MSL landing site: Gale Crater |
MSL landing site: Gale Crater |
Jun 23 2011, 01:50 PM
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#16
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
The more of those stunning "flyover" animations I see, the more I wish we had a plane, or an airship, or a balloon, flying low over Mars taking images like that, Red Mars style...
Sigh... Maybe one day... -------------------- |
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Jun 23 2011, 01:58 PM
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#17
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2173 Joined: 28-December 04 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 132 |
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Jun 23 2011, 02:02 PM
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#18
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14431 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
Quite clearly I meant an advantage over the other sites.
No site had that. |
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Jun 23 2011, 02:32 PM
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#19
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Member Group: Members Posts: 150 Joined: 3-June 08 From: McLean, VA Member No.: 4177 |
A longer animation involving more data from HRSC/CTX/HiRISE Really great stuff, Doug. Thanks! I had a chance to talk with one of the MSL Co-Is about the landing site selection a few months ago and expressed a strong hope that Gale would be selected. She was a bit taken aback and asked why? I said it was dramatic and pretty. She didn't care much about that. From your animation, Doug, it also looks "cool." |
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Jun 23 2011, 02:45 PM
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#20
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Member Group: Members Posts: 399 Joined: 28-August 07 From: San Francisco Member No.: 3511 |
"Nature has learned that it rose to the top last month following a secret ranking"
Oops, did someone let the cat out of the bag?... -------------------- 'She drove until the wheels fell off...'
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Jun 23 2011, 04:00 PM
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#21
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Member Group: Members Posts: 806 Joined: 10-October 06 From: Maynard Mass USA Member No.: 1241 |
Yea!! I was soooo rooting for Gale!
GO MSL! -------------------- CLA CLL
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Jun 23 2011, 07:39 PM
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#22
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Member Group: Members Posts: 362 Joined: 13-April 06 From: Malta Member No.: 741 |
I see that those who have been lobbying for GALE seem to be having it their way at last! I was more keen on Mawrth which didnt seem to have been favoured for most of the time ..thats my impression ! Oh well, despite this, Gale seems to be an exciting destination and now just hope that Curiosity gets to MARS!
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Guest_Sunspot_* |
Jun 23 2011, 07:45 PM
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#23
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Guests |
Hopefully the good stuff isnt bured like at Gusev.
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Jun 23 2011, 07:48 PM
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#24
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Member Group: Members Posts: 362 Joined: 13-April 06 From: Malta Member No.: 741 |
well said sunspot..I feel that NASA wants to make up for the disappointment of landing Spirit in Gusev and now we get Gale.
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Jun 23 2011, 07:51 PM
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#25
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Member Group: Members Posts: 362 Joined: 13-April 06 From: Malta Member No.: 741 |
To be fair, there seems to be a lot of traversibility for the rover to do and thus years of work on Mars which is exciting in itself.
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Jun 23 2011, 08:27 PM
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#26
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
Guys, it's not the same as Gusev. CRISM sees plenty of evidence for interesting mineralogy at Gale. We KNOW the clay and sulfate minerals are there.
-------------------- My website - My Patreon - @elakdawalla on Twitter - Please support unmannedspaceflight.com by donating here.
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Jun 23 2011, 08:34 PM
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#27
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Member Group: Members Posts: 362 Joined: 13-April 06 From: Malta Member No.: 741 |
Having sulphates and clays at the same site could be interesting in identifying climatic changes that occurred 3-4 billion years ago not to mention dinosaur bones!
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Jun 23 2011, 08:59 PM
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#28
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Member Group: Members Posts: 399 Joined: 28-August 07 From: San Francisco Member No.: 3511 |
Guys, it's not the same as Gusev. Was there not enough orbital data to avoid the "crushing disappointment"(S.Squyres) after landing at Gusev ? -------------------- 'She drove until the wheels fell off...'
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Jun 23 2011, 09:05 PM
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#29
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
Not even close. CRISM wasn't in orbit, remember. CRISM can do two things that THEMIS couldn't: it has much much higher resolution (so it can spot deposits with smaller spatial extent) and it's near-infrared, which makes it much easier to pick up the presence of water and hydroxyl, which is how you identify the presence of clays.
-------------------- My website - My Patreon - @elakdawalla on Twitter - Please support unmannedspaceflight.com by donating here.
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Jun 23 2011, 09:58 PM
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#30
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Member Group: Members Posts: 234 Joined: 8-May 05 Member No.: 381 |
I do believe the fact that Gale is by far the closest to the Martian equator of the four candidate landing sites was a factor (and not a minor one) in its presumed choice. The recent OIG audit of MSL, mentioned on another thread, said that "expected performance of the rover's power generation system, the...MMRTG, has been reduced." That brings back the question of how much of the energy budget is needed to electrically heat actuators all over the rover each morning, and that makes a near-equator landing site very attractive again.
That said, I have absolutely nothing against Gale as a science site. It has lots of interesting features, and the phyllosilicates that are probably the best hope for finding organics. The above quote was from page 6 of: http://oig.nasa.gov/audits/reports/FY11/IG-11-019.pdf |
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