InSight Surface Operations, 26 Nov 2018- 21 Dec 2022 Options

[djellison]

Pretty sure the cameras are not auto exposure.

They are. Apart from a bayer filter, they're the same as MER and MSL. Whilst they can be commanded with a manual exposure, they are almost always operated with an auto exposure algorithm that will look to reach a certain signal threshold. In excess or short of that threshold, the same image will automatically be attempted with another exposure either longer or shorter. This process will sometimes loop a couple of times before a 'good' image is acquired. The exposure time for THAT image is then carried forward as the seed exposure time for the next image on that camera.

If you look at the label of any engineering camera product submitted to the PDS you will see the parameters for this process set in the sequence that acquired the images.

[Phil Stooke]

More excellent news. The IDC camera just took a horizon panorama on sol 97. It is not quite complete, but it does extend the sol 14 panorama, filling in about half the gap in that. I hope we will see the last bit soon, if it is possible to take it - i.e. no physical limit on camera pointing. I have posted just the horizon here with a vertically stretched version to show subtle topography better. Thingyvision. The sinusoidal shape of the horizon here is an artifact.

Phil

[Roby72]

I'm interested in solar energy on InSight: How many Whrs per day produced, dust factor and Tau during almost 100 sols since landing ?

Any information is appreciated - Thank You !

[PaulH51]

100 sols on Mars, congratulations to all that made this possible:

Meanwhile a set of 18 IDC frames (only one processed version attached here) were acquired on sol 99 featuring the terrain where RAD measures the surface temperature. Once again my ageing eyes can't spot any changes in brightness between the frames, if indeed this was another Phobos shadow pass. So let's hope that RAD or the IDC metadata captured a change for the science team (if that's what they set out to do)

[James Sorenson]

A screenshot preview of the 360 pan so far.

[PaulH51]

Lovely WIP James, the final version will be rather special...

Meanwhile: A processed sol 101 IDC frame of the sun just about to set at Elysium Planitia

[fredk]

Those frames actually span three sols, 100-102. But since the sky hasn't changed much from sol to sol, your animation should give a good idea of what a sunset looks like. Nice!

[PaulH51]

ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter Images InSight :


Link to report and the full resolution frame: link

[DDAVIS]

After the InSight Lander captured some stages of a sunset I was inspired to try something I had wanted to do for for a while. I decided to use those images, plus others collected of Martian sunsets and twilights and a few hand painted intermediate frames, to make a simulation of using that camera to obtain a color time lapse movie of a typical Martian Sunset.
This is more of an attempt to mimic the camera characteristics rather than an attempt to show how it would look to the human eye.
I made the other reference images 'conform' to the InSight camera characteristics, including overexposure near the Sun, but I removed the effects of extreme brightness on the camera optics. The resulting frames were cross dissolved while the Sun was separately composited in.

https://vimeo.com/323683959?fbclid=IwAR0-GZ...2Gd9S75kx8T0rok

[MahFL]

After the InSight Lander captured some stages of a sunset I was inspired to try something...

Very nice.

[vikingmars]

After the InSight Lander captured some stages of a sunset I was inspired to try something I had wanted to do for for a while. I decided to use those images, plus others collected of Martian sunsets and twilights and a few hand painted intermediate frames, to make a simulation of using that camera to obtain a color time lapse movie of a typical Martian Sunset.
This is more of an attempt to mimic the camera characteristics rather than an attempt to show how it would look to the human eye.
I made the other reference images 'conform' to the InSight camera characteristics, including overexposure near the Sun, but I removed the effects of extreme brightness on the camera optics. The resulting frames were cross dissolved while the Sun was separately composited in.

How nice Don ! Thanks so much !

[nprev]

Spectacular, Don. Thank you!!!

[rhr]

There's a new post at the SEIS blog. A translation follows.

https://www.seis-insight.eu/fr/actualites/466-tgo-insight

ESA's Trace Gas Orbiter immotralises InSight from mars orbit

On 2 march 2019, the spacecraft TGO of ESA's ExoMars program managed to
photograph InSight on the surface of the red planet. It's the first time a
european orbiter has achieved this technical feat, which requires not only a
very high performance camera, but also special viewing conditions given the
relatively small size of the machine it has to resolve.

Launched 14 march 2016, TGO arrived in mars orbit the 16 october of the same
year, almost 13 years after the arrival of ESA's first mars orbiter, Mars
Express.

After a year of aerobreaking to acheive its final cartographic orbit, TGO began
its campaign of scientific observations at the end of april 2018. Although its
principal objective is to make a high-precision study of certain trace gasses
in the composition of the martian atmosphere, the orbiter can also fulfill
other roles, such as a radio relay.

TGO is equipped with two Electra radio transponders furnished by NASA, which
allow it to communicate with landers on the surface such as InSight. Along
with the american orbiters MRO and Odyssey, TGO regularly relays to earth data
from the geophysical station ever since its landing last 26 november on Elysium
Planitia, including during critical operations.

Up till now, the geometry of overflights of the landing site haven't been
suitable for pointing TGO's CaSSIS camera at the lander or the material it shed
during its perilous descent towards the martian equator. On 2 march, while the
heat probe HP3 began trying to dig itself into the ground, TGO passed directly
over InSight, a configuration which was perfect for snapping a photo of the
landing site.

Although the image obtained by TGO is certainly less precise than those taken
by spy camera HiRISE of MRO in december 2018 and again in february 2019, it
nevertheless shows many details like the blast zone around the lander (where
dust was blown away by the retrorockets), the heat shield, and also the
backshell (the parachute fabric is however not clearly identifiable). The
image covers an area of 2.25 km^2, and the resolution varies from 5 to 6 meters
per pixel (comapred to 25cm for HiRISE). The image has not been oriented
north-up.

Apart from its role in telecommunications, TGO will continue to support InSight
by regularly photographing the regions around the landing site in order to
identify new meteorite impacts. In order to determine the interior structure,
the seismometer SEIS takes advantage of two sources of signals: earthquakes
produced by sudden ruptures in rocky material at the level of the martian crust
and mantle, but also shockwaves linked with the impact of extraterrestrial
bolides on the surface. The ability to locate an impact very precisely (and
therefore the epicenter of the associated earthquake) will greatly aid the
interpretation of the data recorded by SEIS.

[PaulH51]

There's a new post at the SEIS blog. A translation follows.

Many thanks

[Phil Stooke]

Update from LPSC - the final section of the panorama, to the west, will be filled in soon. Obstructions on the lander deck limit the arm's movements so the last bit of the horizon has to be imaged upside down with the arm pointing the other way and folded over. There will be morning and afternoon panoramas as well, which will be good for distant feature visibility (compare with Viking panoramas). The arm is not planned to dig any time soon. There had been talk of scooping up regolith and piling it in conical piles (as on Viking) to watch for changes due to wind. Now they plan to use disturbed soil around the footpads, SEIS tether and HP3 feet to monitor changes. Lastly, dust devil and cloud surveys have been made but nothing observed yet, though 'vortices' (dustless dust devils) pass over the lander multiple times each sol.

Phil