MSL Post First Drive - Intermission, Start of Drive to Glenelg, Intermission between CAP 1B and 2 - Sols 17 through 29 Options

[climber]

Would be nice, eh? I was just making a comment we enjoy here saying they've (again) discovered water on Mars. Frankly I don't expect a big announcement so early in the mission unless we all missed something BIG here at UNMSF.

[fredk]

I'd say definitely engineering status report. (But then I've just seen the new press release images...)

[charleski]

Leo Enright just asked the question that's been in my mind for a week now.

I think it's going to be a while before we get proper scientific interpretations coming out, even for mundane stuff - obviously everything will need to be thoroughly checked before being announced. The first set of really interesting stuff is waiting at Glenelg, anyway.

[Edit]: Also, compare the picture of the penny, with the ones shown here (bigger image). That penny was nice and shiny when it left Earth, has it picked up a layer of fine dust or has a month of exposure been enough to erode the surface?

Actually - looking at the other recent MAHLI images shows dust packing the gap between the penny and the target surround, so it's probably just a layer of dust, though I wonder how abrasive this stuff is.

[jmknapp]

Enright does it again--Joy Crisp was pretty coy about it, saying that science team is "actively debating what they're seeing in those textures, uh, they are excited about what they've seen, but we're not ready yet to say what it means." Another questioner tried to press for "some of the ideas that the science team is kicking around about what they're seeing there." Crisp replied again saying they're not ready to talk about it yet, "but probably next week we will, so stay tuned" and "we don't want to stick our necks out yet."

Leo also asked about another issue that I wondered about--that since MEX is over the horizon for hours sometimes, do they plan to take advantage of its communications capability. The answer from Jennifer Trosper was basically that there are currently no plans use MEX as a data link, & that one MRO pass alone recently resulted in 500MB of data.

[mcaplinger]

since MEX is over the horizon for hours sometimes, do they plan to take advantage of its communications capability.

It may be visible but it's far away and inverse-square law makes the data rate uselessly low, I'm guessing.

[elakdawalla]

I had asked Edgett if the red stuff surrounding the penny was dust and he said not. "The red stuff -- as with the red inside the MAHLI lens in those Mastcam images -- that is the RTV adhesive."

[charleski]

I had asked Edgett if the red stuff surrounding the penny was dust and he said not. "The red stuff -- as with the red inside the MAHLI lens in those Mastcam images -- that is the RTV adhesive."

That would make sense, and I found a larger image that clearly shows the adhesive in the pre-flight pictures. It's definitely lost its shininess, though, and there appears to be a void from 8-12o'clock that's certainly not there pre-flight. The uneven distribution is why I jumped to the conclusion that it was fine, wind-blown dust, but now I wonder whether the adhesive has been scoured away. Going by the shadows the light is coming from approximately 10 o'clock, so maybe this is just a trick of the light?

[Edit]Actually, after looking at it close-up and comparing with this I think that, yes, the appearance of the surround is mostly just a trick of the light. But there is an area just to the right of the 'S' where there appears to have been a small void in the adhesive pre-flight and the roof of the void has now been removed.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[EdTruthan]

Anaglyph from photos taken during this CAP so I figured they ought to go in this thread. I used the three partial MC100 BW frames from Sol 25 (left eye), and corresponding color frames from Sol 19 (right eye), so pretty decent baseline separation. I separated them a bit more than usual as it seems the varying depths of field are easier on the eye once you're locked on in stereo. The soft looking layers in the rounded fish hook shaped hollow in the foreground below the hard caprock are pretty interesting. Though the thumbnail looks pink, once in glasses it's quite natural looking...

[MarkL]

Anyone know if there is a place to find the archived video press briefings? I missed yesterday's. Surprise surprise, I was working.

[maschnitz]

All the news conferences are archived on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl

Pointers to individual ones are on JPL's site:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/

Each individual announcement contains pointers to the visuals, like this last one; but I suspect this URL is just for the latest:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/telecon/index.html

Generally, the visuals show up archived either in the raws, the vetted "Images" section, in JPL's Photojournal, or in some combination of the three.
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/targetFam...ry+%28MSL%29%3A

[mcaplinger]

there appears to have been a small void in the adhesive pre-flight and the roof of the void has now been removed.

I think this is an artifact of somewhat different viewing angle and quite different lighting direction and type of lighting. That RTV would be pretty hard to remove even if you tried to dig it out with an X-acto knife or a dental pick.

Also, the ground photo is the unrealistic saturated color of a typical lower-end commercial camera.

[charleski]

Unfortunately NASA/JPL stripped the EXIF so we can't say what camera they used.

I suppose we'll get other images of the calibration targets later on, so we'll be able to see what it looks like with different lighting angles. The calibration targets are stowed quite low down, so probably received a similar covering of muck to that seen on the front hazcam covers (maybe more, since it's pointed towards the side, though the dust boundary seen on the lower part of the carrier suggests that something was partially covering it from the effects of the jets). We've already had one instrument (the REMS boom) suffer damage from environmental factors, so it might be useful to see what other data can be found about the forces that were experienced.

[chris]

All the news conferences are archived on UStream:
http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl

Pointers to individual ones are on JPL's site:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/

Each individual announcement contains pointers to the visuals, like this last one; but I suspect this URL is just for the latest:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/telecon/index.html

Generally, the visuals show up archived either in the raws, the vetted "Images" section, in JPL's Photojournal, or in some combination of the three.
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/telecon/index.html
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/targetFam...ry+%28MSL%29%3A

Admins, could we please add this to the sticky MSL FAQs and USEFUL DOCUMENTS topic? DONE! THANKS!

[maschnitz]

Thanks astro0, and chris.

One minor correction: I made a cut-and-paste error. The second to last URL should be this, not the telecon link:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/

Could an admin make the correction in the sticky? DONE. Thanks again!

[mcaplinger]

Unfortunately NASA/JPL stripped the EXIF so we can't say what camera they used.

It was a Nikon D3 at f/5.7, ISO 200, 70mm focal length, pattern metering mode, and the flash was fired.

At over $3K list, I guess I wouldn't call that a "lower-end commercial camera" but I stand by my comments about the color accuracy (sorry, Nikon.)