'Curiosity' - NASA Mars Rover - Due to land 5th Aug 2012
Discussion
FurtiveFreddy said:
The other pic which could be really spectacular is the one taken by the Mars Orbiter's HiRise camera. This was pointed in the direction of the MSL during descent, but there's no guarantee it managed to get the MSL in the picture. The pictures from HiRise are very high resolution, so it will take many hours to receive the data back which means we probably won't know until later today or tomorrow if it's been successful.
According to this: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/20...The image WAS captured successfully, but they're sitting on it until the press briefing at 4pm this afternoon. Should be amazing!
Eric Mc said:
Amazing as Cuiriosity is going to be - don't forget it is going to take six months to cover the ground an Apollo era Lunar Rover could cover in a few hours.
The lunar rover and the Curiosity have different objectives in the "driving" dept. The lunar rover HAD to be fast, since it carried a perishable cargo. The Curiosity doens't have that problem. Curiosity's main problem would be falling over or getting stuck, so a gently/softly/slowly/carefully operation suits its objectives and risks better.Tune in at 5pm UK for the next press conference, hopefully with the descent photos.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
garyhun said:
Einion Yrth said:
Excellent!!!!! A dream start to a mission.Update on nasa tv about to start here:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
Not read thread since 5pm as I've been watching over 90mins of press conference. Here's some stuff:
Entry
- The photo of the parachute was taken from MRO which was almost overhead, but 340km away 'line of sight'
Landing
- The crane flew off in one of two directions, to avoid pluming the rover. They chose the most northbound of those two options.
- The rover touched down with 0.75m/s vertical velocity and 4cm/s horizontal.
Photos
- They saw the 'blotch' but they don't know if it's the crane crash landing yet
- Expect the front hires photos in an hour or so.
- Mardi BW cameras in 1-2 days
- Mardi descent video thumbs in 2hrs (press conf at 4pm pacific time will reveal if they have them)
- Recieved so far (4x thumbs, 2 cover on, 1 cover off)
- MRO landing site photos late this week.
Next
- The crane has 140kg of hydrazine fuel onboard, so they won't go and investigate the crash site - infact they want to stay away! If science took them close, then they'll take photos though.
- High gain antenna, to talk direct to earth, in 12hrs.
- Ground looks hard, so will take first scoop sample elsewhere
- MRO photos will assist with nav when driving. No sat nav of course, so have to use boulders etc as way points.
- 1 or 2 weeks to first drive, and will only be 1-2meters.
- Team will live on mars time for 90 days, for best efficiency checking out the vehicle (corresponding to data link availability), and also helps bond the international team (400 scientists and 300 engineers)
PS - Everthing looks nominal.
Entry
- The photo of the parachute was taken from MRO which was almost overhead, but 340km away 'line of sight'
Landing
- The crane flew off in one of two directions, to avoid pluming the rover. They chose the most northbound of those two options.
- The rover touched down with 0.75m/s vertical velocity and 4cm/s horizontal.
Photos
- They saw the 'blotch' but they don't know if it's the crane crash landing yet
- Expect the front hires photos in an hour or so.
- Mardi BW cameras in 1-2 days
- Mardi descent video thumbs in 2hrs (press conf at 4pm pacific time will reveal if they have them)
- Recieved so far (4x thumbs, 2 cover on, 1 cover off)
- MRO landing site photos late this week.
Next
- The crane has 140kg of hydrazine fuel onboard, so they won't go and investigate the crash site - infact they want to stay away! If science took them close, then they'll take photos though.
- High gain antenna, to talk direct to earth, in 12hrs.
- Ground looks hard, so will take first scoop sample elsewhere
- MRO photos will assist with nav when driving. No sat nav of course, so have to use boulders etc as way points.
- 1 or 2 weeks to first drive, and will only be 1-2meters.
- Team will live on mars time for 90 days, for best efficiency checking out the vehicle (corresponding to data link availability), and also helps bond the international team (400 scientists and 300 engineers)
PS - Everthing looks nominal.
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