NASA Curiosity live coverage now on

[gary]

NASA live TV coverage of the Curiosity landing from the JPL control room -
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/mars/curiosity_news3.html

45 minutes from entry.

[gary]

Parachute deployed!

Vehicle slowed.

Ground RADAR detects ground.

[Liz]

Fabulous stuff for sure!!

[gary]

Touchdown!!!

[supernova1965]

Touch down

[iceman]

Awesome scenes on NASA TV!

[MikeyB]

Safe on Mars - confirmed!

[supernova1965]

NOW FOR PICTURES:D:thumbsup:

[iceman]

Lots of awkward hugs too ;)

[rthorntn]

Watching it on ustream, it's pretty exciting stuff, it blows my mind that we can do this!

[Dave47tuc]

Fantastic :thumbsup:

[Liz]

Images coming in!!

[Zhou]

FANTASTIC...an image!

[strongmanmike]

Brilliant :thumbsup:

[Zhou]

Awsome stuff:thumbsup:

[Zhou]

Hi res images now.

[rthorntn]

They still manage to pull this stuff off with a pathetic budget!

[barx1963]

That was AWESOME!!

Malcolm

[strongmanmike]

Completely understand the jubilation, that's one incredible engineering feat there, glad I watched it live :)

Mike

[Zhou]

Inspirational stuff this. What a great achievement:thumbsup:

[supernova1965]

What I can't understand is why there are only 94 active on IIS :screwy::shrug:

[scagman]

welldown

[Octane]

That was amazing.

Watched it live with the boys at work.

Fantastic. :)

H

[Zhou]

That was the best live TV I have seen for a long time.

[strongmanmike]

That's a lot of hugging :eyepop::love:

[h0ughy]

bugger i missed the whole show - hope its recorded.

congrats to all the engineers involved

[jjjnettie]

Wasnt that amazing. :D
Warren, we were too busy watching the landing to log on. LOL

[technofetishism]

\o/

[traveller]

Twitter comment of the day "it's nice to see bearded men cry and hug each other" :lol:

[supernova1965]

HA HA JJJ I recently got my internet upgraded to 10 meg per sec so I was able to watch and have IIS and Facebook on all at the same time while at the same time Pam was working remotely on her work computer from home I love fast internet:D:D

[jjjnettie]

And here is the first Meme. :D :rofl:

[rthorntn]

Apologies if somebody has already posted this but this animation shows the complexity of what just happened:

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/space-technology-news/mars-curiosity-rover-vin/

Mind blowing!

[danielsun]

Amazing!! Thanks for the link Gary.:thumbsup:

[von Tom]

Screenshot from the live feed of the first 2 relayed pictures.

[kustard]

I was "watching" it via the NASA app as I was driving home. Well done to the guys at JPL and NASA :)

[M54]

So exciting! That was fantastic!

[jjjnettie]

There goes the neighbourhood...:lol:

[Ric]

wow, how awesome was that.

The engineers that built that skycrane and all the rest are pure genius.

Now that was reality tv worth watching.

[traveller]

this pic shows just how big curiosity is compared with previous rovers

[baileys2611]

I watched it from the planetary society's website, so you got to see the grown bearded men cry and hug AND hear Bill Nye yell along with the rest of the crowd :thumbsup:

[baileys2611]

AAH! There's already humans on Mars. Hey, looks like they did some neat paving too.

[kustard]

Where's my Illudium Pu-36 Explosive Space Modulator?!

[traveller]

"they paved paradise and put up a parking lot" :lol:

[mithrandir]

There were over 200,000 on the ustream feed.
And I've just lost the google+ feed :(
Actually my ISP lost their uplink.

[rthorntn]

Cool they just gave thanks to Oz :)

[Regulus]

Congratulations to all involved. It is sooo exciting and I am looking forward to the pictures and data coming through in the next weeks, months and years.

Well done them.

[supernova1965]

Here are my happy snaps of me and some other objects with CURIOSITY thanks to an Augmented Reality ipad app from NASA

image 1 Curiosity in the palm of my hand
image 2 with my favourite toy car
image 3 with my avatar from IIS

[Sarge]

That was fantastic. Now the next phase begins - exploration. Well done NASA. Well done JPL. Well done all supporting services.
:thumbsup:
Amazing, my name, wife's name and grandchildren's names are now on Mars forever. Mars will look very different from now on.
:cool:
Clear skies

Rod
:D:D

[supernova1965]

And another one on my keyboard with IIS in the background:D:rofl:

[Trixie]

I watched it in the school yard while waiting to pick up my son. The other parents already think I am strange, now they think I am mad!

Quite a few kids came up to find out what I was watching and were pretty excited once I explained. I can't believe no adults in the school seemed to know or care especially when the kids were so interested in what I showed them.

Ed grammar and spelling

[jjjnettie]

:( it's sad isn't it. Where is their curiosity? Where is their sense of wonder?

[gary]

Press conference on at the moment -
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/mars/curiosity_news3.html

[Octane]

I see what you did there. :D

[Matt Wastell]

Just back from work and only found out now everything went OK - hooray!!!!!!!!!!

[Suzy]

Oh dear, seems Curiosity has just encountered some resistance....

120216

[hotspur]

Sounds good,my favourite feature in the solar system is that huge canyon on Mars,hope it can drive over there and take some piccy's.

[AndrewJ]

Its a sign of the times.
Considering whats going on in the world ( and out of it :ship2: )
that really affects peoples lives and imaginations,
the first thing on the news tonight ( for an extended time )
was a drunken footballer???? What hope is there.

And one thing i noted that NASA could improve upon
is their advertising and image projection.
I mean they land on the RED planet, and yet all the team are dressed as BLUE smurfs????
I say bring back the short sleeved white shirts and narrow black ties.

Andrew

truly an amazing achievment, and a credit to all involved.

[Fox]

Nasa has once again, done themselves proud! What a wonderful moment to share with all of humankind! Fox

[Sarge]

Very funny Suzy - :lol::lol::lol:

Clear skies

Rod
:D:D

[Nico13]

Yep watched it here at work live was so cool. :thumbsup:
How many of you got sweaty palms like I did just watching, you can understand their feelings after touch down.

I drive the guys at work crazy with Astronomy but they all gathered around to see this bit of wizardry.
First class effort to all involved. :hi:

[Octane]

Ken,

I was the one holding my iPhone with a whole bunch of people around me -- my hands were shaking even though my arms were rested on a table!

H

[mithrandir]

What a great day for it to be Bank Holiday!

[danielsun]

Thanks Richard, that is incredible and shows just how complex and precise this mission is and had to be. Amazing stuff!!:thumbsup:

[gary]

It was very well publicized, including here on IceInSpace before, but in
case anyone managed to miss it, this 5:00 video entitled "7 Minutes"
(aka "7 Minutes of Terror") has high production quality, narratives provided by
some of the engineers involved and dramatic music to boot -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki_Af_o9Q9s

And sometimes people ask me, "What do engineers actually do?".

[iceman]

Check this out - photo of Curiosity during descent, taken from the HiRISE orbiter!

http://www.uahirise.org/releases/msl-descent.php

[Omaroo]

Mazing

[Tamtarn]

Watched it live. Absolutely amazing! Can't wait to see more images from Curiosity coming through.
Barb

[ZeroID]

Got home just in time to watch the celebrations on the tablet. ( I love no boot up time !! ) although I heard the landin announcement on the car radio. Absolutely awesome to see the first pix back in such a short time frame, bodes well for the long term exploration. I wonder what we'll learn now ?
Congratulations to all at NASA on this one. Deserves one of them Gold Medal thingies ...

[Screwdriverone]

I may as well chip in,

[strongmanmike]

Man!! how cool is that??? :eyepop:...what an age we are enjoying huh?

Mike

[Screwdriverone]

Here is another one.

[strongmanmike]

That would have to be the first time a spacecraft has been directly imaged while landing on another solar system body, wouldn't it...?

[Octane]

Also, today's XKCD:

http://xkcd.com/1091/

H

[DavidU]

Lol !

[gary]

Wow! That's amazing! I see on the same page there is an update with an
image that is believed to be of the heatshield in free-fall.

Back of the envelope calculation ...

MRO altitude approx 283km
Curiosity altitude 1 min prior to touchdown approx 1.6km
Parachute diameter 15.5m

So from MRO's perspective, the deployed parachute would appear about 11 arc seconds across.

But when you consider it is resolving the dot at the center of the parachute, which
judging from images of the chute when it was being tested on Earth, might be, say,
1m across, that would be in the order of 1 arc second from the perspective of
MRO.

[strongmanmike]

Seems not :thumbsup:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/slideshow.cfm?id=31CAFBED-F2A4-6F9F-943086FFDD888605

Mike

[Suzy]

Both those pics are so funny Chris- aaaah what a crack-up!!! :lol::rofl::rofl:
haha Curiosity killed the cat gives that term real meaning now.:P
You should have shared it on fb.;)

[Mountain_Wanderer]

Awesome that the rover landed successfully :)

[JB80]

This is a nice stop motion video of the descent.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?collection_id=14661&media_id=149974611

[SkyViking]

I'm so excited, have been looking forward to this day for the last 5 years or so. Of course watched the whole thing live and what an amazing and flawless landing it was! Can't wait to see the images and science coming out of this during the next months and years.

[mithrandir]

Did you catch the other HiRISE pic showing the heat shield still in flight? The link is on (http://www.uahirise.org/releases/msl-descent.php) (from Mike's post) towards the bottom.

[TrevorW]

Can someone explain to me why they couldn't get video of the descent stage etc and some decent images first up

[OICURMT]

No...


http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?p=881996#post881996

[shelltree]

Oh, mannnn! This was absolutely incredible to watch! I was sitting forward in my chair, biting my nails down to the last minutes. By 40 metres I was a giddy wreck and by touch down, I was crying :lol:

Absolutely amazing, what a fantastic and monumental achievement! The excitement was contagious, the big grin would NOT leave my face :D And the photos just blew me away! And are now a fixture on my Iphone background :)

Cannot wait to hear more and more as the months go by.

Go, go, Curiosity! :)

[JB80]

I posted a link on the previous page which showed the descent from the base of the rover. As for decent well it's not great but it's still good to see.

[strongmanmike]

Cheers, yes already realised this, see Post #76 - both incredible images :thumbsup:

Mike

[Deeno]

What an amazing feat of engineering!
Had my doubts over the complexity of such a landing but, they pulled it off.
To top it off, I watched it live from my phone on my way home from work.

Not only is the world getting smaller, the planets are getting closer!

Thanks NASA....

[TrevorW]

I watched that (it's not true video) and its just bad, surely in this day and age they could have captured video to show the tethered drop etc.

An amazing achievement no doubt but IMO they could have done more to capture public interest

[SkyViking]

Are you serious? :eyepop:
It's a rough animation made from a few of the frames currently stored in the rower. Personally I'm grateful that they provide this spectacular view within 24 hours of the landing.
In reality there are around 1500 frames of the descent in 1600x1200 full colour without compression artifacts, but they are not coming down yet because there is higher priority data they need first. So the final version will be much much better, but right now they just have other priorities.

While I would certainly love to see videos of every aspect of the landing etc then remember that every 'gadget' mounted on the rower will detract from the real science which can be done on the mission. The science payload is 75kgs split among 10 instruments. This is out of ~900kgs total weight of the rower. So if you want to add more gadgets to provide fun views of ie. the tethered descent then other more important science objectives would have to give...

[iceman]

I wish it was live streaming on YouTube during the descent! :rolleyes:

Geez Trevor, hard man to please.

[SkyViking]

I'm such a simple mind - Just successfully completing the heaviest, largest and by far most complex landing on another planet is enough to capture my full interest :)

[andyc]

Broadband on Mars isn't up to the task? ;) Sorry, couldn't resist! Rolf's answered your question in detail. There just isn't room to take 'pretty pictures' on an entry like this, and most of the cameras were stowed away during the descent to protect them.

[gary]

To answer why it is difficult to have real-time high-resolution video during the
descent, an Electrical Engineer would quote the Shannon–Hartley theorem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon%E2%80%93Hartley_theorem)
which dictates the maximum rate at which information can be transmitted over a
communications channel of a specified bandwidth in the presence of noise.

For inquiring minds that need to know, the late, great Claude Shannon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Elwood_Shannon) tell us that -

C = B * log2( 1 + S/N)

where
C is the channel capacity in bits per second
B is the bandwidth in Hertz
S/N is the signal-to-noise ratio
and log2 is to denote log to the base 2.

So what does all that mean? It means that for a given bandwidth with given
noise, and for a transmitter with given power, there is a maximum data rate
that one can achieve and no more.

This theorem applies to whether the channel is a telephone line, radio waves,
light waves or even shouting out an order across a noisy pub.

To get a more complete picture with respect Curiosity, one then has to also consider
the propagation characteristics of different parts of the radio frequency spectrum.

During descent, the UHF part of the spectrum (around 400MHz) was used
to communicate back to Tidbinbilla and then to the two orbiting Mars satellites
once Curiosity dropped below the Martian horizon.

The UHF part of the spectrum is effective at propagating signals omni-directionally,
just what you need for a moving target being buffeted around in the wind. However,
this part of the spectrum also provides a narrower bandwidth that one can effectively
use compared to X-band (7 to 11.2 GHz) and because one needs to transmit
omni-directionally, much of the transmitted power is effectively "lost".

Which brings us back to Shannon. Smaller bandwidth, smaller power, the less data
you can reliably transmit in a given amount of time (and as we will discuss below,
time was also of the essence).

What type of data rate are we talking about? Around 128kbps. Though the
landing sequence was all done autonomously without requiring communication
back to Earth, that limited bandwidth was also used to transmit telemetry.

Apparently three UHF antenna were employed. One mounted on the backshell
to transmit information prior to entry until backshell separation. A second
antenna then took over on the descent stage and a third was used on the rover
itself.

The rover itself has three radios. Two of them operate in X-band. One purposely
uses a low gain omni-directional antenna whose main function is to receive
commands from Earth at a very low data rate (Shannon tells us the lower the
data rate, the more reliable the data can be recovered - important when you
are driving a billion dollar asset on Mars). A second X-band radio employs a
movable high gain antenna about 0.3m in diameter that can be pointed to Earth.
It's data rate ranges from 160 bits-per-second (bps) to 12,000 bits per second.
The 400MHz UHF omni-directional antenna is used to transmit to the orbiters
at around 128,000 bits per second.

Two orbiters are used to relay data back to Earth. These are Mars Odyssey
and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). They have more powerful transmitters
that can relay data back at a higher data rate - around 2 megabits per second.
But there is a catch. These two satellites each fly over within line of sight of the
Curiosity landing site twice a day, but only for about 8 minutes a time on each pass.

So relaying all that data in a limited window of time is tricky. In fact, when Mars
Odyssey developed a fault on June 8th when one of its reaction wheels used
to position it failed, a major piece of juggling took place to correct its orbit
so that both it and MRO would magically both be at the right place
at the right time during the seven minutes of terror.
That story is a compelling one in itself - http://www.americaspace.org/?p=23351

With limited bandwidth, limited power, omni-directional antennas and with
Earth and the Mars orbiting satellites in sight of Curiosity for only a precious few
minutes, it was not technically possible to stream real-time video. Once on
the ground, there was just the opportunity to transmit a couple of low resolution
thumbnail images before the relay satellites themselves dropped beneath the
horizon.

I guess what happens is that with the Hollywood treatment of spaceflight, many people
have become conditioned to anticipate high resolution streaming images of beads
of sweat pouring down some astronaut's face as he battles to blow up some
distant asteroid. :) The practical reality is that the Shannon-Hartley theorem kicks
in and there is a limit to how much data one can reliably transmit when one has
a limited amount of power.

As a footnote, this same fundamental theorem is why optical fibers to the home in
urban settings are technically the best choice for a broadband network and that
a suggestion that copper cable or wireless could be a suitable alternative is
technically naive.

Thankfully, the genius of minds such as Shannon's helped set the basis for the
modern communications systems that we enjoy here on Earth and make
communicating to a probe on Mars technically possible.

[TrevorW]

I wasn't actually talking about streaming video, but it seems when someone doesn't follow the main stream consensus they are often denigrated.

I might be a hard man to please but I've seen better high altitude amateur rocketry video done with cheap gear under Earth conditions (thicker atmosphere, higher gravitational field etc)

The rover weights a tonne anyway so a little bit extra weight could have easily been handled. They had 140 kgs of fuel to spare on the lander module after Curiosity was dropped.

No I wouldn't say hard, probably a little bit more curious than others and a little less accepting of semi-mediocrity.

A further example of this is one of the first colour pictures shown was fuzzy, ,excuse given, was that the lens was covered with dust, wouldn't you think to make the lens self cleaning, especially in this type of environment.

I think NASA needs more PR/media people on their team? To build interest and ultimately funding you need public support and this comes by making an adventure interesting,exciting and interactive.

Its just my POV

[alistairsam]

I watched it live at work with my colleagues and was amazing to see everything worked so well as planned.

apparently there's half a million lines of computer code for the EDL stage.
I find this image pretty amazing in that its an alien world we're looking at.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16005.html

I was confused with how the real time feed from odyssey worked with the time delay for signals, but this video explains it
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?collection_id=14661&media_id=149974611

anyone know what the indentations in the soil at the bottom left, around 7 o'clock could be in this image from the phoenix lander?? Not sure how that could form.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/slideshow.cfm?id=mars-lander-slide-show#5

nice article on the mmrtg used in Curiosity as its power source

MMRTG - Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator
http://nuclear.gov/pdffiles/mmrtg.pdf

[gary]

I am never really fond of analogies, particularly in engineering, but
perhaps the following one might prove helpful? :)

Consider throwing a stone into a pond and watching the wavefront ripple out in
all directions. The weight of the stone and how high it was thrown determines the
transmitted power of the wave.

Now consider the same stone thrown from the same height into the Pacific
Ocean from say the west coast of the United States. Again the wave expands
out in all directions but once it reaches a person standing on a beach in Sydney,
the effective received power is very small. What's more, the wind blowing
up other waves, ships churning up the water and so on create "noise" which
causes the information carried by the wave from the stone to be lost.

Now scale that up to an ocean of Earth to Mars proportions. The transmitted power
once it arrives here is vanishingly small and can hardly be distinguished from
the background noise.

So the effective received power from a small transmitter on an amateur rocket would
be received like a shout compared to trying to make out the whisper
from considerably more powerful transmitters over the vast distance from
Mars (remember, even at the speed of light it took around 14 minutes for the signals to
get here). :)

Probably a quick Google or back of the envelope calculation would reveal the
orders of magnitude differences in received power between the amateur rocket
transmitter and the Curiosity transmitter, but nevertheless anticipate that
the power received from a modest sized transmitter on Mars would be
mind-boggling small and that the real miracle is that it can be received at all.

The ability to provide more compelling images during descent would not have
been due to any lack of foresight by the designers, but simply engineering
practicality given the many constraints involved and once again, the Shannon
theorem is at the technical heart of it.

[gary]

From an engineering perspective, they did precisely the right thing.

The camera used was one of the wheel clearance cameras and it is fitted with
a removable transparent dust cover.

Consider the scenarios that planners faced -

The vehicle has just descended, one doesn't know if it it will be sitting on its side
or if it will have been damaged. Meantime, dust is still blowing everywhere from
the lander and will take time to settle. One could automate that the dust cover
be removed on landing, but the lens would then still get dusty from the dust cloud.

The rover has no direct line of sight path to Earth and the orbiters relaying data
will be going under the Martian horizon in a few seconds time. Furthermore, if the
vehicle is damaged or sitting on its side, it may be a major unrecoverable
mistake to deploy something mechanical like removing the lens cover until a full
assessment can be made by controllers on Earth as to the consequences of that
action.

In any case, it takes 14 minutes to transmit to Earth, say a minute for the controllers
to make a decision and send a command back, which then takes 14 minutes to
get back to Mars. But to no avail, because by then the orbiters have gone beneath
the horizon and can't receive the transmission to relay on anyway.

So what does one do? All one can do is to get off a low res thumbnail and
some telemetry as to the rover's physical orientation so that cool heads can
take the next step on the following orbiter pass or the next time the rover is
within line of site of Earth antennas.

Each move has to be made like a slow chess game.

[alistairsam]

It did have a dust cap. image on the left is with it on, right is with it off
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16005.html

"The only other instrument on Curiosity with a dust cover is the Mars Hand Lens Imager (or MAHLI), located on the rover's arm. In this case, the dust cover is not removed but will be opened when needed. This way, the instrument is protected from dust that may be generated from other tools on the rover's arm, in addition to wind-blown dust"

[SkyViking]

No it could not have been handled without something else being sacrificed. As I said there were 75kgs allocated for science instruments.
Yes a lot of fuel left but it had to be there in case the descent took longer, it was not merely cut off at a specific time but instead autonomously guided down based on the radar measurements etc. So it could have taken longer and they would have needed the extra fuel in that case. The main objective is of course to get down safe.
And it's not as easy as slapping an iPhone onto the rower case... these instruments have to be built to withstand the radiation during the journey through interplanetary space, and the extreme cold/heat they are subjected to. And they must be guaranteed to function flawlessly for years once in Mars' inhospitable environment. They are very thoroughly built and each is the result of large engineering projects and are very expensive undertakings. It's not easy at all and it has nothing to do with amateur rockets in Earth atmosphere.


I must say that then I would expect you to have noticed how NASA pretty much constantly stated that these first images was indeed taken through dust caps and beamed down in low resolution etc. :shrug:
As already said, there are full resolution images sitting on the rower waiting to be downloaded. The first images were heavily reduced in size and jpg compressed to facilitate easy download within the limited window of opportunity for Earth communication right after the landing. These images so far have also only been taken though the small fish-eye navigation cameras, the big mast with the main cameras is not even deployed yet. Sorry but geez what did you expect to see at this stage? What else would you have done?


I for one am extremely excited and interested in this and I know the interest within USA itself is huge. There are also very comprehensive websites for all the rowers, both the 2 old ones and the new one, and many programs for participation of various sorts. For example, the name Curiousity was the result of a competion for primary school children to come up with the best name, and I noticed the 10 year old girl who came up with 'Curiousity' was present at the press briefing right after landing - talk about being involved! There is a big effort going into creating interest in the public, but it's probably more noticeable in the USA of course.
They have had these types of programs for a very long time. Remember the 'Teacher in Space' program where Christa McAuliffe was chosen as an ordinary primary school teacher to go up in space. Sadly she perished with the rest of the crew in the Challenger disaster.

But please tell us what they should do instead then? :shrug:

[TrevorW]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/mars-rover-first-color-photo-curiosity_n_1751712.html

Rolf maybe I'm expecting to much from NASA and $2.5 billion, regardless I'm not the only one making similar analogies

[SkyViking]

That article is just stating the facts as we've already talked about here, and then some other media apparently didn't realise that either. How does that reflect bad on NASA? What is it you would have done differently?

[TrevorW]

Well since you asked :question:

1. Dropped high powered signal relay transmitter/boosters prior to landing
2. Ensured the main camera mast was raised as soon as possible after landing, popped the dust covers as soon as the dust had settled and panned 360 degrees taking images.
4. Made sure all camera lens were all self cleaning
5. Take and store low resolution video to a HD of the descent for relay ASAP
6. ASAP take and transmit still colour images up to 3 mega pixels back home (128000kps) would only take 38.4 seconds per image or thereabouts excluding any time lag

None of which would be impossible nor beyond the autonomous capabilities of the rover

Cheers :D

[SkyViking]

Trevor, have a read here if you haven't already, most of that is exactly what they are doing: What to Expect When Curiosity Starts Snapping Pictures (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20120803.html)

I think this all comes down to what ASAP means. They are getting hi res full colour images in a couple of days. You seem to be disappointed that they are not already here, but I can't really see the difference a day or two makes since we have already waited years for this landing.

Re point 1, that would make no difference since the rover is perfectly capable of communicating directly with Earth - but Earth dipped below the local horizon a few minutes before the landing and thus they relayed through Odyssey.

Re point 6, not sure where you got '128000kps' from, and did you mean 128kbps? A 3MB image takes 3min7.5s @ 128kbps.:shrug:
In any case the transfer rates are:


Just to clarify:
1) Humanity have just completed the most complex landing of the largest payload ever on another planet. A completely new landing technique which proved to work flawlessly.
2) Upon landing thumbnail images were immediately relayed to Earth via Odyssey, although NASA expected to only receive these on the second pass 2 hours later.
3) Simultaneously, MRO executed a carefully choreographed maneuver to snap image of the lander hanging from the parachute in the last minute of descent, and even the jettisoned heat shield was visible as a bonus.
4) NASA makes every image freely available as they come in, and all this was paid for by american tax payers, not us.
...And you are not happy? :eyepop::lol:

[mickkk]

I sat cross legged on the floor, looking up at at small black and white TV showing a grainy image of Man setting foot on the Moon.

I sat on the couch, watching a live colour 55 inch HD feed from the NASA CIT control room, I watched the animation live on a 27 inch PC.

This time, I was there. It was just incredible.

[Zhou]

I have noticed on various sites that many people are disatisfied with the images from curiosity. I guess that has to do with the age we live in, we need instant gratification of the senses.

NASA as usual has done a stirling job; despite a severly restricted budget. It delivered an expensive, heavy, high-tech science platform to another planet seemingly faultlessly. It is not asking to much to let the tech guys check if everything is OK before blazing away with the images.

NASA takes great strides in sharing the information it gathers with the general public. I have recently been on the NASA website to look at the imagery from the Opportunity Rover (still going strong), and the images, which are high resolution, are available to the public free of charge not to mention video and audio. The same goes for ESA.

NASA rocks :thumbsup:

[DavidU]

Yep !:thumbsup:

[Zhou]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1751712.html (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/mars-rover-first-color-photo-curiosity_n_1751712.html)

This is pretty depressing reading.

[sparrow_34]

Some new pics from the NAV Cams http://www.spaceflight101.com/msl-sol-2-full-images.html

[Nico13]

Like Trevor says a small amount of video from the rover would have been great but also an alternative I would have thought that NASA would have been very keen to capture would be taken from the Sky Crane itself showing the tethered lowering of the rover, touch down and fly away from the crane.

We all know how small cameras can be made these days that give very good quality video and who says all this data has to come back via one data link.
One would assume they have at least a double redundancy if not triple.
Do you honestly think they would rely on a single link, I think not.

Anyway this is all getting a bit silly banging on at each other.

[multiweb]

:eyepop: How good is that hey? :thumbsup:

[tornado33]

Full res navcam raw pics available here (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=2)
fantastic pics indeed. cant wait for colour panoramas to appear

[SkyViking]

Some very cool images coming down right now. I just stitched together two navcam images. Look at those jagged mountains on the horizon, several kms tall! I've always wanted to see that on Mars :D It's certainly a more interesting location than the traditional semi flat plains.

[TrevorW]

Now they are getting better;):D

Sorry got the math wrong Rolf

[SkyViking]

And they will get heaps better still. The one above is just from the navigation camera on the mast. They haven't flexed the muscles of the big main colour camera yet... This mission will simply be spectacular :D

[tims]

Be interesting to know what sort of surface conditions Curiosity was in when this photo was taken - temperature, time of (martian) day etc.
Anyone know?

Thanks

[multiweb]

This is soooo cool. We're in for a treat with this mission I reckon. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[SkyViking]

Hi res descent images being downloaded now, here is one: http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/674789main_pia16021-full_full.jpg

Imagine once the full hi res descent video is assembled - just awesome!

[DavidU]

Now that's awesome.

[DavidU]

Here we go, the first "mystery object" on Mars........
http://au.news.yahoo.com/technology/news/article/-/14503542/what-is-the-mystery-object-on-mars/

[SkyViking]

There was some discussion on that over on UMSF forums immediately after the landing. It appears quite logical that it could be the dust cloud from the crashing skycrane, but what a lucky shot if it is :) It's definitely not dust on the lens cover because it appears in both the left and right views.

[andyc]

My guess is that it's most likely a few stones were kicked up by Phoenix's landing - in particular one of a pair of stones just above the little indentations looks like it has rolled/bounced (showing a darker underside and not embedded in the finer regolith). The indentations would be where the stones skipped across and bounced in the fine soil?

[jenchris]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/slideshow.cfm?id=mars-lander-slide-show#5

Why is the flag blue instead of red striped?

[Steffen]

With all the excitement about Curiosity, is anybody sparing a thought for Spirit?

:P

[tims]

Here's one from little brother, Opportunity - taken in May:

"Late Afternoon Shadows at Endeavour Crater on Mars
NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity catches its own late-afternoon shadow in this dramatically lit view eastward across Endeavour Crater on Mars."

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20120522a.html

[multiweb]

OMG! :eyepop: It's a Jawa Sand crawler. George Lucas was right! :lol:

[multiweb]

Just as well its source of power is not sunlight. Check the dust on this thing already. :eyepop:The horizon hills look really greenish. Is this false color or real light?

[multiweb]

PS: Oops! Haven't had my coffe yet. That's the one that's stuck alright...:lol:

[gary]

Interesting to see here in this image on right of frame the blast mark
one of the descent engines made. Also note little pebbles and grit scattered
on body of Curiosity which would have been blown and tossed up in the landing.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/675217main_pia16028-full_full.jpg

JPL report health checks of system still taking place and all looks good.

This thumbnail image shows more blast marks -
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/675358main_pia16032-full_full.jpg

The thumbnail panorama -
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/675227main_pia16029-full_full.jpg

[PCH]

Gary et al,

to me, those pics make Mars seem so much closer. Eerily 'close' in fact.

I remember when the first moon shots came out, being able to see individual small rocks and bits of gravel on the ground for the first time had me thinking the same thing then - just how 'close' the moon had become now that we could see this quality of detail.

And now here we are, able to see this incredibly fine detail on Mars. The landscape and atmosphere look spookily similar to parts of our own planet. And yet it's all that distance away. Just awesome to ponder on the scope of it ....

[RB]

yeah, I keep expecting to see Gilligan and the skipper pop out of nowhere covered in feathers.

:lol:

[gary]

Hi Paul,

I know exactly what you mean.

Firstly, I remember listening to the NASA commentary of the Viking 1 landing
in July 1976 being broadcast "live" on shortwave by the Voice of America.
Because of the 14 minute light-time delay from Mars, one didn't know whether
it had either crashed or successfully landed because the speed of light is as
fast as the information could be conveyed.

It struck me at the time as philosophically significant because it was the first time
in most of our lives that the fate of something we cared about which had already in fact occurred
can't be known instantaneously because of the finite speed of light. Of course, when
we wave to each other across a room, we experience a light-time delay of
around 3.3 nanoseconds per meter, but humanly we don't notice it and we
thus get the illusion that everything is happening in the same "real-time" time-frame.

Secondly, the university library had a subscription to NASA journals and many
a spare hour was spent reading them when I probably should have been
completing the next assignment.

One of the publications was SP-425 "The Martian Landcape". It included pictures
from Viking 1 and Viking 2. At the back there were some 3D stereo pairs.

Inside the back cover of the publication there was an envelope with a fold-out stereo
viewer (what a great book!). I remember the sense of awe and wonder when
I fused the images for the first time and there I was looking at this rocky landscape
on another world. With each passing second as I stared at it, more and more
"snapped" into place and I felt like I was "there".

As the authors of SP-425 wrote -


Yet here was a world that was also in some ways familiar. It struck me how
common rocks must be throughout the universe. You could pick them up,
throw them or bang them together just like here.

I remember leaving the library like I had undergone some epiphany. As I looked
around, everyone else was just going about their day-to-day lives, but I had
just visited another world.

"SP-425 The Martian Landscape" by the Viking Landing Imaging team is available
online here - http://history.nasa.gov/SP-425/contents.htm

Those stereo pairs appear in it here -
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-425/ch41.htm

[DavidU]

NASA explains it's choice of 2MP camera sensors on Curiosity rover.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/9/3232160/curiosity-mastcam-2-megapixel-camera-project-leader

[gary]

These cameras are lovingly designed and hand assembled by
Malin Space Science Systems (http://www.msss.com/) (MSSS) in San Diego.

A wonderful portfolio of space cameras appears on their web page here -
http://www.msss.com/space-cameras/

[TrevorW]

http://www.msss.com/science/msl-mastcam-instrument-description.php

[Octane]

Where's the pricing? :P

H

[Phil Hart]

Apologies if this has been posted before, but thought some might be interested in the role that the CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope had in monitoring the arrival of the Mars probe, there's this link via John Sarkissian:

http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/people/sar049/msl_tracks/edl/

Has some nice behind the scenes views and a Doppler plot of the spacecraft on the way in.

Phil

[DavidU]

Here is a new hi res Mars image.
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia16051_figure_1_raw_smaller-full.jpg

[TrevorW]

This is an RGB image and was wondering if it's a true colour rendition as histogram seems all over the place

I had a go at a small section to balance the histogram somewhat and the colour is different

[gary]

Hi David,

Thanks for posting the link.

This has to be the most tantalizing image yet.

When you examine the image, the dark region towards the center looks very compelling.
Though I am no geologist, this looks like the remnant of a dried up creek bed and it
was one of the main reasons this landing site was chosen.

I would speculate that these darker areas correspond to the clay deposits that
geologists using orbiter imagery had originally spotted. And the geologists
have said where there is clay, there once must have been water flow.

If it were on Earth and you were Bear Grylls and had just parachuted into there,
surely you would make a beeline to the dark area at the foot of the mountains
as your best chance of digging to find water. The water may long be gone
but it will be intriguing to see the evidence up close of where it had been.

As a footnote, readers may like to be reminded that Gale Crater was named after
Sydney amateur astronomer Walter Gale, who passed away in 1945.
His biography appears here –
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gale-walter-frederick-6269

Images copyright JPL/NASA.
First image shows dark area - are these the fluvial (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluvial) clay deposits?
Second image shows landing zone in rim of crater. Note the darker regions which are believed to be fluvial deposits.
Do these correspond to what we are seeing in the ground based image?

[SkyViking]

These images that are beginning to come down now are really good.
I had a play with one of the full resolution views towards Mt. Sharp (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia16053-figure_4color-full.jpg) and attached below is the result.
The landing area seems incredibly diverse, and look at all those layers on the mountain itself...! :D

[DavidU]

Nice work ! the colour is great.

[Hans Tucker]

Has this been posted? Sorry if I yet again repeat or repost something that has already been. Use the keyboard arrow keys to get the 360 degree rotation.

http://www.360pano.eu/mars/?lang=1

[gary]

Thanks Han,

Fabulous stuff!

It's all green lights and parking spaces.

[Octane]

Awesome, Hans.

It often strikes me during the day the fact that we're on another planet, yet, it doesn't look altogether too dissimilar from our own little patch in the solar system.

What an awesome time to be alive.

H

[Steffen]

Nice 360° pano, very detailed. But – where is the camera mounted?

[gary]

Hi Steffen,

Curiosity has no less than 17 cameras and this one is mounted on a mast along with several others.

It is interesting to pan down in the image and to look at the top surface of the rover itself.
That gives some perspective of where the camera is mounted and how high up it is.
Note the little pebbles and grit.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:20110406_PIA13809_D2011_0404_D 036_cropped-full.jpg

Image below copyright JPL/NASA.

[Steffen]

Hi Gary,
if you look down and swing the view around you see no mast or any attachment point for the camera. It looks like the view from a detached camera hovering over the rover. I'm sure there is a simple explanation, but the camera mast (or even its shadow) isn't in the picture.

EDIT In fact, it looks like the Mastcam is still in its stowed position.

Cheers
Steffen.

[scagman]

Thats a great shot, but I agree with Steffen, you cant see any arms coming from the rover.
Could they have used differant cameras and stitched them together. Although the shot does look like its from the same position.

Cheers

[AstroFlyer]

It looks like the panorama was taken by the main mast camera & the probably edited out, just like any other 360 deg panoramas.
If you look at the bottom of the panorama you'll see it corresponds with location of the main cam.

[tornado33]

here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxsOMTvg9io&feature=youtu.be) is a video I made using all of the descent Imager thumbnails. It has a faster farme rate than the JPL version. Id love to see such a video when all of the full res. versions are uplinked.There is so many of them, it may take time for that to happen.
Scott

[Terry B]

Maybe this is why.:lol::lol:

[SkyViking]

Mmmmm, the hi res descent images are here now :D: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=0&camera=MARDI

Scott, how did you get all of them, did you download them one by one?

[SkyViking]

I've just found the heat shield impat in the hi res MARDI descent images, check it out here: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?p=884617#post884617

[tornado33]

I couldnt wait for NASA to make a full resolution video of the descent using the full res. raw MARDI images now sent back, so I made my own :)
Here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-d2o4Jorcw&list=UUQnDL5pE4CtHXjJRN4Dat_g&index=2&feature=plcp) it is at 30 fps


Also at 15 fps (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18v7FBDAebg&list=UUQnDL5pE4CtHXjJRN4Dat_g&index=1&feature=plcp)

For best results set quality to "original"
I used freeware "photolapse" software to do it. I used Flashget to download as a batch all of the full res. images from the JPL site (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=0&camera=MARDI)
Scott

[gary]

NASA report they have selected their first target area to drive to, some 400m
away to what they describe as a "natural intersection of three types of terrain".

They have nicknamed the target area "Glenelg". So if you live in Adelaide and
see a strange vehicle headed toward the beach, don't be alarmed.

Story here -
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-246

Prior to the drive to Glenelg, the plan is to use the ChemCam laser induced breakdown
spectrometer to zap a rock about 3m away to deduce its elemental
composition.

I was only considering the other day how science fiction has often nurtured the
concept that one day we get visited by extraterrestrials and they zap us all
dead with lasers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2qSh46hilk). Is there not an irony that the first real evidence we may have
of extraterrestrial life might come from a spectroscopic analysis after we
have zapped it into atomic elements with a laser? "Don't run! We come in peace!" :lol:

[TrevorW]

If the orbiter images a mushroom cloud then we will know that wasn't some innocuous rock that was zapped

[iceman]

So this is the sort of HD video you wanted, Trevor?

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

Absolutely incredible!

[big_dav_2001]

That is an incredible video Mike!!! Absolutely mind-blowing, thanks

Davin

[gary]

Curiosity takes its first short drive.

Story including video of JPL press briefing and photos here -
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/roving-rover-curiosity-takes-first-spin-around-mars-20120823-24nd0.html

Confirmation of first drive celebration video here (54 seconds) -
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/videos/

Full resolution tyre track image here -
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/679404main_pia16092_full.jpg

Donuts on Mars -
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/679737main_pia16095_full.jpg

[gary]

Annotated spectrum -

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/679341main_pia16089_full.jpg

[strongmanmike]

Awesome...that seems to be a common word for this mission :thumbsup:

Mike

[SkyViking]

Wohoo, the rover is roving!! :D

And what a great descent video that was, thanks for the link Mike.

[bartman]

:rover2::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbs up::thumbsup:
Bartman

[gary]

A human interest story appears in the Sydney Morning Herald this afternoon
by motoring writer, Barry Park, who writes about Matt Heverly, an engineer
on the JPL team responsible for "driving" the Curiosity rover.

http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/driving-on-mars-20120824-24qqm.html

[gary]

Stunning portion of a 100mm MastCam image showing the strata in the base of Mount Sharp -
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/681054main_pia16105-full_full.jpg

Full uncropped image here -
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA16104.jpg

Further details here including annotated image showing distance scale.
For example, the highest point on the mountain that can be seen is some 16.2km away -
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16104

[gary]

Curiosity catches partial eclipse by Phobos as it grazed the edge of the Sun.

Story, pictures -
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/two-moons-and-triple-the-speed-how-a-mars-eclipse-differs-from-earth-20120921-26amj.html

[gary]

NASA announce that the landing site of the Mars rover Curiosity was once
covered with fast-moving and possibly waist-high water that could have
possibly supported life.

Washington Post story here -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/curiosity-rovers-mars-landing-site-was-once-covered-with-fast-moving-water-nasa-says/2012/09/27/9ce654a0-08d2-11e2-a10c-fa5a255a9258_story.html?hpid=z2

[gary]

JPL reports -



Bright object is in the foreground, on the ground, near the bottom of this Mastcam image -
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/694811main_pia16225-43_full.jpg

Back on 7 October, Curiosity took its first scoop of Martian soil.
Video of the soil being vibrated in the scoop here -
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?collection_id=18895&media_id=153559401

[Iain.k]

Its all ok its just a piece of wire covering

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2012-316

"Over the past two sols, with rover arm activities on hold, the team has assessed the object as likely to be some type of plastic wrapper material, such as a tube used around a wire, possibly having fallen onto the rover from the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's descent stage during the landing in August. "

[strongmanmike]

Is that rubbish being left on Mars :eyepop:. Hope no Matian marine life gets caught up in it :shrug: tut tut tut...if we see a cigarette butt we should get worried...

Mike

[Iain.k]

Nasa are now interplanetary litter bugs : P