MSL Post Landing - Commissioning Period & Early Observations, Commissioning Activity Period 1B - Sols 9 through 16 |
MSL Post Landing - Commissioning Period & Early Observations, Commissioning Activity Period 1B - Sols 9 through 16 |
Aug 17 2012, 07:50 PM
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#31
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2922 Joined: 14-February 06 From: Very close to the Pyrénées Mountains (France) Member No.: 682 |
I'm wondering about the drill's longevity myself. I know Spirit's wore out a lot faster than Oppy's because of the difference in rock hardness, and so had to limit themselves to very interesting targets. Will we have to wait until a drilling is done to see how much wear and tear it can take? Listen to Emily here: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakda...-curiosity.html They've got 2 more spare once the first one will be out Edited: or read here: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs...rs-1-tools.html -------------------- |
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Aug 17 2012, 08:05 PM
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#32
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 59 Joined: 12-March 10 From: Austin, TX Member No.: 5262 |
Can the ChemCam wear out? I'm not sure if this is a silly question, but one of the replies in the Telecon seemed fairly specific in terms of the maximum number of pulses that they'd be using in the coming weeks. I heard this as referring to the design criteria, i.e., the minimum it should be able to do. |
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Aug 17 2012, 08:06 PM
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#33
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Member Group: Members Posts: 470 Joined: 24-March 04 From: Finland Member No.: 63 |
I got the impression that they were not so much afraid of the drill getting damaged, but that the rock at the rocket impigment site wouldn't be good to drill into. It has been suggested that it may be duricrust. Would that be too fragile to get a good sample out of with the drill?
Also I think it was mentioned that the first sample to go into the labrotary kits would be dust or some other fines that is scoopable. -------------------- Antti Kuosmanen
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Aug 17 2012, 08:18 PM
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#34
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
I think it's just not a good first sample to drill. They're going to want something that has a horizontal surface and that is a piece of rock that looks homogeneous, not a conglomerate of chunks of rock that may be more or less strongly cemented together by something else.
-------------------- My website - My Patreon - @elakdawalla on Twitter - Please support unmannedspaceflight.com by donating here.
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Aug 17 2012, 08:42 PM
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#35
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Member Group: Members Posts: 154 Joined: 21-April 05 From: Rochester, New York, USA Member No.: 336 |
Also sounded like we will be waiting a while before the photos of the top of Mt. Sharp will be takend and transmitted. Originally, I believe it was hoped to get them in during the past few days. (If my memory is correct?)
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Aug 17 2012, 09:39 PM
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#36
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Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10256 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
Here's a circular version of the full navcam pan:
And this is the middle bit with labels to put our newest names into a more maplike perspective: Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke Maps for download (free PDF: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...Cartography.pdf 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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Aug 17 2012, 09:43 PM
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#37
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14448 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
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Aug 17 2012, 09:59 PM
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#38
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 4260 Joined: 17-January 05 Member No.: 152 |
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Aug 17 2012, 10:26 PM
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#39
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Forum Contributor Group: Members Posts: 1374 Joined: 8-February 04 From: North East Florida, USA. Member No.: 11 |
The sun is in the south a lot, so they have to be super careful not to point at the sun with the normal filters. Also they seemed to indicate they wern't sure of the exposures needed. I am am sure Mike Malin will sort it all out.
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Aug 17 2012, 11:13 PM
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#40
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
There would be a Big Problem if ChemCam inadvertently pointed at the Sun. No more ChemCam.
-------------------- My website - My Patreon - @elakdawalla on Twitter - Please support unmannedspaceflight.com by donating here.
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Aug 17 2012, 11:16 PM
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#41
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Member Group: Members Posts: 178 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 498 |
If they really want to exercise the laser pointing, they should try writing "JPL" on N165. It's basically the landing reference, so a little commemorative grafitti seems in order.
My suggested name for N165: Zero Pebble. |
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Aug 17 2012, 11:26 PM
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#42
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14448 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
Yeah- there are some serious flight rules about sun-pointing the mast. You can do it for a few minutes, but then you have to turn away and let the ChemCam unit cool down. It's a big-ol reflecting telescope in there , and even at 1.5au - the sun can still do damage when you focus an area of its power.
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Aug 17 2012, 11:29 PM
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#43
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Member Group: Members Posts: 447 Joined: 1-July 05 From: New York City Member No.: 424 |
From http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2008/pdf/1500.pdf -- "However, the instrument was limited to 30 analyses per sol, realistic for its expected laser lifetime of ~20,000 analyses." I'm not sure this applies to the flight unit but I would expect the laser to have some finite lifetime. At approximately 11:30 in today's press conference, Roger Wiens, ChemCam principal investigator, said that ChemCam's "benchmark qualification" was the ability to do 14,000 analyses. You can replay the press conference on ustream here. I have to say that it took me a little bit of googling to find the replay website. A reference to that url on the media announcements would have been helpful, or even just a mention that the replay would be hosted on ustream. TTT (It's probably a sign that I'm past my "sell by" date, but ustream is not a site that's in my brain's short-term RAM, or a term that I would have thought to have included in searching for NASA press conferences. Of course I know better now, but still ....) |
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Aug 17 2012, 11:41 PM
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#44
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
Recording teleconferences to UStream is brand new for JPL. They've streamed TV conferences there for a long time, but the audio-only ones are a new thing.
-------------------- My website - My Patreon - @elakdawalla on Twitter - Please support unmannedspaceflight.com by donating here.
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Aug 18 2012, 12:15 AM
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#45
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2547 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 497 |
The sun is in the south a lot... We're in the southern hemisphere, so the sun is in the north a lot. Maybe that's what you meant? Playing with Mars24 is instructive. AFAIK sun avoidance shouldn't be a huge factor in imaging the summit, though it does have to be checked. Some of us would appreciate it if you said "MSSS will sort it all out" instead of ascribing the entire operation of the instrument to one person -------------------- Disclaimer: This post is based on public information only. Any opinions are my own.
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