Live Dust Devil? |
Live Dust Devil? |
Mar 11 2005, 06:32 AM
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#31
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Member Group: Members Posts: 578 Joined: 5-November 04 From: Denmark Member No.: 107 |
Wow this is the greatest ever news for a very long time!!
I hand out a Mars bar to everyone -------------------- "I want to make as many people as possible feel like they are part of this adventure. We are going to give everybody a sense of what exploring the surface of another world is really like"
- Steven Squyres |
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Mar 11 2005, 09:08 AM
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#32
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Member Group: Members Posts: 470 Joined: 24-March 04 From: Finland Member No.: 63 |
Excellent news! This really makes my day :-)
I guess this makes it more likely that it is the dust devils/wind cleaning up Oppy also, and not necessarily all the rattling from roving. -------------------- Antti Kuosmanen
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Mar 11 2005, 09:45 AM
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#33
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3009 Joined: 30-October 04 Member No.: 105 |
Great news! OTOH, I wonder what the long-term effect of the dust devils will be on the atmospheric opacity?
I imagine that dust devils might be less visible at Meridiani because of the desert pavement of the blueberries. --Bill -------------------- |
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Mar 11 2005, 10:12 AM
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#34
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14434 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
The atmospheric opacity goes up and down like an excited puppy anyway. Regional and local dust-storms give it trends - but it jumps about from .8 to 1.5 over a period of sols as it is.
But - looking at the Navcam imagery - Spirit's obviously had a cleaning event much like opportunity - that that is BRILLIANT news. Doug |
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Mar 11 2005, 10:25 AM
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#35
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Member Group: Members Posts: 578 Joined: 5-November 04 From: Denmark Member No.: 107 |
This must be really bad news for all the tired scientists and engineers
Now Spirit is almost back to Sol 1 in terms of dust buildup. And Oppy has stayed at Sol 1 roughly throughout its mission -------------------- "I want to make as many people as possible feel like they are part of this adventure. We are going to give everybody a sense of what exploring the surface of another world is really like"
- Steven Squyres |
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Guest_Analyst_* |
Mar 11 2005, 10:42 AM
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#36
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Guests |
Well, NASA can shut the rovers down when they are still working. I fear they will do (and did with Viking)
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Mar 11 2005, 11:00 AM
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#37
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14434 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
I think actually - that's highly unlikely. The Voyager/Ulysses funding is a totally seperate pot of cash to the Mars Program - and if nothing else - having two rovers on mars is an excellent way to train people for future missions w.r.t. planning, operations, communication, colaboration, long term planning and so forth - some excellent modes of practice are being put in place that will only benefit ( and save money ) future missions
They only shut down one of the viking landers iirc - and then only by accident The other just died. FWIW - I think we'll find that the public outrage and turning functioning probes off will save Voyager, Ulysses - and the others. Doug |
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Guest_Sunspot_* |
Mar 11 2005, 11:18 AM
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#38
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Guests |
I find it hard to believe they would shutdown the Voyager probes
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Mar 11 2005, 11:20 AM
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#39
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Member Group: Members Posts: 710 Joined: 28-September 04 Member No.: 99 |
At least the MERs are out of range to suffer the same fate as the unlucky Solwind satellite that became the target of brainless military types:
http://space.skyrocket.de/index_frame.htm?...dat/solwind.htm http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/m...aft/solwind.htm |
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Guest_Analyst_* |
Mar 11 2005, 11:32 AM
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#40
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Guests |
Doug, I really hope it will turn out your way. But I doubt. Btw. the DSN people train with Voyager.
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Mar 11 2005, 11:48 AM
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#41
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Member Group: Members Posts: 578 Joined: 5-November 04 From: Denmark Member No.: 107 |
Wonderful animation to make
-------------------- "I want to make as many people as possible feel like they are part of this adventure. We are going to give everybody a sense of what exploring the surface of another world is really like"
- Steven Squyres |
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Mar 11 2005, 12:04 PM
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#42
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Member Group: Members Posts: 710 Joined: 28-September 04 Member No.: 99 |
How much of that is real versus different lighting conditions?
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Mar 11 2005, 12:20 PM
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#43
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Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Admin Posts: 4404 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
The Viking 1 lander died in a very sad way. A young controller sent an erant command shutting it down in 1982 - it may well have lived into the 1990s had this not happened.
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Mar 11 2005, 12:21 PM
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#44
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Member Group: Members Posts: 578 Joined: 5-November 04 From: Denmark Member No.: 107 |
Don't know how to find out the time a picture is taken, but looking at the two source images:
http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/n/...44P0775R0M1.JPG and http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/n/...76P1875R0M1.JPG It looks about the same time of day to me -------------------- "I want to make as many people as possible feel like they are part of this adventure. We are going to give everybody a sense of what exploring the surface of another world is really like"
- Steven Squyres |
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Mar 11 2005, 12:23 PM
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#45
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Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Admin Posts: 4404 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
I question whether the whole Voyager threat is simply a ploy to keep their budget from being cut. Still, we should take no chances.
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