked" as well. Testing of the vibration had already been mentioned in a new update on the MSL website, so that hits all the actuated degrees of freedom on CHIMRA.

[iMPREPREX]

Made a gif animation of a depth test. Here they focus on the calibration panel going outwards...

Nice, my friend!

I, myself, stacked them and got this. It's not blurry in some places anymore. 3 of those images stacked:

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[MahFL]

Has anyone noted the strips of tape that seem to have been placed rather untidily behind and left of the calibration target ?

[stevesliva]

MSL's sampling system never had a "bio barrier" like Phoenix.

The "bit boxes" refer to the structures on the front panel that hold the 2 replacement bits. These structures, however, are not hermetically sealed. Neither was the location of the pre-installed drill bit on the turret. And no way the wheels were either. There was no sealed "box" to be opened accidentally.........because it wasn't part of the design. Ref. http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntr..._2010023816.pdf, page 235 for a shot of the rover front panel with the bit boxes. They look exactly like what you can see in the photos from ATLO.

The statements by the HQ PP person don't reflect the physical flight hardware on MSL, and then the reporting by the LA Times confuses things even further. I can't make heads or tales of what this is all about.

Can we leave it at this, at least in this thread? This is going to be mirrored by every tabloidish news source on the planet with stupid provocative headlines and even more distorted information, and at the next press conference, some engineer or scientist will sigh heavily and deal with questions about it.