Printable Version of Topic

Posted by: elakdawalla Nov 19 2011, 09:35 PM

Admin: A few posts moved from the http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=4667&st=120&start=120 thread.

Someone MUST animate this. Or else I'm going to lose an entire evening doing it myself.....

Posted by: Juramike Nov 19 2011, 11:53 PM

Why do the rovers always have to be "cute"? MSL is a definite bad boy rover if there ever was one.

Posted by: Ant103 Nov 20 2011, 01:16 AM

The best I can do. Only with Gimp and the help of a gif of Encyclopediadramatica.

I know someone can do better.

Posted by: stevesliva Nov 20 2011, 02:11 AM

Someone work in both Star Trek and Star Wars. Doug will be thrilled.

Posted by: Decepticon Nov 20 2011, 03:18 AM

Jonny 5?

Posted by: stevesliva Nov 20 2011, 04:04 AM

Niiiice. FTW.

Posted by: Astro0 Nov 20 2011, 11:52 AM

Lost a few hours putting it together for you Emily.

Image capture below - Youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuej98hKBHU


ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOROVER!

Posted by: PFK Nov 20 2011, 12:56 PM

Absolutely! Curiosity killed the cat!

Posted by: Stu Nov 20 2011, 03:19 PM

Genius.

Posted by: Juramike Nov 20 2011, 04:16 PM

Ah yes: The "Homestake Maneuver"

Posted by: Astro0 Nov 20 2011, 11:08 PM

Some time ago elkgrovedan, myself and others produced a series of artworks of MSL as if they were done by famous artists like vanGogh, DaVinci and others.
You can see some of those over on my Twitter feed and MSL picked them up for their Facebook page.

Here's another one inspired over the weekend.

Posted by: Juramike Nov 21 2011, 01:30 AM

Posted by: nprev Nov 21 2011, 01:40 AM

All right, dammit...THAT was funny!!!!

(All glory, etc... )

Posted by: elakdawalla Nov 22 2011, 06:05 AM

OK, All Glory wasn't quite what I imagined so I made my own version. It lacks sound though. Can anybody put some http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHU2RlSCdxU&feature=related on this? Running at least a minute? In a format I can upload to Youtube? Fame and glory will be yours forever. I might have put in too many tween frames -- I'm wondering if I should throw out every other frame. The second version has only half as many frames.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Nov 22 2011, 05:20 PM

Time to inject a little misery into this funny thread...

Let's hope this doesn't happen... there's still time to check!

Phil

Posted by: PFK Nov 22 2011, 06:56 PM

On the subject of posters and sci-fi

Posted by: nprev Nov 22 2011, 07:51 PM

Okay, you guys...understand this is a "humor" thread, but let's at least keep it focused on MSL.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Nov 22 2011, 08:20 PM

MSL is in that last poster... but not immediately obvious... like all good movie monsters it's trying to get a date.

Phil

Posted by: stewjack Nov 22 2011, 08:27 PM

I had to look at it a second time. Subtle but excellent!

Posted by: Decepticon Nov 22 2011, 08:32 PM

One more..

Posted by: nprev Nov 22 2011, 08:52 PM

...okay, got it, Phil. But let's be careful out here...

Posted by: Fran Ontanaya Nov 28 2011, 01:56 PM

Apparently somebody at Caltech/JPL has this hung in her office.
http://imgur.com/gallery/2hePd

Posted by: Robert S Nov 30 2011, 11:19 AM

LOLOLOLOL. I love that Caltech/JPL picture!

Posted by: Oersted Feb 25 2012, 05:32 PM

In the supermarket today, I thought I saw a Mars Lander cheese... Is that a sign that I am an incorregible space nerd? I guess so..

.

Posted by: tasp Feb 25 2012, 10:38 PM

Had to look at that 3 times. Wow, had me going there!


Great find!!

Posted by: brellis Feb 25 2012, 11:49 PM

I can haz MAAS? lol

Posted by: Eutectic Feb 26 2012, 07:41 AM

Maas Lander would also work for Dan Maas, the fellow who did the classic MER video:

http://www.maasdigital.com/gallery.html

Posted by: jamescanvin Feb 27 2012, 08:53 AM

Deja Vu - http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=6499

Posted by: Oersted Feb 27 2012, 10:46 PM

Hah, that's funny, I wasn't the first then..

Well, it will be a good cheese to go with the peanuts when MSL lands...

Posted by: Astro0 Jul 27 2012, 11:51 AM

Just to inject a little light heartedness into the mission, I thought it might be fun to let you see a little video I made.

Curiosity: This is not the droid you're looking for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCHjKecA6cI

Don't forget to also follow Curiosity the Rover on Twitter @KillerCuriosity
https://twitter.com/KillerCuriosity

Posted by: brellis Jul 27 2012, 10:50 PM

That's really funny! and very well done! hahaha!

Posted by: Holder of the Two Leashes Aug 1 2012, 06:10 PM

And when Curiosity wakes back up and starts poking around, we finally find out what REALLY happened to Spirit!

Posted by: MarsEngineer Aug 2 2012, 01:34 AM

I could not resist sharing the "Curiosity: This is not the droid you're looking for." video with the team.

Very funny.

-Rob

Posted by: James Sorenson Aug 2 2012, 04:14 AM

Brilliant!

Posted by: bigdipper Aug 3 2012, 02:00 AM

I searched this forum and couldn't find the Shatner/Wheaton "Grand Entrance" videos in which William Shatner and Wil Wheaton narrate "7 Minutes of Terror" (kind of like changing the voice on your GPS from American English to British English)

To view the "Grand Entrance" videos with the Star Trek voice-overs.

http://go.nasa.gov/N7eV2N
http://go.nasa.gov/N7f8D8
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/jul/HQ_12-258_Shatner_and_Wheaton_Curiosity_Video.html

Posted by: climber Aug 3 2012, 06:39 AM

Less than 1 Million kms to go, less than 72 hours to go, please RUI switch from hibernating to EDL mode

Posted by: climber Aug 3 2012, 08:01 AM

So, they'll know 14 minutes before us whether or not the landing was sucessfull

Posted by: Gladstoner Aug 5 2012, 08:36 AM

.

Posted by: brellis Aug 5 2012, 09:58 AM

guffaw! hahahHAHAhaa!

Posted by: kwan3217 Aug 5 2012, 03:40 PM

Nuclear Powered Laser Armed Martian Killer Deathbot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIdBbBMO7BI

Posted by: stewjack Aug 5 2012, 04:13 PM

Extremely well done!

Posted by: bkellysky Aug 5 2012, 05:04 PM

I didn't see a cheerleading thread, so in the spirit of the Olympics: Curiosity - stick that landing!

Posted by: Oersted Aug 5 2012, 09:45 PM

To show that there's a whole world out here, and that we're all behind the MSL team, I suggest we

Post our Peanuts!

- These are mine. It is not that I'm old school, but these were the only ones I could find just before midnight in the little town of Ermesinde, outside of Porto in Portugal, where I'm visiting my in-laws.

Go MSL!

Posted by: ustrax Aug 6 2012, 01:22 AM

Just heard that there is some sort of party going on here? Brought some wine. Red.

Posted by: nprev Aug 6 2012, 01:37 AM

Rui!!!! Good to see ya, man!

Posted by: lyford Aug 6 2012, 01:38 AM

I was flying this weekend, and so saved my peanuts... I had a safe landing, so I am cheering for MSL to have one too!

Posted by: lyford Aug 6 2012, 01:39 AM

RUI is here!!!!! And yes RED wine is being opened...

Posted by: dvandorn Aug 6 2012, 02:15 AM

De-lurking for the evening to wish good luck and Godspeed to all those involved with tonight's landing. (As bkellysky noted, in the absence of a cheerleading thread, I decided to add my best wishes here.)

BTW -- anyone have a good timeline hack on when to open up my bag of mission peanuts? That would have been a good event to have on the EDL portion of the Eyes sim.

-the other Doug

Posted by: lyford Aug 6 2012, 02:35 AM

Not sure when the right moment is, but I found at least 3 jars of Planter's peanuts inhttp://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/110926

(Apologies if it has been posted already in another thread...)

Posted by: kwan3217 Aug 6 2012, 03:40 AM

Reporting in from the watch party at LASP at the University of Colorado

Posted by: mchan Aug 6 2012, 03:59 AM

oDoug...now that's a name I haven't seen in a long time. Good to see you are alive and well and joining the party.

Cheers from another lurker.

Posted by: nprev Aug 6 2012, 04:09 AM

Just a note; the stream thread has been temporarily closed to redirect comments to the EDL thread.

Not gonna close this one just yet, but please put comments regarding EDL over there; thanks!

Posted by: Skyrunner Aug 6 2012, 04:12 AM

I'd say...start on the hour to beat the communications delay and Cruise Stage Sepp. There is a link to a timeline in the pinned faq thread

Posted by: nprev Aug 6 2012, 04:14 AM

Temporarily closed...let's all go over to the EDL thread.

GO CURIOSITY!!!!

Posted by: ElkGroveDan Aug 6 2012, 04:15 AM

Good to see you again o-Doug.

Posted by: CosmicRocker Aug 6 2012, 07:40 AM

Hey, dvandorn. Good to see you back. You've been missed.

I was sent https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-VMJU0ZYPuws/UB7KbNup8-I/AAAAAAAAESA/EvL9Moxx4v4/s730/IMG_20120805_142721.jpg today, and it was purported to be something else that might improve the odds tonight. It looks like NASA/JPL were successful. Yay!

Posted by: Drkskywxlt Aug 6 2012, 12:03 PM

Don't tell me what happened! NBC is tape-delaying the landing for primetime tonight

Posted by: Astro0 Aug 6 2012, 12:47 PM

Feeling tired? Late for work today?
Here's your excuse.

http://xkcd.com/1091/

Got Guilt?
http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1724.html

Posted by: kwan3217 Aug 6 2012, 08:46 PM

So, now that Curiosity has landed, it's no longer a spacecraft, right? It certainly isn't involved in unmanned spaceflight, since it is no longer flying. So, UMSF's coverage will be wrapping up soon, I suppose. All that's left to do is get the MEDLI and MARDI data down, which recorded the end of the flight.

Posted by: nprev Aug 6 2012, 09:10 PM

You're absolutely right. I'm gonna go close all them pesky MSL threads right now...

Posted by: Oersted Aug 6 2012, 10:16 PM

@ kwan

Posted by: punkboi Aug 6 2012, 10:51 PM

Don't know if this has already been posted, but check out this funny Twitter page for a disgruntled Mars rover

https://twitter.com/SarcasticRover


(Beware of some language!)

Posted by: centsworth_II Aug 7 2012, 12:08 AM

A fun exchange between Sarcastic Rover and Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher).

Posted by: centsworth_II Aug 7 2012, 12:19 AM

I hope Gale crater and Curiosity get along better than this!

Posted by: RoverDriver Aug 7 2012, 05:18 AM

This is hilarious!

Paolo

Posted by: Robert S Aug 7 2012, 06:39 AM

Hahahaha, truly hilarious! Wil Wheaton have a great sense of humor!

Posted by: Gladstoner Aug 7 2012, 08:32 AM

.

Posted by: Astro0 Aug 7 2012, 08:43 AM

I kind of wonder if Opportunity now knows how Spirit felt when she stole all the limelight from her twin sister over in Gusev.

Posted by: Robert S Aug 7 2012, 01:19 PM

Poor Oppy! But she still going strong! She have lived for SO MANY YEARS, so she will continue impress us anyway!

Posted by: Oersted Aug 7 2012, 01:35 PM

Hey, maybe she will outlast Curiosity! - As long as the sun shines on Mars...

Posted by: Arkarch Aug 7 2012, 01:48 PM

Old Ad from HP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AoAJOF5GVQ

Posted by: bigdipper Aug 8 2012, 02:31 PM

Excellent.

So, it's the Martians stitching the mosaics, not UMSF.

I'd love to see a Curiosity mashup of this Pathfinder classic.

Posted by: Tesheiner Aug 8 2012, 02:40 PM

Just got a message from an old UMSFer.
Check Goggle's doodle on Aug 6th: http://www.google.com/doodles/javelin-2012

Posted by: bigdipper Aug 8 2012, 03:03 PM

Was that the original August 6th doodle or did they process the image to remove the saturation from the stadium lights?

Actually:

"The doodle originally featured just the javelin thrower with a blimp above him, but updated to show Curiosity."
http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/06/google-doodle-pays-subtle-homage-to-mars-rover-curiosity/

Posted by: Doc Aug 8 2012, 03:21 PM

Wow! Just when I thought Google had decided to ignore Curiosity! I should have looked more closely.

Posted by: bigdipper Aug 8 2012, 05:25 PM

When you looked, it may not have been there to see.

Here's a grab of the earlier goodle doodle showing the blimp that was replaced by Curiosity. I'm guessing they were hedging their bets since I don't think we would have seen a doodle of Curiosity Crater had EDL failed.

http://merovee.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/blimp.jpg?w=594

Overstating the obvious, the updated August 6 doodle was reminiscent of Her Majesty's entrance during the opening ceremonies.

Posted by: brellis Aug 8 2012, 06:45 PM

omg SarcasticRover is superb! hahaha!!

Posted by: Oersted Aug 8 2012, 07:09 PM

I love this pic taken one millisecond before mayhem descended on Mission Control:



- If this pic cannot make you happy nothing can!

Posted by: bigdipper Aug 8 2012, 07:54 PM

Great picture!

I think its time to change the subhead on this thread to read "...while we wait for some serious science/images/inspirational poetry..."

Posted by: Reckless Aug 9 2012, 02:52 PM

It's happened before. Cookie monster

Posted by: avkillick Aug 9 2012, 05:28 PM

So bad it's funny department. Therefore I'm posting to this thread.

NBC had 'breaking news' on Tuesday! about the Curiosity landing. I guess the Olympics is not the only thing they cover on tape delay.

http://broadcaster.msnbc.msn.com/dm?id=B115ADAF51528295629ADFD89FB96E04

Posted by: RoverDriver Aug 9 2012, 06:59 PM

And it is not they were not here, They had the local Channel4 news truck and a humongous satellite-ready truck. Speaking of news trucks, by Sol 3 (Wed 8/8) all of the TV trucks were gone.

Paolo

Posted by: JayB Aug 9 2012, 07:34 PM

not sure if this an appropriate place for this but check out http://arstechnica.com/

Siemens has a neat "proud to support MSL" ad on the home page which times in with an animation of the descent stage flying all over the Ars homepage

Posted by: elakdawalla Aug 9 2012, 08:33 PM

This morning there was one remaining truck that was unlabeled. I think that was probably the Japanese TV crew, who presumably rented a truck locally.

Posted by: Pando Aug 9 2012, 08:53 PM

It's the MSL Muppet Show with a very special guest star...!

(not sure what Muppet this is, but he sure is trying to hold on to something...)

Posted by: stevesliva Aug 9 2012, 09:27 PM

I turned off Adblock just to watch. Cute, but it also reminds me why I used Adblock.

Posted by: PFK Aug 10 2012, 10:40 PM

Knowing it would be buoyed by its recent success, NASA have just downloaded the first rather grainy thumbnail from the hitherto secret SMUGCAM, which aims to assess the overall state of the rover by accessing its deepest levels of "pride", the extent to which it's "ready to go" and what it thinks it's capable of. The results thus far are encouraging:

Posted by: bigdipper Aug 12 2012, 04:13 AM

Sunday dinner one week after Curiosity's successful landing, I remember Adam Steltzner's 2004 instruction on how to celebrate a successful Rover EDL [from Oppy's landing in which he was mechanical systems lead.]

1) Drink
2) Take a picture
3) Go _together_ to the press conference [if there are no press around your dining room table, the kids will do for Q&A]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGTuvaWUmtw
quick toast at 15:45, instructions at 15:57, and 16:54 reminiscence "how can anything match this"

To Curiosity's first Earth week on Mars and many more to come. Cheers.

Posted by: Jaro_in_Montreal Aug 13 2012, 12:01 AM

Robot Emilian asks "http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=451448988211290&set=a.446155282073994.97747.100000385781211&type=3" (...in Czech)

This is an adaptation from a 1960s series of kids' discovery books illustrated by Jaroslav Malák.
It inspired a whole generation of scintists and engineers, just as Curiosity is doing for the current generation of kids.
More "http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.446155282073994.97747.100000385781211&type=3" book covers.

Posted by: JTN Aug 13 2012, 09:45 PM

The suspense is killing me.

Posted by: Oersted Aug 13 2012, 11:37 PM

"Restore to Clean Room" :-)

Posted by: Fran Ontanaya Aug 14 2012, 01:18 AM

Yup.

Posted by: Errol Coder Aug 14 2012, 01:54 AM

When I first saw the concept art before realizing the location of the Mastcams and Hazcams, my first reaction was that we were sending a Cyclops to Mars because of the Chemcam

Posted by: dot.dk Aug 14 2012, 08:56 PM

From this Spaceflightnow article: http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/msl/120814software/

They really upped the resolution of HiRISE recently?

Posted by: Astro0 Aug 15 2012, 12:28 AM

I knew that someone would do this eventually.

Harks back to the old TV commercial for a color printer using a Sojourner-like rover.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYzM1M1X790

Posted by: mrpotatomoto Aug 15 2012, 01:32 AM

ADMIN: Post edited to include image as thumbnail rather than as an inline file.
Can all members please remember http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?act=boardrules.

Posted by: Astro0 Aug 15 2012, 07:04 AM

I love a rover with a good sense of humor and can thrown in movie lines references.

Posted by: stewjack Aug 15 2012, 08:52 PM

IMO: This is the best, or at least the most over the top, MSL humor video.

This appears to be a professionally done video. A lot of talent and experience. Particularly compared to the average uTube video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFvNhsWMU0c

I don't think this has been posted before. However. I apologize if I am late with this link.

Posted by: Decepticon Aug 16 2012, 01:38 AM

WOW!


Sic!

Posted by: nprev Aug 16 2012, 02:14 AM

Outstanding!!!!

Posted by: Zeehond Aug 16 2012, 02:28 AM

Heh, pretty nice. The video is well made, poor Theisinger. I think the music could have been a bit more interesting, but all in all, it is a hilarious clip. I wonder if SpaceX is going to respond with a similar video.

Posted by: climber Aug 16 2012, 05:41 AM

That was fast!
So, at least Mastcam is a "she".

Posted by: Stu Aug 18 2012, 01:53 PM

N165, the rock selected to be the laser's first target, is now Tweeting from Mars...

https://twitter.com/N165Mars

This isn't going to end well...

(see also http://galegazette.wordpress.com/2012/08/18/making-plans on my "Gale Gazette" blog)

Posted by: Burmese Aug 19 2012, 12:01 PM

http://parislemon.com/post/29647917965/laughingsquid-nasas-doing-something-right

Posted by: Stu Aug 19 2012, 02:37 PM

First post-lasering image of N165 is now down...

Posted by: CosmicRocker Aug 20 2012, 05:20 AM

That was pretty good. Especially the Mohawk Guy.



Apparently it didn't end well.

Posted by: AndyG Aug 20 2012, 10:08 AM

Not humour, so much - but for those of us without a spare couple of billion dollars, http://rebrickable.com/files/instructions/MOC-0271/LEGO-MSL-Instructions-20120723.pdf.

Andy

Posted by: Explorer1 Aug 22 2012, 06:23 PM

The "We're NASA and we know it" is on NASATV right now...

Posted by: malgar Aug 23 2012, 03:14 PM

RoverDriver, please explain to the forum the meaning of this

Posted by: Paolo Aug 23 2012, 05:10 PM

ahah!!! I got it! well, I'm Italian with 1(4 of my blood from Trento

Posted by: climber Aug 23 2012, 05:18 PM

50% Piacenza here!
Regarding Mt Sharp looking like Polenta, I put it here in the humor thread:
Cuando si pianta la bella polenta.. la bella polenta si pianta cosi!!
la la la
Quando se planta a bela polenta, a bela polenta se planta assim!!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nisfL47OCw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Posted by: RoverDriver Aug 23 2012, 06:15 PM

This is quite funny. Atesina is the company name of the public transportation system in my hometown (BTW I *was* an employee when I was in high school). The sign reads "do no speak to the driver Paolo Bellutta, inter-city line Rovereto-Gale. Rovereto is the name of my hometown. Really, ROVEReto. ;-)

Paolo

Posted by: Oersted Aug 24 2012, 11:19 PM

Voi polentoni siete diventato marciani!

Posted by: Burmese Aug 25 2012, 08:29 PM

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/shouts/2012/08/ask-curiosity.html?mobify=0

Curiosity advice column (ala Ann Landers)

(As spotted on Scott Maxwell's Twitter)

Posted by: Jaro_in_Montreal Aug 26 2012, 02:54 PM

Posted by: TheAnt Aug 27 2012, 01:33 PM

Finally found the time to add my own piece of silliness.

This one found on http://jalopnik.com/5931724/live-from-nasa-blogging-the-curiosity-mars-rover-landing

Posted by: mrpotatomoto Aug 28 2012, 02:46 PM

Looks like Tatooine...

Posted by: markril Sep 9 2012, 01:26 AM

I'm thinking Imperial Interrogation Droid here, anybody else?



Full size:

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/proj/msl/redops/ods/surface/sol/00032/opgs/edr/ncam/NRA_400335692EDR_F0040000NCAM00107M_.JPG

Mark

Posted by: neo56 Sep 9 2012, 10:37 AM

Curiosity has found a new friend on Mars

Posted by: Astro0 Sep 15 2012, 08:24 AM

Funny headlines about Curiosity (and Oppy) on http://www.fark.com

"Mars rover Opportunity finds strange small spheres that are "crunchy on the outside, softer in the middle." Further tests will determine if they retain their crunchiness in milk "

"Mars rover Curiosity has a 1909 penny on board, just to confuse the hell out of future space archaeologists"

"Curiosity's wheels spell a name in the Mars' sand. Oddly enough, it's not 'Howard Wolowitz' "

Posted by: Astro0 Sep 16 2012, 02:44 AM

A little more MSL humor on http://www.cosmicalcomic.com/

Posted by: Burmese Sep 22 2012, 08:25 PM

on Twitter:

Curoisity Rover ‏@MarsCuroisity

NASA HAVE UPDATED ME TO iOS 6. APPARENTLY I'M NOW IN NORWAY.

Posted by: Joffan Sep 22 2012, 08:34 PM

I have an idea of what made Jake the interesting shape it is...

(of course, it should be a red-rock eater...)

Posted by: Tesheiner Sep 22 2012, 09:27 PM

ROTF!

Posted by: Astro0 Sep 24 2012, 06:59 AM

Thought this was funny.

Posted by: vikingmars Sep 24 2012, 10:43 AM

Now, for sure, we saw Martians....

Posted by: Oersted Sep 24 2012, 10:53 PM

Also made me think of

Posted by: jmknapp Sep 24 2012, 11:14 PM

At least Jake gives MSL a place to hide its spare keys.

Posted by: fredk Sep 24 2012, 11:43 PM

Or for Dr Who fans:

Posted by: Astro0 Sep 24 2012, 11:45 PM

"Are you my mummy MSL?" 8o

Posted by: Ant103 Sep 25 2012, 12:40 PM

Great Fredk

A comic strip inspired by Sol48 Navcams

http://www.db-prods.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/JakeMatijevic_strip.jpg

A bit of humor, an yet a bit of sadness.

Posted by: Ant103 Oct 4 2012, 11:30 AM

One of the last Navcam inspired me this image macro. This is a meme, so the mistake is voluntary.

Posted by: Astro0 Oct 11 2012, 01:00 PM

Curiosity and Angry Birds - a match made in Martian heaven!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh1ziN4RUZQ

Posted by: Stu Oct 11 2012, 07:52 PM

Announcing the guest ale at the first martian beer festival...

Posted by: Pando Oct 11 2012, 08:13 PM

^ in other words, it's the Gale Ale!

Posted by: Ant103 Oct 11 2012, 10:07 PM

Simply grat Stu

My Little Mody :

http://fav.me/d3jss99

Understand who can

Posted by: Pando Oct 12 2012, 05:58 AM

When rock scientists get bored...

Posted by: EdTruthan Oct 16 2012, 06:05 PM

Another working day at Rocknest...

http://www.edtruthan.com/mars/Another-Day-At-Rocknest-V2.jpg

Edit: Just substituted the second "coffee" for "fresh ground"... duh... how'd I miss that pun the first time? The original is still available http://www.edtruthan.com/mars/Another-Day-At-Rocknest.jpg.

Posted by: Astro0 Oct 17 2012, 12:48 PM

Not Curiosity humor, but meanwhile on the other side of the planet -
Opportunity proves you can't get away from 'Psy' and that darn song, even on Mars!!!

Sorry, I had to do it

Posted by: centsworth_II Oct 18 2012, 06:48 AM

Colorized using pancam data and sharpened to bring out details in specimen on sample tray. No other alterations made.
Original image linked by Explorer1 in the MSL at Glenelg thread (Post #248)

Posted by: brellis Oct 18 2012, 08:19 AM

Any way you slice it, that's a great image!

Posted by: Pando Oct 18 2012, 07:33 PM

The original image looks more like a fish!

Posted by: ToSeek Oct 21 2012, 11:50 PM

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/345956/title/The_Science_Life

Posted by: climber Oct 22 2012, 07:15 PM

After exploring Glenelg, scientists decided to push further East to reach for some hills identified by UNMSFers as "Islands".
On sol 399, Curiosity reached the top of one of these Islands which as been named Arica after a city in Northern Chile (where I am right now but that's another story...)
Here is the current view on Sol 400.
Enjoy

Posted by: Astro0 Oct 23 2012, 12:34 PM

They arrived in my mailbox today and I shall call them:
Larry, Moe and Curie

Posted by: Astro0 Oct 31 2012, 11:12 PM

The happiest child on Halloween!

I wonder if he got any rock candy!

Posted by: ups Nov 2 2012, 07:51 PM

Does anyone know the name of the little guy driving Curiosity?

Posted by: Zelenyikot Nov 5 2012, 05:37 AM

This is not a little guy...

Posted by: MrNatural Nov 6 2012, 11:29 PM

This is not LOL funny but I got a smile out of it:

Before EDL JPL produced this delightful video describing the MSL mission. What I found interesting is that JPL found a narrator that sounds somewhat like Dr. Carol Marcus from The Wrath of Khan (when she is describing the Genesis Project):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUQ91fdYbP4

Here is Dr Carol Marcus (poor quality alas):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tsr-XtuKuSw

Posted by: ups Nov 8 2012, 04:31 AM

Red or Blue?

Posted by: Zelenyikot Nov 8 2012, 01:20 PM

You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes

Posted by: Robert S Nov 16 2012, 06:01 PM

Got a nice gift from my wife to me and my child. Two T-shirts that say "Follow your Curiosity"

Just wanted to share

// Robert

ADMIN NOTE: Merged Robert's post into this thread which has been renamed MSL Humor and Other Stuff. Seemed like a good time to expand the topic. If you have any images like these to share which show your support of Curiosity's mission, then please post them here.

Posted by: Zelenyikot Nov 18 2012, 10:36 PM

CSI NASA

Posted by: Stu Nov 20 2012, 11:38 PM

Preparing a blog post on MSL apps for smartphones, but wanted to let people know about this one asap...

"Curiosity Clock"

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rocketrufus.curiosityclock&hl=en

Very simple Android app, just simulates sunrise and sunset from MSL's location, with correct times, angles, sky colour etc...

You can also change viewing locations. And it's just, well, beautiful to look at.

Posted by: djellison Nov 21 2012, 12:32 AM

I'm more a fan of MarsClock. Very very simple, but does the job
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.scottmaxwell.android.marsclock&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsIm9yZy5zY290dG1heHdlbGwuYW5kcm9pZC5tYXJzY2xvY2siXQ..

Posted by: Stu Nov 21 2012, 06:21 AM

I use Scott's app too, of course, but thought Curiosity Clock was very elegant and visually stunning.but you know me, sucker for pretty pictures.

Posted by: Stu Nov 21 2012, 01:57 PM

Round-up of Android MSL-related apps now online...

http://galegazette.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/an-android-on-mars

Posted by: Zelenyikot Nov 25 2012, 08:11 AM

It would be desirable, that there were millions, but while much less. But in all sincerity.
With Thanksgiving Day from Russia

Posted by: Astro0 Nov 28 2012, 09:28 PM

THE BEST THING EVER!!!!

http://youtu.be/bIy6w_iubSs - "Coolest Things to Find"

Based on an Australian public service announcement called "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJNR2EpS0jw"

Posted by: Seryddwr Nov 28 2012, 09:40 PM

I hope to goodness the MSL parody goes viral, if only to get into people's heads that there are rovers on Mars. It's great. (If a little inaccurate for didactic purposes - won't be finding microbes any time soon with the gear on the rover...)

Posted by: Explorer1 Nov 29 2012, 04:22 AM

That's adorable!
But I think Cargo Cult already knows where one of those things is...
Yes, yes, your lips are sealed, etc.

Posted by: eoincampbell Nov 29 2012, 05:13 AM

That's just so Ovaltine & blanket good !

Posted by: Cargo Cult Nov 29 2012, 06:50 AM

Oh crap, I've been spotted!

Ahem. Yes, we do have Nixon kept in the fridge at the office. He does complain.

Posted by: Explorer1 Nov 29 2012, 08:35 AM

Actually I recognized your username a while ago; I played your whole portfolio after all!
Isn't it funny when two unrelated hobbies collide? But since this forum and your old work both involve creatively 'modding' existing data, they're not that unrelated...

Posted by: Zelenyikot Nov 29 2012, 10:23 AM

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2128881_2128882_2129215,00.html

Posted by: stewjack Nov 30 2012, 12:30 AM

This press release has an "interesting" title
http://nasaupdatecenter.us/press.html

Press Releases
November 29, 2012

Mars Rover Curiosity Working At 'Matijevic Hill'
http://nasaupdatecenter.us/press.html

Posted by: Explorer1 Nov 30 2012, 12:59 AM

Yeah, that one almost got me for a couple minutes, since it ended up on Slashdot's RSS.
The domain name gives it away as a clever fake though.
As does the main page....

Posted by: ToSeek Nov 30 2012, 03:39 PM

Yeah, it's a cleverly edited version of this press release: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20120928a.html

Rick Sternbach over on Facebook was briefly fooled by it.

Posted by: Eyesonmars Nov 30 2012, 04:37 PM

I smell an Onion !

Posted by: tdemko Dec 2 2012, 03:08 PM

Here is something a bit more wistful and introspective than the Sarcastic Rover...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=d59EmUtSiTU

Posted by: Skyrunner Dec 8 2012, 03:13 PM

Budget cuts really hitting the Mars program hard...

Posted by: Astro0 Dec 10 2012, 11:15 AM

Not humour, but it's interesting if you replace in your mind the word "curiosity" and think the rover Curiosity in these quotes.

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
Albert Einstein

"I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be Curiosity."
Eleanor Roosevelt

"Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect."
Samuel Johnson, The Rambler

"Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last."
Samuel Johnson, Works of Samuel Johnson

"Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that Curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly. "
Arnold Edinborough

"People say: idle Curiosity. The one thing that Curiosity cannot be is idle."
Leo Rosten

"Curiosity is more important than knowledge."
Albert Einstein

"Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it saved my ass."
Michael J. Fox

"I think I benefited from being equal parts ambitious and curious. And of the two, Curiosity has served me best."
Michael J. Fox

"Curiosity is the one thing invincible in Nature."
Freya Stark

"Learning is by nature Curiosity... prying into everything, reluctant to leave anything, material or immaterial, unexplained."
Alexandrinus Philo

"Satisfaction of one's Curiosity is one of the greatest sources of happiness in life."
Linus Pauling

"There is nothing left of him but Curiosity and a pair of eyes."
Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night

"Curiosity is what separates us from the cabbages. It's accelerative. The more we know, the more we want to know."
David McCullough

"Curiosity is one of the great secrets of happiness."
Bryant McGill

Posted by: Hungry4info Dec 11 2012, 03:11 PM

Some sites are circulating stories about MSL apparently at risk of exploding when it turns its drill on. Where did this come from? Is it, as I'm guessing it is, media hysteria?

http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/19579
http://www.space.com/18834-mars-rover-curiosity-drill-break.html

Posted by: dvandorn Dec 11 2012, 03:22 PM

Yeah, it's mostly media hysteria. The headline on the Cleveland Leader article is factually incorrect, while the space.com article only sensationalizes things a little bit.

From what I've seen, this issue isn't expected to occur until well into an extended mission. It seems the particular bond that, it is suspected, will fail is something that will eventually fail due to repeated use of the drill. A pneumatic drill is subject to a certain level of vibration, after all.

In addition, while both articles called out Rob Manning's description of what an unprotected electrical short could do to MSL's electronics, they relegate to the very end of the article details on a workaround that may completely resolve the issue if/when it does occur.

So, yeah -- mostly media hysteria, I agree.

-the other Doug

Posted by: JayB Dec 11 2012, 07:48 PM

I just finished the book The Martian by Andy Weir http://www.galactanet.com/writing.html

It's about the 3rd manned mission to Mars that goes wrong and strands someone, and his tale of survival. It has pretty good science and engineering content. If it's not exactly plausible, at least it -seems- plausible. (to this non-scientist, non-engineer at least). Also damn funny at times.

In one chapter he drives his manned rover to the Pathfinder landing site and scavenges it for radio parts. The hero also contemplates a drive to get parts from Oppy, but decides it's too far out of the way.

I sent him a letter thanking him for not messing with Oppy

He sent back the following

"The Opportunity thing was something I noticed while working out his path to Schiaparelli. But I couldn't work in in to the plot, so I just had him mention it in passing.

A more interesting tale is Curiosity. Before they selected Gale Crater as its site, they had a short list of four possible sites, one of which was Mawrth Vallis, a canyon Mark Watney traveled right through on his trip. If they had selected Mawrth Vallis, I would have had to rewrite chunks of the story. It would have been ridiculous for him to come within a few kilometers of a probe and not try to use it as a radio.

Fortunately, they chose Gale, which is on the other side of the planet. "

Highly recommend it. (I bought it for .99c on Amazon just to say thanks, but it's free on his website)

Posted by: Ant103 Dec 11 2012, 07:56 PM

I want to share this folder icon I'm using for filing all my images Best fit with Mac OS, but maybe with Windows 7 or 8

Posted by: mshell Dec 12 2012, 03:27 AM

Ant, cool image.

Here it is in Windows .ico format.

 CuriosityFolder.ico ( 168.75K ) : 557

Posted by: walfy Dec 12 2012, 05:36 AM

Posted by: djellison Dec 12 2012, 06:21 AM

That's what Val Kilmer does in Red Planet ( although I think he walks it )

He rips Sojourner open to grab its radio. I was not amused.

Posted by: Explorer1 Dec 12 2012, 08:03 AM

There's also the 'My Favorite Martian' movie from 1999, which shows another Sojourner type's last few seconds of life (with live control from Earth apparently).
No screenshots, but right behind the last rock it sees before shutting down is a gigantic alien metropolis. Eh, go figure. Still remember it 13 years later.

Posted by: JayB Dec 12 2012, 03:09 PM

I'd completely forgotten that movie. (wonder why??) Is that the one with the insane robot dog thing?

I'm less disturbed by that than the fact they aren't wearing helmets.

Posted by: djellison Dec 12 2012, 03:13 PM

They have some story about algae that make the atmosphere a) 100x thicker and breathable.

And yeah - AIMEE the robot that goes a bit psycho on them.

Posted by: Stu Dec 12 2012, 04:00 PM

Rubbish film, but VERY cool robot

Posted by: nprev Dec 13 2012, 02:19 AM

Oh, okay. So all that's needed to streak on Mars is a whole lot of EXTREMELY flatulent algae.

(That type of plot focus might have made for a better movie, actually... )

Posted by: CosmicRocker Dec 14 2012, 06:37 AM

Here's a somewhat humorous, and seasonally appropriate http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/12/caltech-gets-anothers-mars-rover-but-this-ones-gingerbread.html at Caltech's Athenaeum. Although the model is rather lacking in realism, I think we'd have to give the chef an A for effort.

Posted by: Zelenyikot Dec 16 2012, 11:00 PM

Curiosity sends heart

Posted by: centsworth_II Dec 22 2012, 09:39 AM

Been trying to make out what looks like a hastily slapped on bumper sticker...

With thanks to an http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=7535&view=findpost&p=195975 and the JPL MSL landing animation and self portrait.

Posted by: Zelenyikot Dec 28 2012, 02:56 AM

Happy new year from Mars

Posted by: Gerald Dec 29 2012, 11:21 PM

(Edit) Some funny features at Sol 138:

Posted by: Zelenyikot Dec 31 2012, 07:32 PM

Happy new year!

Posted by: Mr Valiant Jan 2 2013, 03:55 PM

Team, I've chose the MSL Humor forum to add my thanks (as I don't want to get in the way of the good science being done on this forum). My first view of Mars, back in 1975, was a tiny, reddish disk, through a 50mm cheap refractor (about 30x), i.e. pre Viking.
Now, I'm presented with...ALL THIS!!!
Wish I could contribute, but as you may agree, just the images alone, reveal something so alien, my contributions would be restricted to Wow, or dare I say Strewth (which I know are frowned upon in the more focused threads).
I just want to say, well done all. The work done here, as with the MERs, will lead to outstanding scientific outcomes.

Posted by: RoverDriver Jan 3 2013, 12:01 AM

Got this in my mailbox:

Posted by: Ant103 Jan 4 2013, 10:57 PM

Excellent RoverDriver

Posted by: nprev Jan 5 2013, 02:41 AM

...HA!!!!!!!!

Posted by: fredk Jan 5 2013, 04:35 PM

Brace yourselves: MSL has turned on its masters and Earth is in chemcam's sights!
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/proj/msl/redops/ods/surface/sol/00148/opgs/edr/ccam/CR0_410628389EDR_F0051902CCAM03148M_.JPG

Posted by: nprev Jan 5 2013, 07:18 PM

I for one welcome our new Martian robot master...

Posted by: dvandorn Jan 5 2013, 07:33 PM

But... where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering kaboom!



-the other Doug

Posted by: Ant103 Jan 18 2013, 10:59 PM

Inspired by the latest MAHLI image that I've had to tilt in order to correct the horizon, I made this

http://www.db-prods.net/blog/2013/01/18/back-in-the-30s/

Posted by: SteveM Jan 19 2013, 03:48 AM

Very nicely done

<editorial quibble> for "Broad to you..." read "Brought to you..." </editorial quibble>

English has such logical spelling

Steve M

Posted by: Ant103 Jan 19 2013, 01:43 PM

Edited

By "broad" I thought about "Broadcast". But yes, "Brought" is better, because of "bringing".

Posted by: Astro0 Jan 21 2013, 06:36 AM

Lots of rock breaking lately....

HAS CURIOSITY BEEN BOMBARDED BY GAMMA RAYS???!!!!!

CURIOSITY SMASH!!!!

Posted by: vikingmars Jan 21 2013, 10:14 AM

...and all the Martians know also well that "for mash get SMASH" !

Posted by: fredk Jan 21 2013, 09:58 PM

Sorry about this guys, I couldn't resist:

Posted by: nprev Jan 21 2013, 10:31 PM

Huh. I didn't know Elvis had green eyes...

Posted by: climber Jan 21 2013, 10:39 PM

Your version of Eyes on the Solar System?

Posted by: Astro0 Jan 30 2013, 03:03 AM

Those ChemCam shots of the drill bit just got me thinking

Posted by: centsworth_II Jan 30 2013, 05:09 AM

I have no idea why the bit looks so... rustic... in the chemcam image. It has a more industrial look in (this crop of) the image posted in http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2013/01290831-curiosity-sol-171-placing-drill.html

Posted by: fredk Jan 30 2013, 05:27 AM

And that pairing of images can only bring to mind another:

Posted by: elakdawalla Jan 30 2013, 06:08 AM

I'll admit its "rustic" appearance in ChemCam has me a little confused too. (I like the word choice!)

Posted by: nprev Jan 31 2013, 12:15 AM

...genius!!!!

Posted by: Astro0 Jan 31 2013, 01:07 AM

Actually, "genius" is what I would apply to Stu's blog related to the drill and my image.
http://galegazette.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/time-to-drill/

He brought the whole idea of the artifacts and what they represent into sharp focus for me.
Recommended reading.

Posted by: nprev Jan 31 2013, 02:28 AM

Indeed.

For some reason, I now feel like I have to go do something worthy...very unnatural emotion for me...

Posted by: iMPREPREX Feb 3 2013, 07:05 PM

This always gets me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mOxQghay9w



And:

Posted by: Art Martin Feb 6 2013, 04:44 PM

Ok, this seems the best spot for this. Has anyone else, in light of those pictures of the strange rock formation where a little pedestal pops up from a rock with two little light colored circles on it, thought that it resembles a satellite dish antenna for some mini Martian house?

Posted by: Airbag Feb 6 2013, 07:29 PM

Here is something a little special; I'm surprised nobody caught this earlier? Sol 174 afternoon mist anaglyph, based on overlapping ML and MR images I (had to use the pointing info to get the right overlap):

Sources:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/00174/mcam/0174ML0936033000D1_DXXX.jpg
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/00174/mcam/0174MR0936032000D1_DXXX.jpg

Airbag

Posted by: stevesliva Feb 6 2013, 07:32 PM

Because I tend to open every thread in a new tab... you got me!

Posted by: Phil Stooke Feb 6 2013, 07:56 PM

Could you do it as a cross-eye pair?

Phil

Posted by: fredk Feb 6 2013, 08:32 PM

Thanks for the anaglyph, Airbag. I'll be sure to make a long-baseline version as soon as we move.

Posted by: Stu Feb 9 2013, 09:47 PM

No matter where you are, or how old you are, digging holes in rocks *never* gets boring, does it?

Posted by: Ant103 Feb 10 2013, 10:23 PM

I didn't know where to say it, but I have something great to tell you .

About 1 week and few days, the Wednesday, I was invited by the team who have designed and build the ChemCam instrument. They offer me the trip by train and the night at the hostel and then I took the train to Toulouse. I came to the CNES (the "french NASA") and they invited me into the control room of Curiosity. I have heard the direct audio conference from the JPL !!! Great moment . And then, I have seen on screen the source code send to Curiosity in order to give her the operations to do in the current sol of this day. I've just assisted ot the begging of the operations. I can remember the live map of Mars with the day rising at Gale. I've never had the feeling to be so close to our favourite rover .

I had some discussion with the Co-responsible of the ChemCam. He said me that they are amaze by my work on the images, and thay want me some pictures to conduct an exhibition at Toulouse campus. 25 images are currently selected, as far as I can recall, and they will be print at a very BIG size, and put around the full scale model of the rover. It's just great. I'd never imagined that two weeks ago. And as bonus point : they will add a new image galery on the official website, filled with some of my work .

Isn't that great ?

Posted by: Zeke4ther Feb 10 2013, 10:29 PM

Congratulations! Damien

Posted by: erwan Feb 11 2013, 12:05 AM

C'est bien mérité Damien !

Posted by: Greenish Feb 11 2013, 03:31 AM

Damien, glad to hear the folks at CNES have an eye for talent. Well deserved and congratulations!

Posted by: Syrinx Feb 11 2013, 06:15 AM

Well deserved. I always enjoy your images, but never take the time to thank you. Now seems appropriate -- thank you!

Posted by: RoverDriver Feb 11 2013, 06:01 PM

Damien, I was RP1 that day! If I had known you were on line I would have said hi! I share the opinion of others that your images are stunning. Next time you are "on shift" send me a PM.

Paolo

Posted by: vikingmars Feb 13 2013, 10:14 AM

And during the sunset event...
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=7591&view=findpost&p=198007

Claude Monet was there, of course...

...and Vincent Van Gogh did a try with his favorite palette : yellow ocher, chrome orange, vermilion, Prussian blue...


Enjoy !

Posted by: Pertinax Feb 13 2013, 07:51 PM

Nice use of DAP

-- Pertinax

Posted by: Astro0 Feb 15 2013, 12:17 PM

Clever interactive 360 panorama with Curiosity centre stage.
http://www.360cities.net/image/mars-panorama-curiosity-solar-day-177#-365.35,15.18,110.0

Posted by: helvick Feb 15 2013, 07:35 PM

Those 360's on a gyro equipped tablet are simply stunning.

Posted by: tdemko Feb 15 2013, 08:19 PM

THAT is worth the price of an iPad! If you don't have a tablet, get to an Apple Store and load this on one of the demonstrators...you may walk out with one!

Posted by: Ant103 Feb 17 2013, 12:33 AM

Yay ! Thanks to Emily, I was published on Planetary Society, as a guest-blog :
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2013/20130214-bouic-cnes.html

Posted by: vikingmars Feb 17 2013, 08:11 PM

CONGRATULATIONS Damien. You deserve it so much and I see that Emily likes your imaging work also very much (as of EdTruthan also) : you are among the very few to have your Mars images able to be selected for TPS' Amateur Space Images by Emily... How nice ! Your work is an enlightement for TPS's site (and also for France : you are the very 1st Frenchman to give a testimony there). Cheers !
You deserve really

Posted by: jmknapp Feb 18 2013, 10:18 AM

Carrying on in the tradition of Georges Méliès!

Posted by: 360pano.eu Feb 20 2013, 08:41 AM

Sensation!

The Curiosity rover finally found life on Mars!

Received first interactive panorama of Martians:
http://www.360cities.net/image/martians-on-mars-panorama#250.80,11.30,56.0

Posted by: vikingmars Feb 20 2013, 11:55 AM

If there is life on Mars, the Dutch will find it !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSQayONh8oU&feature=player_embedded
Yesssss ! That's real life ! Now, have a beer (in moderation) to celebrate !

Posted by: jmknapp Feb 20 2013, 06:31 PM

A funny thing happened on the way to Mt. Sharp:

Roverball (YouTube)

http://curiosityrover.com/gallery/roverball.html

Same sol, different day

Posted by: Phil Stooke Feb 20 2013, 07:16 PM

OK Knapp, you've got way too much free time!

Phil

Posted by: Astro0 Feb 26 2013, 01:13 AM

Sample delivered to SAM and CHEMIN...

Posted by: PFK Feb 27 2013, 08:13 PM

Brilliant! First detection of C₆₀ on Mars!

Posted by: renee Mar 1 2013, 08:06 PM

Believe it or not, this does relate to Curiosity and Curiosity's computers to be specific. I gather cpu scheduling algorithm's differ on Curiosty than they do on earth by commercial operating systems.
I speak primarily of Vax design...and believe me NASA has been a major Vax customer.

Process scheduling was done on a priority basis, Vax had 32 priorities, 0-15 was round-robin within priorities and 16-31 was real-time. Among the scheduled (0-15) priorities we employed round robin scheduling on a priority basis. I/O completion got a slight priority boost. There seems's to be no equivalent on spacecraft and I wonder how things are scheduled? The OS is bound to have a name? Scheduling algorithms have to be described someplace?

Renee

Posted by: mcaplinger Mar 1 2013, 08:09 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_embedded_computer_systems_on_board_the_Mars_rovers would be a place to start.

Posted by: renee Mar 1 2013, 10:51 PM

Thank You. Curiosity uses a VXWorks possibly autonomous software. I'm not familiar with this system or it's software.

Renee

Posted by: RoverDriver Mar 1 2013, 11:33 PM

VxWorks is a real time operating system. The software for all three generations of Mars rovers ran under VxWorks. It is a really cool OS.

Paolo

Posted by: nprev Mar 2 2013, 01:47 AM

Random factoid: VXWorks is also the OS for the C-17 aircraft central computers as well as the flight control computers. It is indeed a cool little system.

Posted by: renee Mar 2 2013, 02:15 AM

If VxWorks has a console I would love to explore it.
Renee

Posted by: RoverDriver Mar 2 2013, 02:38 PM

VxWorks does have a console, not by default, but you can rebuild it to include various modules including a terminal console and you can do crazy things like querying or setting a variable, run one of your functions *with* parameter passing... Quite cool. The only drawback is that it is expensive. OK, I'll stop talking about off topic things, sorry admins!

Paolo

Posted by: Phil Stooke Mar 2 2013, 04:14 PM

Phil

Posted by: RoverDriver Mar 2 2013, 04:39 PM

NOT FUNNY!! (actually it is) You know that there are people who call MSL Mars Science LANDER?

Paolo

Posted by: Explorer1 Mar 2 2013, 05:44 PM

Given the current state of things, I'm not surprised. I was gonna make that joke when they finally get moving again!

Posted by: Astro0 Mar 4 2013, 10:37 AM

With the computer issues and the backseat drivers wanting to get back on the road, I thought this a timely reminder

Posted by: ToSeek Mar 4 2013, 03:20 PM

It's not just the Mars rovers - many spacecraft supported here at Goddard use VxWorks.

Posted by: ToSeek Mar 4 2013, 03:22 PM

There was a time when this forum was subtitled "Topics related to the Mars Science Lander, Curiosity". I pointed that out to them, and they corrected it.

Posted by: akuo Mar 5 2013, 01:18 PM

Well, she DID land...

Posted by: Phil Stooke Mar 5 2013, 02:15 PM

And the name isn't "Mars Science Rover" - most labs I know stay in the same place for years!

Phil

Posted by: Ant103 Mar 13 2013, 10:59 PM

Hi,

Back from my trip to Toulouse, where stood an exhibition with some of my pictures This was a great moment, and great to see people beeing fascinated by these landscapes Curiosity (and I, yet), have done.

Some pictures of this exhibition :





I have also managed to do a remake of the rover self-portrait. But here with my 400D in place of the MAHLI, and my arm instead of the robotic arm



You can find more here : http://www.db-prods.net/blog/2013/03/13/cap-sur-mars-lexposition-a-luniversite-paul-sabatier/

To finish, you will remark that the lady standing near the full-scale model rover at the end of my article… is me ! I will not speak more about it here (it's not the place), but you can read this :
http://www.db-prods.net/blog/2013/03/12/mon-prenom-change-je-vous-dois-donc-quelques-explications/ (don't worry, this is written in French and in English). If you want to discuss it, you can PM me, or just post a comment on my blog .

Posted by: Phil Stooke Mar 13 2013, 11:20 PM

Wonderful pictures! Thanks for this. I love the pseudo-MAHLI pictures, very clever!

Phil

Posted by: nprev Mar 14 2013, 03:09 AM

Congratulations, Damia! What an honor!

Posted by: DFinfrock Mar 15 2013, 03:48 AM

You do wonderful work with your image processing. And I know that won't change. Congratulations Damia on the exhibition.

David

Posted by: Juramike Mar 15 2013, 04:22 AM

Congratulations, Damia! That is awesome!

Posted by: dilo Mar 15 2013, 05:48 AM

Congratulations also for breathtaking "terrestrial" pictures in your Blog, Damia! I like them very much...

Posted by: serpens Mar 15 2013, 10:16 PM

Congratulations Damia - on both counts.

Posted by: centsworth_II Mar 20 2013, 08:04 PM

Tweet from LPSC illustrating why general public sometimes has a problem with science:

Posted by: Thaed Mar 25 2013, 12:35 AM

Posted by: Ant103 Mar 26 2013, 11:03 AM

Thank you for your support Here on this post, and by MPs, this was lovely You guys are great !

Just a note : I have no Internet at home because I'm changing the provider. It will took a few more days before having the Internet back again (I'm writting from a restaurant in town which have WiFi).

Posted by: James Sorenson Mar 31 2013, 05:01 PM

RAWRRRRR!!!!!!!! XP

Posted by: atomoid Apr 4 2013, 01:17 AM

ohhhh, itsa my favorite http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=7591&st=90&p=197540&#entry197540 knob artifact from http://curiosityrover.com/imgpoint.php?name=0173MR0926020000E1_DXXX http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/00173/mcam/0173MR0926020000E1_DXXX.jpg! ..and quite a beautiful rendition, btw!
...what was the official decision with that thing anyways, steam-roll and zap a comp of the exposed interior? we'll never know!

Posted by: stevesliva Apr 16 2013, 09:32 PM

Long article on MSL in the New Yorker:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/04/22/130422fa_fact_bilger

Worth a read if you're patient with flowery explications that might not be entirely correct.

Posted by: atomoid May 23 2013, 01:49 AM

http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MSL/image/00274/NLB_421821158EDR_F0060082NCAM05703M_.html

Posted by: wildespace May 28 2013, 05:00 PM

Curiosity's current target - Cucumberland.

Posted by: Astro0 Jun 6 2013, 11:33 AM

Nice...if not a little wooden

http://www.etsy.com/listing/108101792/curiosity-rover

Posted by: PaulH51 Jun 7 2013, 03:51 PM

Maybe we should order up some arctic grade long johns for Curi?

It appears that it may be getting a tad chilly overnight if we can believer the REMS data from the last couple of reports

Posted by: iMPREPREX Jun 15 2013, 02:11 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWIMQBe47vM

Funny commercial featuring Curiosity.

Posted by: dvandorn Jun 16 2013, 02:17 PM

From the Sol 300 Mastcam pan:

COOOOOOKIE!!!!!!!!!

-the other Doug

Posted by: fredk Jun 16 2013, 03:34 PM

I was thinking more along these lines:

Posted by: centsworth_II Jun 16 2013, 03:43 PM

And I thought this.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jun 16 2013, 03:50 PM

I was thinking of http://www.foodsubs.com/Photos/tacoshell.jpg - must be lunchtime.

Phil

Posted by: dvandorn Jun 16 2013, 06:18 PM

"I know you! You're that Martian landshark!"

"Only a rock, ma'am...."



-the other Doug

Posted by: neo56 Jun 18 2013, 03:21 PM

Have you seen this new game of Bohemia Interactive, "Take On Mars" ? It sounds really great ! You can land your own rover on Mars, drive it (with the time lapse between Earth and Mars if you are really geeky ), zap on rocks, drill them, take photos… (nearly) as with a real rover ! And the landscape and terrains seem pretty well modeled. A must-have !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brQWSvelx1s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHX2ig3dNW8

Posted by: djellison Jun 18 2013, 10:52 PM

I managed to try it at E3 - it looks FANTASTIC. Can't wait to play in. Release date is the end of July.

D

Posted by: CosmicRocker Jun 20 2013, 05:24 PM

Thanks for mentioning this game. I will definitely support a company that is developing science entertainment like this. Besides, it looks like serious fun to me.

Posted by: pospa Jun 21 2013, 11:10 AM

Just two comments:
- BI developers really like realistic landcape, terrain and details - by the time of their work on ArmA 3 they were arrested in Greece while taking photos of military base on Limnos island. It took 4 months to Czech ministry of foreign affairs to bring two young developers back home.
- BI presented Take On Mars to NASA last week and reported very positive feedbacks.

And YEP, this game will please many of us around the globe.

Posted by: atomoid Jul 10 2013, 12:22 AM

FYI for those interested in streaming lectures hosted at the SETI institute...

The previous topic was on https://plus.google.com/events/cc1ip4l9lsup502bi2k0cdj7uh8.

Today's talk is about https://plus.google.com/events/cmoj8vn4osu4g505hd7djho5dbg "...the first martian meteorite to match the surface geochemistry of Mars, as seen by landers and orbiters, and as such, it has particular relevance to the current Mars Science Laboratory mission at Gale Crater."

they have been are pouring on the Mars topics lately, next week: https://plus.google.com/events/c9qa6oa1gispcnc5iprg42m3fcg...
..then some https://plus.google.com/events/c1chmmdcna474peqjtaosb1mfc4

Posted by: Zelenyikot Jul 16 2013, 07:39 AM

Posted by: Reed Aug 29 2013, 03:36 AM

@MarsCuriosity tweeted

Which err.. inspired this animated gif.

Posted by: PaulH51 Aug 29 2013, 06:31 AM

Nice one.....

Posted by: fredk Sep 22 2013, 07:43 PM

Feeeeed me...
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/proj/msl/redops/ods/surface/sol/00401/opgs/edr/ccam/CR0_433090051EDR_F0160148CCAM03401M_.JPG

Posted by: algorithm Oct 3 2013, 10:22 PM

We flushed the kids goldfish down the toilet the other day, (we're moving house and dont want to hump about 125kg of water around) I felt bad at the time..but now that I know where it ended up, and then after all that it got run over in the process, I feel even worse.

NO MORE PETS!!!!!!!

Posted by: algorithm Oct 22 2013, 08:21 PM

Thanks to Astro0 for the original, just a minor adjustment

Posted by: atomoid Oct 22 2013, 08:42 PM

thought that did look quite a bit like http://discoverfarscape.com/images/HeadTop/Pilot2.jpg, now enjoying his retirement soaking up the Martian sunshine in an oversize T shirt.

Posted by: algorithm Oct 22 2013, 08:43 PM

Just one more.

Posted by: algorithm Oct 22 2013, 08:49 PM

Posted by: algorithm Oct 22 2013, 08:51 PM

He even seems to have had some 'work' done. Makes him look a little stoney faced though......don't you think !?

Posted by: centsworth_II Oct 22 2013, 09:46 PM

Some interesting details show up in ultraviolet.

Posted by: atomoid Oct 24 2013, 09:46 PM

All our joking must have annoyed him, his nonchalant easy-going stance on http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MSL/image/00426/0426ML1744006000E1_DXXX.html has discombobulated as he exits-stage-left http://www.midnightplanets.com/web/MSL/image/00429/0429MR1747014000E1_DXXX.html

Posted by: walfy Nov 5 2013, 05:58 PM

Just as I expected: gophers!

Posted by: Astro0 Nov 7 2013, 09:11 AM

Only the Shadow knows...

Posted by: Astro0 Nov 29 2013, 06:15 AM

So MSL is taking images of gas giants now?!

Posted by: PaulH51 Nov 29 2013, 06:50 AM

Probably a lot of those 'Gas Giants' around after Thanksgiving dinner

Posted by: nprev Nov 29 2013, 07:57 AM

Is "Gas Dwarf" a recognized planetary class yet?

If so, <raises hand>...word. In retrospect, eating about half a kilo of Kay's legendary garlic-flavored stringbeans was perhaps not the wisest choice to make.

Posted by: PaulH51 Nov 29 2013, 04:13 PM

Comparable to the Pluto being a planet Question?.....

Let's just say that some would say 'Nay', but I would say 'Yea'.... (can't beat the "Olde English" to get a point across)