The Ongoing Mars Explorer Thread (1 Viewer)

[Peter Kline]

Yes I agree. It's obvious that they moved the Rover to the above special space. I mean, why else would the white circle be there?

 

[BrianShort]

I'm beginning to become impatient with JPL. I want color pictures dammit! Quite frankly, I'm beginning to smell a cover-up, on par with NASA hiding evidence of ancient cities on mars, or the glass domes on the moon that my main man Richard C. Hoagland has had the eyes to see and expose. It's really quite frustrating.





Brian

 

[CharlesD]

I was taking a look at the article about navigation on the MER home page...

Is that who I think it is in photo half way down the page?

 

[Peter Kline]

NASA is still a bit behind the times in developing color images. They sent a secretary out to KMart to deposit the negatives in the photo department box for pickup, so they won't be ready until tomorrow. (I hope they asked for large prints).

 

[Malcolm R]

If so, at least someone will be excited if a big, slimy, tentacled thing walks in front of the camera.

 

[Peter Kline]

Color photos to be released in 15 minutes (12 PM ET). Stay tuned.

UPDATE: No Color photos yet. Photos have been taken and are stored on Spirit. Still waiting to be sent back to Earth. Later today or early tomorrow. NASA does have a 3D black and white image (red and blue glasses needed) which they showed.

 

[BrianShort]

The First Color Image from MARS!!





And some nifty 3D images (get out your red and blue 3D glasses... I need to get some)



Brian

 

[Peter Kline]

I misspoke. They have thumbnails and are continuing to download the images.

A nice site to look at is:

http://www.planetary.org

 

[John Nelson]

It's amazing how much more information you can get from the same images when they add the 3D info. Lots of subtle variations in terrain, and you can make out the nearby depression quite well. I've got my red and blue 3D glasses with me (ahhh, it's times like these when we can revel in our geekdom!) taken out of the little folder in the back of my National Geographic Society Mars coffee table book, and I'm looking forward to lots more 3D and color photos to come.

HOWEVER, I think the photos that will make us gasp the most will NOT come until July 1st, when the Cassini spacecraft crosses the ring plane of Saturn and returns what might be the most spectacular photos ever taken.



This is a great year for space buffs!

 

[BrianShort]

John: I'm really looking forward to the Cassini photos. Especially about 6 months after it enters the Saturnian system, and sends the Huygens probe down to Titan. Hopefully it gets some really great photos there, and things aren't TOO obscured by the hazy atmosphere.

Brian

 

[Peter Kline]

I expect today's noon press conference to unveil the color panorama. Probably will be behind a curtain then revealed to a gasping press corps.

 

[BrianShort]

Peter: I read it would take several days to transmit an ENTIRE panorama, since the whole thing would be 6.9 gigs of raw data. This was an article at www.spaceflightnow.com. But hopefully they do have something spectacular to show today.
My dad was complaining that they were in a pretty boring looking spot and there wouldn't be any pictures showing anything exciting. Bah!

Brian

 

[CharlesD]

I saw a replay of the news conference yesterday and they said they hoped to get a portion of the panorama down during Sol 3 (yesterday night, early today) US time. So hopefully they'll be able to show a portion of it today.

I'm finding it very frustrating to get any kind of in depth coverage of whats going on with this mission. The Mission web site is OK, but seems to be more aimed at school kids than space geeks (nothing wrong with that, I hope the rovers will get children interested in space exploration).

The only way to get the full story seems to be to watch the news conferences in their entirety and not rely on the reporters. Some of the press seem to know their stuff, but others are clueless, on reporter asked if the commands being sent to Mars were sent at the speed of light or at some other speed! If they don't know basic stuff like that they have no business covering this mission IMO. In any case, knowledgeable or not, they have to write their stories for a general audience, not the dedicated space geek.

The real intersting stuff will come when the rover gets up close and personal with some rocks and we can see what their mineral composition is.

 

[Peter Kline]

Charles,

Miles O'Brien on CNN is very good. He mentioned before yesterday's press conference that the color photos would not be available as expected.

Brian,

I think they mentioned a 90 degree view would be available?

Peter

 

[BrianShort]

First color image is available, being shown on Nasa TV now, and is available here

I don't think it's a 90 degree view, not even close, but is a 12 megapixel image, compressed 40:1 onboard Spirit, so it's not even the best they can do yet. I'm downloading the 40 meg TIFF now.

**edit** Here's a SMALL version of the image


Brian

 

[CharlesD]

very interesting pic. I assume the diturbed soil in the lower right is scuff marks from the airbags. Most of the rocks look basaltic. I can't wait to see the segment that included "Sleepy Hollow" as maybe the edge will be exposed bed rock.

 

[BrianShort]

I can't wait for the full res color stereo panorama

This is about 1/8 of a full panorama using compressed data, with only one camera, so there is a lot more to see. Also, because of the relitavely "smooth" surface, they said at today's briefing that they should be able to drive a lot further than initially anticipated, so I expect we'll be seeing several panoramas from Sprit (and probably Opportunity as well, depending on the type if site it lands in).

Brian

 

[CharlesD]

Brian did they mention which rover stand up steps they were anticpating for the current Sol? During yesterday's briefing they mentioned that they would start standing up during Sol 4 (currently its 3:30 am at the landing site)... I won't be able to see the briefings until I see a replay this evening.

 

[BrianShort]

It sounded like it would be another day before they began the standup process. I'd have to listen to the briefing again. I also tend to be reading other stuff during the briefings, so I miss stuff.
Maybe from now on, assuming they do daily briefings, I can type up a summary of what they are discussing as they discuss it.

Brian

 

[John Nelson]

At the news conference they also stated that we may be seeing only the tops of the hills on the horizon as the terrain gradually curves up and may be obscuring the bases of the hills. When MER stands up and rolls forward we should get even better photos of the low mountains in the distance.