IPB

Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )

13 Pages V  « < 2 3 4 5 6 > »   
Closed TopicStart new topic
MSL Cruise Phase
ilbasso
post Nov 30 2011, 12:18 PM
Post #46


Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 753
Joined: 23-October 04
From: Greensboro, NC USA
Member No.: 103



Should we bring her back for repairs? rolleyes.gif


--------------------
Jonathan Ward
Manning the LCC at http://www.apollolaunchcontrol.com
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
MahFL
post Nov 30 2011, 01:52 PM
Post #47


Forum Contributor
****

Group: Members
Posts: 1372
Joined: 8-February 04
From: North East Florida, USA.
Member No.: 11



I just read that the hand lens imager can take pics and movies of the rover it'self, even when driving, and can infact reach higher than the Mastcam, that will be so cool to see.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
pospa
post Nov 30 2011, 02:22 PM
Post #48


Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 153
Joined: 4-May 11
From: Pardubice, CZ
Member No.: 5979



Also VERY cool would be any MAHLI picture from inside of the spacecraft during the cruise phase ... as was done with Phoenix RAC camera.
Do we know if MSL team has intention to do such a test shot?
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
climber
post Nov 30 2011, 03:05 PM
Post #49


Senior Member
****

Group: Members
Posts: 2917
Joined: 14-February 06
From: Very close to the Pyrénées Mountains (France)
Member No.: 682



You can even dream of a shot of Spacecraft separation as seen from the spacecraft tongue.gif


--------------------
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
ElkGroveDan
post Nov 30 2011, 03:46 PM
Post #50


Senior Member
****

Group: Admin
Posts: 4763
Joined: 15-March 05
From: Glendale, AZ
Member No.: 197



The next images we'll see from MSL will likely be from MARDI.


--------------------
If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
eoincampbell
post Nov 30 2011, 04:19 PM
Post #51


Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 399
Joined: 28-August 07
From: San Francisco
Member No.: 3511



QUOTE (MahFL @ Nov 30 2011, 05:52 AM) *
...I just read that the hand lens imager can take pics and movies...

Could you provide a link ? I think Doug mentioned this before. I've only read that MAHLI would do time-lapse type frames...


--------------------
'She drove until the wheels fell off...'
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
djellison
post Nov 30 2011, 04:40 PM
Post #52


Founder
****

Group: Chairman
Posts: 14431
Joined: 8-February 04
Member No.: 1



QUOTE (pospa @ Nov 30 2011, 06:22 AM) *
Also VERY cool would be any MAHLI picture from inside of the spacecraft during the cruise phase ... as was done with Phoenix RAC camera.
Do we know if MSL team has intention to do such a test shot?


Don't know if they plan to - but I would have thought they would... inflight-cal is a useful post-launch checkout. I wouldn't expect them to actuate the lens cover - but they could certainly power up the white-light LED's and take a picture inside the backshell. It would, I think, show the steering actuator for the front left wheel in its stowed position.

QUOTE (Explorer1 @ Nov 29 2011, 09:57 PM) *
Is the cruise stage's spin in real-time?
Great attention to detail if so!


No - it's canned at 2rpm ( the nominal cruise spin rate) Remember, 'Eyes...' uses a combination of predicted and reconstructed data. Getting 'live' data thru from a flight project in these ITAR laden times is a mountain that even I'm not even going to attempt.

QUOTE (MahFL @ Nov 30 2011, 04:13 AM) *
I am not sure how accurate the model is but it looks like there is only one thruster jet on the cruise stage for course corrections, I would have thought 2 would be more reliable.


Using this image as reference:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/msl/20111110/pia15026-43.jpg

Assuming you meant the thruster at about 5 O'clock...that's not a thruster you're looking at. That's the star-tracker.

There are 8 thrusters - two clusters of 4. In that image they are at about 1 O'clock and 7 O'clock, covered with a red remove before flight fixture. They're tiny.


QUOTE (eoincampbell @ Nov 30 2011, 08:19 AM) *
Could you provide a link ? I think Doug mentioned this before. I've only read that MAHLI would do time-lapse type frames...


If you google MAHLI. The very first link takes you to the MSSS page that includes a link to 'reference material'.
Documents like this : http://www.msss.com/msl/mahli/references/E...l_MarsMicro.pdf : and this : http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2009/pdf/1197.pdf should fill you in. I've heard annecdotal comments that using MAHLI for DD surveys is possible, as it's the widest FOV camera (apart from MARDI, which obviously isn't going to be looking for DD's) with the movie ability. Mastcam 34 is roughly Pancam FOV, and Mastcam 100 about 1/3rd of that - whereas MAHLI is, if my math is right - about 30 x 23 deg FOV. The question would be - is it worth the large energy spend to move the arm into an elevated position for such a survey. It's not something I'd expect to see happening early on, that's for sure.

D
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Deimos
post Nov 30 2011, 04:50 PM
Post #53


Martian Photographer
***

Group: Members
Posts: 352
Joined: 3-March 05
Member No.: 183



http://msl-scicorner.jpl.nasa.gov/Instruments/MAHLI/

Search down to "video". The 4 cameras (2 mastcam detector+electronics assemblies + MAHLI + MARDI) have common detectors and electronics, and thus many of the same capabilities--the filters on the mastcam and the capabilities enabled by their location on the rover being the obvious exceptions.

There are a lot of ideas to take advantage of this and the general ability to focus out to infinity. We'll have to figure out which are operationally feasible given the other desires for rover activities.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
MarsEngineer
post Nov 30 2011, 04:57 PM
Post #54


Junior Member
**

Group: Members
Posts: 89
Joined: 25-January 06
Member No.: 661



QUOTE (djellison @ Nov 30 2011, 08:40 AM) *
There are 8 thrusters - two clusters of 4. In that image they are at about 1 O'clock and 7 O'clock, covered with a red remove before flight fixture. They're tiny.

D


Doug has it right. The two thruster clusters on either side of the cruise stage used by MSL are nearly exactly the same used on Mars Pathfinder and MER.

Each thruster can provide about a pound of push when needed. This configuration is very handy (if I do say so myself wink.gif ) for doing "balanced" turns(*) that do not impart unwanted changes in the trajectory. Considering MSL is so big compared with these other mars missions, it is amazing that these little thrusters are all we need to keep the solar arrays pointed roughly to the sun and the antennas roughly toward the Earth. It is even more amazing that they can also refine MSL's flight path to stay on course (obviously MSL's TCMs take more time to accelerate the same amount as MER or MPF because MSL is several times more massive).

* we use the word "turn" to denote a rotation of the vehicle, not a left or right turn of the flight path. The latter we call TCMs - trajectory correction maneuvers.

-Rob

PS Doug, Nice tool!!!!!
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
john_s
post Nov 30 2011, 05:21 PM
Post #55


Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 696
Joined: 3-December 04
From: Boulder, Colorado, USA
Member No.: 117



I love the idea of the rover doing an "arms-length self portrait" like we all do with our point-and-shoots. In color too! That will be something to look forward to (one of many things).

John
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
djellison
post Nov 30 2011, 05:23 PM
Post #56


Founder
****

Group: Chairman
Posts: 14431
Joined: 8-February 04
Member No.: 1



It took all the way until working on the MSL animation that I learned how TCM's are done when you're still spinning at 2rpm smile.gif It's very elegant! It's like a brother on a merry-go-round trying to kick his sister each time he spins past her smile.gif

It's why I wanted to have something more than '8 months later' - we cut it down a bit for the finished thing, earlier we had a burn from each cluster, at the same point in the rotation - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=playe...boyXQuUIw#t=41s
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
climber
post Nov 30 2011, 06:18 PM
Post #57


Senior Member
****

Group: Members
Posts: 2917
Joined: 14-February 06
From: Very close to the Pyrénées Mountains (France)
Member No.: 682



I noticed on a previous video that legs extended and rétros fired BEFORE been released from the parachutte! The link you provide here is both More recent and accurate.


--------------------
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
djellison
post Nov 30 2011, 07:25 PM
Post #58


Founder
****

Group: Chairman
Posts: 14431
Joined: 8-February 04
Member No.: 1



Actually - the descent stage thrusters do start before sep from the backshell, but only at about 1%, so you wouldn't see anything.

The earlier animation was accurate at the time it was made. The decision to release the mobility system later in the sequence came between the old animation and the new one. (and during production of the new animation we were chasing the change from a hard drop, to a soft release and back to a hard drop..which is what we ended up with)
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
john_s
post Nov 30 2011, 07:38 PM
Post #59


Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 696
Joined: 3-December 04
From: Boulder, Colorado, USA
Member No.: 117



That "hard drop", with the rover falling out of the backshell in free-fall before the engines kick in, is the scariest part of the animation IMHO. I assume the purpose is to get some safe distance between the rover and the backshell.

And though it's been said many times before, it bears repeating- that's a fabulous piece of movie-making.

John
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
climber
post Nov 30 2011, 07:53 PM
Post #60


Senior Member
****

Group: Members
Posts: 2917
Joined: 14-February 06
From: Very close to the Pyrénées Mountains (France)
Member No.: 682



I read, where?, that, as soon as released, Curiosity performs a manoeuver to put a safe distance between backshell? and parachutte? Can't really notice in the movie...or didn't look properly. Can you confirm this, Doug?


--------------------
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post

13 Pages V  « < 2 3 4 5 6 > » 
Closed TopicStart new topic

 



RSS Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 30th March 2024 - 05:21 AM
RULES AND GUIDELINES
Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting.

IMAGE COPYRIGHT
Images posted on UnmannedSpaceflight.com may be copyrighted. Do not reproduce without permission. Read here for further information on space images and copyright.

OPINIONS AND MODERATION
Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators.
SUPPORT THE FORUM
Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member.