'Curiosity' - NASA Mars Rover - Due to land 5th Aug 2012
Discussion
blitzracing said:
Eric Mc said:
Regards the cabling, I presume its fairly tough stuff with properly sealed plugs etc because it will have to endure fairly big temperature swings and a pretty dusty environment.
You know, same as you find in a Caterham.... 
Well, no mention has been made of the cone-shaped object, so I'm assuming it is just a rock.
Until NASA release their panos, here's a stitch I've done of the two full-res navcam images we have so far:
The good news is the Mastcam is now deployed and everything is working as it should so we may see a high res panorama in a day or so from now.
Until NASA release their panos, here's a stitch I've done of the two full-res navcam images we have so far:
The good news is the Mastcam is now deployed and everything is working as it should so we may see a high res panorama in a day or so from now.
Edited by FurtiveFreddy on Wednesday 8th August 18:43
Eric Mc said:
Many thanks.
I bit like a super-duper version of the core rope memory boards in the Apollo computers?
Pretty much, from a brief read up on a few websites (need to find a book on this, it's absolutely fascinating and the rope memory is genius) the core rope memory held the main 'operating system', which is what they're updating on Curiosity. The main difference is that the core rope memory was hard wired into the strands and can never be updated, whereas the new stuff can be written over. Of course this means the Apollo era programs will still work long after Curiosity's software has been zapped into oblivion.I bit like a super-duper version of the core rope memory boards in the Apollo computers?
A few more images shown on the last press conference but probably not uploaded yet:
This is a thumnail polar panorama made from the images taken so far by the Navcam. The full res version should be here in a day or so:
Here's the immediate area where Curiosity landed, taken before the event. The white rectangle represents the size and exact position of Curiosity. You can see some of the rocks visible in the Navcam images.
And here's a full res frame from the MARDI camera which will give a very nice movie of the descent once all the full res images have been received. There's the heat shield just after separation.
This is a thumnail polar panorama made from the images taken so far by the Navcam. The full res version should be here in a day or so:
Here's the immediate area where Curiosity landed, taken before the event. The white rectangle represents the size and exact position of Curiosity. You can see some of the rocks visible in the Navcam images.
And here's a full res frame from the MARDI camera which will give a very nice movie of the descent once all the full res images have been received. There's the heat shield just after separation.
FurtiveFreddy said:
Well, no mention has been made of the cone-shaped object, so I'm assuming it is just a rock.
Until NASA release their panos, here's a stitch I've done of the two full-res navcam images we have so far:
The good news is the Mastcam is now deployed and everything is working as it should so we may see a high res panorama in a day or so from now.
A larger panorama of the alien landscape.Until NASA release their panos, here's a stitch I've done of the two full-res navcam images we have so far:
The good news is the Mastcam is now deployed and everything is working as it should so we may see a high res panorama in a day or so from now.
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/674898main_pia1...
Looking forward to the proper image of Mt.Sharp!
FurtiveFreddy said:
Eric Mc said:
FPGA?
Upgarding software en-route is pretty common. The Voyagers have better software in them today than when they were launched 35 years ago.
Uh Oh, another acronym!Upgarding software en-route is pretty common. The Voyagers have better software in them today than when they were launched 35 years ago.
Field Programmable Gate Array. Very big, expensive chips.
The party piece of a FPGA is that there is no fundamental hardwired connection between inputs and outputs. In a conventional microprocessor, certain hardware periferals use certain pins. For example, the Analogue to digital convertor (a section that reads in an analogue voltage (say 0-5v) and sends the result as a digital value with a certain resolution (8, 10, 12, 16 bit etc) is hardwired inside the device, and it's logic gates cannot be re-configured via software. In an FPGA there is no direct hardware determined allocation of resources. Effectively the silcone is just a massive block of parallel connected individual transistor logic gates (AND, OR etc). The really clever (and the expensive bit) is the development software, that can "Translate" a program requirement into the binary coding that connects all those millions of gate arrays to enable a certain cascade of gates to carry out a task (like the ADC in a conventional microcontroller).
By using an FPGA, the entire resource of the device can be reprogrammed at any time and remotely (using a bootloader system, which you can also do with a conventional micro) and hence you can reconfigure completely exactly what the system does. It also is really, really fast, as the propogation delays are primarily just those of the fundamental logic gate cascade, so you get loads of computational "power" for your ££.
Using an FPGA gives a certain amount of redundancy from failure (especially from radiation damage that could cause some random failure of the logic) as the system routing can be re-configured to avoid the damaged areas.
FPGAs are now very cheap. You can buy them 1-off from Farnell (who are usually pretty expensive) for £6:26 each. Once you start buying 1000+ the wholesale price gets even cheaper. They are often used in commercial products whose production run doesn't make full custom chips viable. TVs, satellite boxes, BluRay players etc.
The processors and some other hardware are made by a BAE subsidiary in Virginia http://www.baesystems.com/product/BAES_058854/Radi...
If you are into electronics or engineering in general, have a look at their product catalogues. It is engineering porn I tell ya. Ceramic and gold all over the place.
The processors and some other hardware are made by a BAE subsidiary in Virginia http://www.baesystems.com/product/BAES_058854/Radi...
If you are into electronics or engineering in general, have a look at their product catalogues. It is engineering porn I tell ya. Ceramic and gold all over the place.
I know it'd probably be pointless but does Curiosity have a microhpone in order to record sound?
I found this but don't see any links to the files: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/lidar/microphone/mi...
I found this but don't see any links to the files: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/lidar/microphone/mi...
Max_Torque said:
FurtiveFreddy said:
Eric Mc said:
FPGA?
Upgarding software en-route is pretty common. The Voyagers have better software in them today than when they were launched 35 years ago.
Uh Oh, another acronym!Upgarding software en-route is pretty common. The Voyagers have better software in them today than when they were launched 35 years ago.
Field Programmable Gate Array. Very big, expensive chips.
The FPGAs on board Curiosity will be expensive as they're designed to work in deep space. As an example of what they need to withstand, they've been tested to -150°C. Quite chilly, I think you'll agree...
FurtiveFreddy said:
I was over-simplifying somewhat just to help explain another FLA!
The FPGAs on board Curiosity will be expensive as they're designed to work in deep space. As an example of what they need to withstand, they've been tested to -150°C. Quite chilly, I think you'll agree...
And much appreciated. I sometimes get accused on PH of over simplifying an explanation of a tax regulation or an accounting rule - but sometimes a simple explanation is better to a non-expert in a particular field. Other experts will argue that the picture is probably quite a bit more complicated - but the simple explanation is best for starters.The FPGAs on board Curiosity will be expensive as they're designed to work in deep space. As an example of what they need to withstand, they've been tested to -150°C. Quite chilly, I think you'll agree...
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