Touch Down! Mars Rover Curiosity Lands
- Thread starter Brandon
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Here's some links: MSL website @ JPL (Curiosity project homepage), NASA TV site for MSL (broadcasts of NASA TV and MSL press conferences).
Next press conference is scheduled in 1 hour (August 6, 4 PM PDT, 7 PM EDT; August 7, 1 AM MEST/CEST).
Next press conference is scheduled in 1 hour (August 6, 4 PM PDT, 7 PM EDT; August 7, 1 AM MEST/CEST).
I just saw the press conference, and they showed some interesting new images. One was a video of the landing, taken by one of the cameras on the craft (pointing down). It was pretty lo-res, but they were optimistic the lo-res video will be up the MSL page soon as Motion JPEG (MJPEG) file. They do have the high-resolution images in the rover, but couldn't say yet when the full-resolution video will be available (they obviously need the bandwidth for something else).
In the forthcoming days, they plan to check the state of all the systems and verify their function, and then they're gonna upgrade the OS which will also take a couple of days. After that, they'll be able to check the higher functions of all the science instruments, etc.
They also talked about the mini nuclear power plant onboard the rover: It outputs about 100 W, so they have about 2000 Wh per day contingency to work with. During nighttime on Mars, they have to heat the rover, which is done using a liquid heating system. They also use a small amount of power to charge internal batteries. The batteries will be used during daytime on Mars for all the regular activity, while the power plant will be used for heating purposes mainly.
In the forthcoming days, they plan to check the state of all the systems and verify their function, and then they're gonna upgrade the OS which will also take a couple of days. After that, they'll be able to check the higher functions of all the science instruments, etc.
They also talked about the mini nuclear power plant onboard the rover: It outputs about 100 W, so they have about 2000 Wh per day contingency to work with. During nighttime on Mars, they have to heat the rover, which is done using a liquid heating system. They also use a small amount of power to charge internal batteries. The batteries will be used during daytime on Mars for all the regular activity, while the power plant will be used for heating purposes mainly.
After all the money that's been spent on this project, I'm glad that it's been smooth sailing so far.
Germany was named first in the list of foreign countries that contributed to the project. I suspect my tax money is in there as well! 
NASA said to its viewers: "Remember that you own Curiosity!"
This time around they even added software that lets users view what's going on with the rover in real time, on the web.
2 billion dollars seems like a lot of money, however that whole planet is just sitting there, waiting to be settled on, and it's practically 100% building space. That's what it looks like, at least. Only an archaeological mission like this one will give us clarity about the conditions on that planet. I hope that this mission will go on for years and yield some interesting data (and photos and videos! ).
Some regular construction projects cost 1-2 billion euros ... compared to that, it isn't all that much for a Mars project.
In a properly shielded craft, and if there was a sustainable environment to live in on Mars, I would go there immediately, if I could. ( I'd especially be interested in what I would dream and think on Mars. )
That's the nicest place in the whole solar system: Lots of space and silence and almost no people.
(great especially if you're working on something )
NASA said to its viewers: "Remember that you own Curiosity!"
This time around they even added software that lets users view what's going on with the rover in real time, on the web.
2 billion dollars seems like a lot of money, however that whole planet is just sitting there, waiting to be settled on, and it's practically 100% building space. That's what it looks like, at least. Only an archaeological mission like this one will give us clarity about the conditions on that planet. I hope that this mission will go on for years and yield some interesting data (and photos and videos!
).Some regular construction projects cost 1-2 billion euros ... compared to that, it isn't all that much for a Mars project.
In a properly shielded craft, and if there was a sustainable environment to live in on Mars, I would go there immediately, if I could. ( I'd especially be interested in what I would dream and think on Mars. )
That's the nicest place in the whole solar system: Lots of space and silence and almost no people.
(great especially if you're working on something
)
Here's some more links to the NASA site:
Raw Images
Cooked Images
( panorama image of landing site )
Unfortunately, I missed the press conference yesterday, but I hope to see it again next week. Visit the MSL news site for information about current events.
From August 10-13, they'll be changing to a new system software that will permit driving and usage of all the instruments on board.
Raw Images
Cooked Images
( panorama image of landing site )
Unfortunately, I missed the press conference yesterday, but I hope to see it again next week. Visit the MSL news site for information about current events.
From August 10-13, they'll be changing to a new system software that will permit driving and usage of all the instruments on board.
Today I learnt on an internet radio show that I listened to completely coincidentally, that one of the guys at NASA that had managed the landing of the rover on Mars has been let go probably b/c he is no longer needed -- seems the budget is very tight there. Hundreds of people are involved in 16-hour runs to plan each and every day for the rover. I seriously wonder why that is so complicated. Recently they mentioned they have a rule book that is a couple hundred pages long that needs to be obeyed very carefully, and that they essentially have to write new software for the rover every day. As a software developer, of course, I wonder why that is necessary, b/c normally you would think that there'd be some level of automation in such a system. It looked like for driving, they need to control every little bit of the drive (if you look at presentations on how slow that thing is, it becomes somewhat understandable, though). So, there will probably be no speeding through Martian landscapes, making a few nice video shots on the way.
I began reading a story today about how NASA's future would be very bleak after this project, but I'm sure that cooperation with other space agencies and private businesses will still leave enough space (pun intended!) for NASA and all its experts and expertise.
They managed to team up with Russia more than once, perhaps they should consider China as well, since China has the proverbial "unlimited financial resources" (as some journalist put it). And they want to go everywhere: Moon, Mars, you name it!
I began reading a story today about how NASA's future would be very bleak after this project, but I'm sure that cooperation with other space agencies and private businesses will still leave enough space (pun intended!) for NASA and all its experts and expertise.
They managed to team up with Russia more than once, perhaps they should consider China as well, since China has the proverbial "unlimited financial resources" (as some journalist put it). And they want to go everywhere: Moon, Mars, you name it!
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Wow, NASA published some really good hi-res images in the past few days, some are even white-corrected (b/c it's darker on Mars than on Earth) :
Check this out (I posted the white-corrected images below the links) :
Image: PIA 16051
Image: PIA 16052
Image: PIA 16053
If you follow the links, you'll find much higher res versions of these photos.
Check this out (I posted the white-corrected images below the links) :
Image: PIA 16051
Image: PIA 16052
Image: PIA 16053
If you follow the links, you'll find much higher res versions of these photos.