MSL Video Options

[djellison]

I do see a dust devil at one point; at least that's what I think it is? Nice touch.

No, you don't. The odd gust of dust to keep it from being all too static - but not a DD.

Is a certain direction and distance from Curiosity expected of the landed descent stage, besides "far away" ?

From http://trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/handle/2014/41629 - Page 12 specifically

CODE

Once the flyaway controller on the DS assumes control, it
first holds the current altitude for 187 msec to allow
sufficient time for the umbilical to be cut.  After the
requisite hold time, the MLEs throttle up and the DS
ascends vertically for a predetermined amount of time.  
Then, the DS begins to execute a turn to approximately 45
pitch.  The DS holds this attitude with the MLEs at 100%
until the fuel depletes.  The hold, ascent, and turn take place
within 2 seconds, and the remaining time is variable
depending on the amount of fuel remaining.  The DS will
then ballistically fall to the surface at a distance of at least
150 m from the Rover

I would expect it to be significantly further than that. Perhaps 10x.

[elakdawalla]

Also, too bad the video doesn't show the skycrane crashing after leaving the rover.

Can you imagine the feedback if we did? A smouldering wreck with fuming hydrazine? A very expensive shot to model and animate as well. Not showing that was a very easy decision.

While I imagine it was an easy decision not to show the thing wrecking in detail, I have to own up to the fact that I wish the shot of it arcing away from the rover ended a little bit later, after it disappeared behind the horizon, followed a second later by a little "pfft" of dust, Wile E. Coyote style

I enjoyed the lovingly detailed shot of the MarsDial and the rover tai chi!

[eoincampbell]

Cheers Doug, thanks for the link, lots of Curious goodness in that pdf !

[djellison]

I have to own up to the fact that I wish the shot of it arcing away from the rover ended a little bit later, after it disappeared behind the horizon, followed a second later by a little "pfft" of dust, Wile E. Coyote style

So do I

When it premiered infront of 400 members of the MSL project - that moment got a brilliant reaction - exactly the same reaction as you could hear in the background audio of the Mars Odyssey launch when a forward looking rocket-cam cut out the very second the upper stage was due to ignite after 3rd stage sep.

[Explorer1]

Well, MSL could do a nice hardware survey like with Oppy's heatshield (if it's not too long a detour of time and distance from the planned science of course). Though ground conditions will prove whether its even possible in the first place.

[djellison]

Not of the descent stage. It will have leaked hydrazine and other ugly compounds after crashing. I would expect them to give it an exceptionally wide berth.

Heatshield, sure.
Backshell and Parachute - from a distance >> the length of all the lines and the chute.
Six impact craters from ballast ejected before 'chute deployment - why not.

But not the descent stage.

[tbruckner]

Very nice animation. One question: shortly before atmospheric entry there are two little L-shaped blocks separating from the capsule. What's that?

[Astro0]

From the document posted by djellison above... page 4.

...Approximately 5 minutes before entry interface, two external cruise balance masses are jettisoned to create an offset center of gravity...

...In contrast to the spin stabilized entries of MER and Mars Pathfinder (MPF), MSL utilizes an offset center of mass to create a nominal 18degree angle of attack through peak heating and dynamic pressure, increasing to a 20degree angle of attack just prior to parachute deployment. This angle of attack generates lift which is used to reduce the landing error ellipse size and increase the parachute deploy altitude.

Lots more exciting facts to be found in that document

[nprev]

VERY nice animation, Doug. Kay & I just watched it utterly spellbound; well done!

[Guest_Oersted_*]

I remember discussing the fate of the skycrane with MarsEngineer on this forum a good while ago, and to my recollection he said something like that, sure, if they had time for it they might try to program a soft landing into it... Not a priority though, and since it doesn't really serve a purpose, apart from pollution mitigation, it probably wont happen. Would be neat if they tried though.

Love the animation! The only things I didn't quite like were the flyby sounds in space (I can live with the mechanical sounds and the thruster ones, since those events actually transmit sound through the structure of the spacecraft), the lack of an ionized trail through the atmosphere and the somewhat tinny sound of the skycrane rockets. I think it will be a good deal more deep and throaty in reality. The rest of the animation is top notch and you even showed us parachute deploy, which was something Maas edited out very niftily for the MER edl animation....

[nprev]

Now, now, let's not forget that the primary objective of such videos is outreach...so, begging questions of credibility in minor ways is in fact an opportunity, not a fault.

All us UMSF regulars know the score, of course. Sad fact of the matter is that so many do not, and these are the people we need to reach.

PR is not easy; seems like something that really should be, but it just ain't. What this video does is capture the sheer awesomeness of the mission, and really it's okay to leave some room for questions after the flash is presented; these can only be productive in the grand scheme of things.

Yes, it's a bitter pill to swallow for all us hard-boiled rationalists (who have the presumed advantage of a decent background in science; don't forget that fact; not everyone has that!). But the whole idea is to communicate what MSL can & will do to people that are much less acquainted so that they can appreciate this marvelous thing as we do already; no need to preach to the converted, after all!

MSL is being very smart with this, and I applaud them for it. There is a consistent tendency for UMSF missions to underestimate the value of PR--apparently in the misguided belief that the scientific value of a given mission is manifestly obvious (but again: it just ain't). Gotta get past that. PIs, even if you gotta hold your noses at the very thought: You gotta really LEARN this for what I would now expect to be glaringly obvious reasons.

End of tirade. Only hope that a couple of PIs will read it & dig it.

[djellison]

I remember discussing the fate of the skycrane with MarsEngineer on this forum a good while ago, and to my recollection he said something like that, sure, if they had time for it they might try to program a soft landing into it... Not a priority though, and since it doesn't really serve a purpose, apart from pollution mitigation, it probably wont happen. Would be neat if they tried though

They wont be trying. Moreover, it doesn't help mitigate pollution. That stuff will leak out eventually anyway. The ONLY requirement of that DS after rover bridle cut is for it to get as far away as it can, as quickly as it can.

The only things I didn't quite like were the flyby sounds in space

Imagine that entire sequence silent. Infact, you don't have to - you could turn your speakers off. It gets very very tedious very very quickly. The sounds were not my idea, and I'm not a big fan of them either - but I know why they're there. I've had lots of comments about the sounds being annoying. I've also had comments that it's not loud enough. That tells me it's in the middle ground.

the lack of an ionized trail through the atmosphere and the somewhat tinny sound of the skycrane rockets.

Have you seen either at first hand? (Answer, no... no one has) I had an interesting discussion with the EDL people about the entry fireball. We went with what you see based on those discussions - the blue being a symptom of the emission spectra for CO2 (that was my cunning idea ) - the lack of a trail....I couldn't find documentation either way that would infer there would or wouldn't be one. It's also a really hard thing to try and animate well. Of course, one could counter your argument about throaty engine sounds with an argument about atmospheric density at Mars etc etc. We had one day in a studio to do the entire sound track. It's a case of using what was available. There was one sound specifically recorded for the animation though.... the sample being dropped into the instrument inlet tube. That was a sachet of sweetener from the sound studio's cafeteria being poured into a cup.

I was asked again and again by project people to add loads of loud music. I said that we couldn't do that - but I'm sure the public would do it themselves once it was out there. Why not try your own pass at the audio....trust me - it ain't easy.

[ElkGroveDan]

I had an interesting discussion with the EDL people about the entry fireball. We went with what you see based on those discussions - the blue being a symptom of the emission spectra for CO2 (that was my cunning idea ) - the lack of a trail....I couldn't find documentation either way that would infer there would or wouldn't be one.

This got me to wondering, are there plans for MRO/HIRISE to have a stab at an image as they did for Phoenix? Will it even be possible based on orbits and locations?

I was asked again and again by project people to add loads of loud music. I said that we couldn't do that - but I'm sure the public would do it themselves once it was out there.

Working on it....

[Guest_Oersted_*]

..Hope you didn't miss the "Love the animation!"-part... But, hey, I know: it is your baby, and a lovely baby it is!

This is fabulous outreach. If you want to make a version with explanations I can recommend the annotation functionality in Youtube. It is really good. You can place the annotations exactly where you want, time them to perfection, etc, etc. I've used it myself for some fun annotations of flight sim movies (a new hi-fidelity flight sim out called Cliffs of Dover, focusing on the Battle of Britain). This is how the annotations look:
http://www.youtube.com/user/wwwDOTdalsgaar...81CBC682E928D2A

[monty python]

Beautifull morning flights there.

All you peoples great videos make me want to say - I LOVE UMSF!!!!