Next Mars lander almost ready to go

[dubfan]

For anyone who likes this stuff and hasn't already found it, a great source of info & images is here:

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/i...p?showforum=59

Rob Manning (Curiosity lead engineer), Doug Ellison (one of the JPL Visualization leads), and at least one of the rover drivers contribute frequently. Lots of amateur & professional imagery and planetary science people there. Pretty hard core.

[VWVan]

Can't wait to see more pics!

[dubfan]

The holes in the wheel spell out "JPL" in Morse code.

[dubfan]

[dubfan]

Interactive 360-degree pano, in hi-res.

The scaling is very deceptive. The mountain in the foreground is taller than Rainier.

http://www.360pano.eu/show/?id=731

[NZTIGUAN]

Interactive 360-degree pano, in hi-res.

The scaling is very deceptive. The mountain in the foreground is taller than Rainier.

http://www.360pano.eu/show/?id=731

That is TRULY SPECTACULAR !!!!!

[WeenerBoy]

you can tell by the faint grainy background, that this whole mission is fake. that's nothing but a background manufactured by Hollywood.

Once again, NASA has no real proof that they have been on another planet..


okay, that was 100% sarcasm. before i get 100% completely flamed

[dubfan]

First drive is tomorrow.

Steering actuator checkout, right rear:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia16087.html

[XClayX]

^^ 2.5Billion dollars and they use zip ties to hold the wiring together... they really do fix everything...

[Rob Cote]

^^ 2.5Billion dollars and they use zip ties to hold the wiring together... they really do fix everything...

They're commonly called "wire ties" because, correct me if I'm wrong, that's the purpose for which they were originally intended.

[Slider388]

^^ 2.5Billion dollars and they use zip ties to hold the wiring together... they really do fix everything...

They do use zipties here and there but in most cases its wire lacing, just like on airliners and other big planes.
Chapter 9 of this: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/doctree/87394.pdf shows the different lacing and bundle tying techniques nasa uses.

Also this is pretty badass:

[dubraycer36]

^^ 2.5Billion dollars and they use zip ties to hold the wiring together... they really do fix everything...

Curiosity. The MkII of extraplanetary exploration.

[dubfan]

Also this is pretty badass:

"Badass" just barely scratches the surface of the tip of the iceberg of badassery that this actually is.

If people knew how badass this actually is, their heads would explode.

The badassery of this image has been deliberately toned down for your own safety.

[Slider388]

The badassery of this image has been deliberately toned down for your own safety.

Precisely.

[dubfan]

Complete MSL Curiosity Descent - Full Quality Enhanced 1080p + Heat Shield impact

This is a full-resolution version of the NASA Curiosity rover descent to Mars, taken by the MARDI descent imager. As of August 20, all but a dozen 1600x1200 frames have been uploaded from the rover, and those missing were interpolated using thumbnail data. The result was applied a heavy noise reduction, color balance, and sharpening for best visibility.

The video plays at 15fps, or 3x realtime. The heat shield impacts in the lower left frame at 0:21, and is shown enlarged at the end of the video. Image source: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multime...0&camera=MARDI

Fun fact: The first mission to Mars, Mariner 4 in 1965, returned a total of 634 kb of data, including 22 photos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZX5GRPnd4U

[dubfan]

[Rob Cote]

Is there any information about this picture? What am I looking at? It's a wild looking landscape, but I can't judge the size of the features at all.

[dubfan]

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia16105.html

Layers at the Base of Mount Sharp

A chapter of the layered geological history of Mars is laid bare in this postcard from NASA's Curiosity rover. The image shows the base of Mount Sharp, the rover's eventual science destination.

This image is a portion of a larger image taken by Curiosity's 100-millimeter Mast Camera on Aug. 23, 2012. See PIA16104. Scientists enhanced the color in one version to show the Martian scene under the lighting conditions we have on Earth, which helps in analyzing the terrain.

For scale, an annotated version of the figure highlights a dark rock that is approximately the same size as Curiosity. The pointy mound in the center of the image, looming above the rover-sized rock, is about 1,000 feet (300 meters) across and 300 feet (100 meters) high.

[dubfan]

For even more context and scale, go here:

http://www.360cities.net/image/curio...8.96,3.67,15.0

The area in the photo is in the foothills to the right of the big mountain -- the more gentle slope just before it rises up into the main slope. You can easily see the triangular mound and then just to the right of it is that group of little bumps.

It's about 10-12 km away from the rover right now, as the crow flies. Gonna take months to get there, maybe 1.5-2 years.

[dubfan]

Kind of a cool pic of the engineering model being moved around @ JPL. Gives a good idea of the size of it. Note opening at rear where the nuclear power pack (RTG) goes:

[dubfan]

[champ1]

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia16105.html

Hmm. Would like better rez photo but will have to wait I guess until curiosity is closer. That pointy rock looks big. Would be cool if an Easter Island twin..

[XClayX]

^^ Doesn't the mountain directly above the white box look suspiciously pyramid shaped. *Q xfiles music.

[Gern_Blanston]

Curiosity. The MkII of extraplanetary exploration.

Ha ha ha ha. Post of the month^^

"Badass" just barely scratches the surface of the tip of the iceberg of badassery that this actually is.

If people knew how badass this actually is, their heads would explode.

The badassery of this image has been deliberately toned down for your own safety.

+1. Sooooooo badass.

Is there any information about this picture? What am I looking at?...

Mars.

[dubfan]

Hi-res version worth a visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/6...-full_full.jpg

[koko12]

Does any one else feels that if they ever find life on mars, even if just bacteria, they'll keep it a secret? I feel such a discovery would cause too much of a stir on the status-quo and that information would be withheld from the public.

[Rob Cote]

They're obviously not even on Mars. This is all a hoax.

[MeineFolks'wagen]

Does any one else feels that if they ever find life on mars, even if just bacteria, they'll keep it a secret? I feel such a discovery would cause too much of a stir on the status-quo and that information would be withheld from the public.

Didn't they already find microbes or bacteria, don't think it was any secret. I don't really see any benefit in hiding the fact that life was discovered unless you want to go with the whole "Contact" scenario (i.e. religious fundies would cry about it).

[dubfan]

No life has been found on Mars.

Some think Viking found evidence of life in 1976, but it's an unsettled question. Scientists are still arguing about it.

Some people think that evidence of methane in the Martian atmosphere is an indication of extant life, but there are questions and issues with that. Scientists are arguing about that, too. Curiosity will help settle that question.

Most scientists are rather down on the prospect for life existing there now, mostly because the radiation environment is so extreme. Radiation is a little-appreciated showstopper for manned missions, too, btw. However, life in the distant past is an open question.

The thing most realistic scientists hope Curiosity might find are geologic features called stromatolites (sp?) that are produced in environments that once had living microbes, hundreds of millions or billions of years ago. That would be the "Eureka!" find for Curiosity.

[nismo4life]

For even more context and scale, go here:

http://www.360cities.net/image/curio...8.96,3.67,15.0

The area in the photo is in the foothills to the right of the big mountain -- the more gentle slope just before it rises up into the main slope. You can easily see the triangular mound and then just to the right of it is that group of little bumps.

It's about 10-12 km away from the rover right now, as the crow flies. Gonna take months to get there, maybe 1.5-2 years.

They hired the wrong consultant. Should of hired this guy...

[dubfan]

First closeup image of Martian rock from MSL:



Getting the image using the MAHLI instrument:

[XClayX]

So awesome. More!!

I've read that the rover doesn't have a microphone. You'd think they'd include one, even a little one for static or anything. Maybe there's invisible ghost aliens...

[dubfan]

Heh... I heard the Mech Eng types wanted one. When they had troubles with the actuators that drive the wheels during testing, the first thing they would do is listen. I guess they could tell a lot about what was wrong by the noise the actuators made.

[dubfan]

An alien moon, photographed from the surface of an alien world

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily...hobos-msl.html

Well, this is a first, as far as I know. And unexpectedly stirring. The image below looks blank at first, a solid greenish gray. But let it fill your screen, and look in the upper right quadrant, and you'll see a bright smudge. At first, the smudge seems familiar: it's a crescent Moon, not quite lost in the bright daytime sky. But look closer at the shape of the Moon and you'll see it's all wrong: its limb isn't hemispherical, it's lumpy; and the terminator (the day-night boundary crossing the Moon's disk) is even lumpier, turning the crescent into an apostrophe.

This isn't our sky, and it isn't our Moon. It's the Martian sky, and that moon is Phobos, spied in the sky near local noon by Curiosity's Mastcam-100.

...we're seeing a different moon from the surface of a different world. And this moon is weird not just for its lumpiness, but also because it orbits so close to Mars that it outpaces Mars' rotation. That means it rises in the west and sets in the east, more than twice every Martian day. Completely alien.

[l5gcw0b]

An alien moon, photographed from the surface of an alien world

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily...hobos-msl.html

Cool!