I've just found this on the tracking web plan for tosol (830); a rat brush movie of 100 pics.

When the full resolution pan is finished, what dimensions will it have?

I think this will be an obligatory poster for my office, just want to get an idea of how much it will cost to get printed based on size in inches or whatever I can never convert from pixels to the appropriate measure....

It'll be something like 22348 x 4000, to as much as 6000.

At a poster sort of resolution ( 150dpi ) you could do that at 3.7 x 0.6-1m

Doug

>It'll be something like 22348 x 4000

Amazing what can be done with that 1 megapixel pancam and a desktop computer...

--Bill

"Amazing what can be done with that 1 megapixel pancam and a desktop computer..."

You'll need a BIG wall too

3.7m!!!
Hmmmm, I guess my shelves can go, and a white board or two, and it looks like the end wall will have to be knocked too. I have my priorities afterall.
Actually for once I'm wishing my office was smaller so that I could wrap it around the four walls to make it a proper panorama

Thanks for the info.....3.7m!

"Spirit will remove a layer of soil up to 1 millimeter thick (the thickness of a dime)." - per this link.

Well, the pictures coming back looks like the first attempts at “1 millimeter removal” of soil thickness were fairly well mucked up. What seems to have been created is more or less a sticky-wicket of piled up soil in a deeper hole than intended.

I hope they have better results in future attempts. I'd really like to see gradual 1mm 'removal.'

Yep, that wicket surely looks sticky. The soil is so fluffy-yet-cohesive that brushing is difficult. I wonder if they could place the "positioning ring" of the RAT just on the surface and move the arm laterally to scrape the surface?

--Bill

NASA Mars Rover Spirit Status 5 May 2006

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=20515

"Spirit is healthy and continuing to make progress on the rover's winter
campaign of scientific experiments. This week Spirit continued work on
the full-color, 360-degree "McMurdo panorama." The finished panorama
will combine 27 columns of images."

Well, after much delay, here's the SFX shot of the sunset panorama.
I hope that this quarter-resolution version comes up OK. My screen's Gamma correction wasn't at optimum.
Enjoy
Astro0
PS: A full-res version will go up on my website in a day or so.
Click to view attachment
File: 401kb

Very nice, Astro0. Could you make a version with reduced glare around the rover?

Yes -very nice Astro0 !

Spirit looks good in that sunlight

Nico

Dilo, I could make one without the glow, but it's that effect which I think makes the picture.
It puts Spirit 'into' the scene. It took a while to get the Rover to look right, so perhaps only if I get lots of requests to do an alternate version. I'll think about it

Nico, a big thanks to you. It was your version of the panorama that I based my work on (you're credited on the image). I just made a few minor changes with colour, foreground, sky and Sol-light (Sun "off camera" as requested by Shaka and others).

I think we were all moved when we first saw that panorama in greyscale and later versions in colour. The image title, "Setting Spirits Aglow" is a play on that feeling. It certainly set the spirits of UMSF'ers aglow, and depicting MER-Spirit also glowing in this setting is fitting to the warm glow that I think we all feel for these amazing vehicles, their creators/operators, and for the great adventure they have been able to share with all of us.

Astro0

Gorgeous pic Astro0, and a wonderful tribute to our plucky little gal!

Just to let you know, I showed your original 'solset panorama' at my astronomy society meeting last night, and it was a huge hit. A couple of people asked for the URL of your website so they could go download their own version, and a couple more, without internet connections (yes, there are some of them left!) asked if it would be available as a poster... there's a thought...

Beautiful, Astro0!

Like Dilo, I think a little bit of reduced glare would be ok; please consider this as another vote to the "lots of requests to do an alternate version".
And speaking of changes/improvements/wishes to this SFX pic, what do you think of placing Spirit farther of the camera just enough to see its long shadow casting on the ground?

Astro0...Just FAN-TAS-TIC!

Just perfect, Astro0, thanks!
I like the glow. You've captured Spirit's spirit...

Astro0, it is such a wonderful image.

Yeesss !!! Astro_O, it's a good work, very good! Thank you!

I've the impression that the rover fly over the ground, no contact to the ground. It's me or...?

The glow/glare is technically correct, it adds to the rover's presence as an alien object in this environment.

I'll be waiting for the full-res version so I can craft some wallpaper.

Thanks!

--Bill

Beautiful image, but I must ask - would the pancam and mast still be
such a pristine white after so long on the dusty Martian surface?

Can you make an 800 x 600 version? Thanks.

Beautiful rendering Asto0! And great idea about the glow, metaphorically and figuratively

They would if a dust devil had cleaned them...

(ducks)

According to Steve Squyres, it was not the dust devils which cleaned
off the rovers. The events happened at night, when dust devils are
not active. They chalk it up to "regular" wind gusts, which the rovers
will not encounter as much during the winter months.

Water fowl have nothing to do with this topic.

ljk - Stu knows that, which is why he said 'ducks' afterwards as a metaphor for the incoming slap from me, as I'm usually the one who shouts "OI - IT WASN'T BLOODY DUST DEVILS"

Doug

Now that you mention it, waterfowl really do make a mess of things. If any of those show up we're done for. The only thing worse for a rover's solar panels than ducks, would be parking it under an olive tree.

Nobody tells me anything.

And now you're saying that dust devils have BLOOD in them?!

So that's why Mars is so red....

Do I really have to put a smiley face in here?

I'm usually the one who shouts "OI - IT WASN'T BLOODY DUST DEVILS"

Doug


I Hope your' not too nervous waiting for the next one! I mean "quote", not DD

Here is the mosaic after brushing on Sol 830.

Taken with the Mi camera.

jvandriel

Oh, no. Cr*p c*rcles! Maybe it's the Bird 'Flu...

Bob Shaw

Here is the mosaic taken on Sol 822 with the Mi cam.

Is it at the same place?

jvandriel

Wow... at that size, you could paste the full-resolution hard copy to curved backing boards and build yourself a nice diorama. Come to think of it, wouldn't a diorama like that be perfectly at home a few feet behind (and half-encircling) a desk + computer(s)?

I could get used to a background like that

Stu

Nico

It is so dirty, full of powder. I cannot see anything from the surface. Does the RAT have no brusher to clean them?

Now I realized that it is not a stone surface. Oh. anyway. it is so sticky (some humidity or the sands has some cohesive properties).

Rodolfo

Thanks for the comments on the SFX image.
The full-size image is now online at my webpage. I had to compress the JPG file a little because I've run out of space at my ISP account. Hmm, maybe it's time to actually register a domain name and get some room to grow.

Just as an aside about panoramas as wallsize images. At the DSN Complex where I work we have a full-scale replica of the Rover displayed on a simulated Mars surface with a 6-metre by 2-metre (20-feet x 6-feet) background panorama taken by Spirit from the top of Husband Hill. The effect of the Rover sitting in front of this spectacular image (with some SFX enhancements; extended sky etc) is amazing. I'll have to take a photo of it and post it here later.

Any good commercial printer that can do large-format printing can work with images like the McMurdo pan. At a final print resolution of 100dpi you can easily bump up the scale of this image to beyond your average wallsize. It may cost you between $1-$2K to produce it on a good medium like 2-3mm foamcore, but the final effect would be well worth it.

Astro0

AstroO:

Do you have *any* idea how much a divorce costs?

Bob Shaw

Yup, a $2K picture of Mars with Rover at my house would land me in court in a heartbeat. I get heavy flack over an 8x10, the priorities are so different.

"Normal people just don't overdose on multiple pictures of some damned machine running around on Mars!" "Just how many do you need?"

And so it goes...

"Just checking up on the rovers, dear!"

"Are those *&^%*%^$ things still going?"

Phil

(I'm kidding, of course... )

Gee, now I'm going to be responsible for divorces.
Well, if your partner doesn't like Mars and Rovers, maybe you weren't meant to be together anyway (really kidding!)
I'm fortunate that my wife is extremely understanding. I know that I have to be, as she is a fanatical Superman fan/collector. So she has no grounds for complaint...as long as I don't complain.

Of course, the $1-$2K is in Australian dollars, probably much cheaper elsewhere in the world.
But then what price do you place on enjoying feeling like you're on Mars.

Here's a shot of our exhibit at the Canberra DSN. There's still some Mars-like soil to put in to finish it off.
The public are just amazed by how large the rover actually is...they expect it to be like a small toy. Mind you, they had no idea about the size of Sojourner either.

Astro0
Click to view attachment

"Another rock! How Exciting!" But then I threaten her with taking up model railroading instead....

Astro your SFX site is beautiful!

Astro - I think there's a bunch of folks here who'd just love a _lot_ more photographs of that model.

It's not a fantastically detailed model, but it is full-scale.
I know I'm very glad to have it. I used parts of it as a reference to help produce the 'Setting Spirits Aglow' panorama.

Speaking of panoramas...I was just outside here at the Canberra DSN and took some photographs of our 70-metre antenna while it is doing a tracking pass with Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor.

When I looked at the scene, photographed at 4.30pm local time, and with the hills and shadows in the background, and knowing that we were in comms with the Mars' orbiters, I had this moment of dejavu...this scene was eerily familar...

I did a quick autostitch of the scene and then flipped it horizontally and....hey presto!...an earthly version of the solset panorama! The long shadows, the sunlight off-camera, and a link to Mars...just remove the trees, add some more rocks and I'm there, standing next to Spirit. Sent a shiver down my spine.

Had to share this scene with the rest of the UMSF crowd.
Enjoy
Astro0
Click to view attachment
File: 294kb

PS: BTW, that closest hill behind the 70-metre antenna is about 100 metres high - similar to Husband Hill.

I am *so* going to have to come and have that tour of cdscc!

Thanks for the pics Astro0.

James

Wonderful images, Astr0. Thanks for sharing!

In my mind's eye, I see something like the attached cut&paste. The skyglow in both images needs to be in the center and everything else composed symmetrically about that. One change: Husband Hill ought to fade into the 70m hill behind the antenna with the horizons at the same level so that Gusev fades into Canberra and both dishes pointing at the same imaginary point above the image. You'll probably have to do a re-shoot of the antenna site image and make some slight re-arrangement of the Spirit image, but that juxtaposition would be wonderful.

Thanks!

--Bill

When KodakGallery had their 50% off 16x20 and 20x30 a while back, I had a bunch of the panoramas made up, some of them even as 2x1 or 4x2, umm...inverse mosaics? I have them all in tubes, because I plan to prime and paint the garage walls a nice Mars tan, and then put the Mars pictures up there.

I've just found that 'Oki' make some fairly large pan paper - A4 width of course, but 900mm long

Doug

Now that's interesting. ..Haven't had much succes trying to find rolls around here.

I'd really like to have A4 & A3 sized photo-paper on a roll (say a couple of meters)
Anyone knows if one can order this kind of product from Canon, Epson,...?

Nico

Bewdy bonzer, mate! Why not chuck in a couple a 'roos on the lawn at left, gazing at the sun. (One with a joey in the pouch!) Mustn't leave any doubt about the location.

Printing at 300dpi, the panorama should take seven A3 sheets. And at 190x40 cm it would fit my wall perfectly!

Consider that your average monitor is 70 - 90 dpi, then at a viewing distance of anything more than about 3ft, 150dpi is serious overkill

Doug