Also, I've moved on from JPL to another company, and when I left my understanding was the the first images *uplinked* would be with the covers open, and the images with the covers closed would be taken but uplinked later, much like the MARDI images.I guess with the communications window from Odyssey being so tight, they decided to bin down and grab the images with closed covers right away, because the opening sequence might not have completed before the end of the comm window... So I had no idea my hardware was going to be so famous. They even made that cool press-release quality animation for the final pre-landing press conference yesterday.
Quote from: marsman2020 on 08/06/2012 05:27 pmI was the cognizant engineer on these now-world-famous dust covers, I guess I can stop lurking and talk about them a little bit.Thanks very much for taking the time to give us that detailed and authoritative account. Much appreciated...Noel
I was the cognizant engineer on these now-world-famous dust covers, I guess I can stop lurking and talk about them a little bit.
Quote from: Pheogh on 08/06/2012 05:20 pmIf the hydrazine was going to be a possible issue why didn't they just pre-command the descent stage to expend all prop and crash ballistically?That appears to be essentially what they did, and there would still be residual hydrazine in the wreckage.
If the hydrazine was going to be a possible issue why didn't they just pre-command the descent stage to expend all prop and crash ballistically?
marsman2020, thanks for that great explanation about the covers. Answers my question about why some dust managed to sneak past the covers anyway. Do you (by any chance) know how well-protected the scientific cameras are?
Quote from: Halidon on 08/06/2012 05:26 pmQuote from: Pheogh on 08/06/2012 05:20 pmIf the hydrazine was going to be a possible issue why didn't they just pre-command the descent stage to expend all prop and crash ballistically?That appears to be essentially what they did, and there would still be residual hydrazine in the wreckage.Not to beat a dead horse here but I am not so sure. The data in hand suggest they had nearly 120kg of Hydrazine remaining nearly 1/4 of margin from the total. That seems like it would provide an awful lot of deltaV especially with out roughly 1 ton rover attached?The purpose of my inquiry is that a question was asked how far afield the descent stage might have landed and with the extra hydrazine on board is there a contamination issue.If it did deplete the prop and then crash both of these concerns would be essentially moot but I didn't here Miguel dispel it that in any way. What I heard was that we just tried to get is as far away as possible 100m or so.In short if anyone has confirmation that the descent stage was commanded to fly until prop depletion I would love to know that. I am with the reporter that asked the original question; seems to me that leaking hydrazine would present a significant concern to the science?
The data in hand suggest they had nearly 120kg of Hydrazine remaining
The purpose of my inquiry is that a question was asked how far afield the descent stage might have landed
with the extra hydrazine on board is there a contamination issue.
seems to me that leaking hydrazine would present a significant concern to the science?
Quote from: Pheogh on 08/06/2012 06:07 pmThe data in hand suggest they had nearly 120kg of Hydrazine remaining140kg per presser.QuoteThe purpose of my inquiry is that a question was asked how far afield the descent stage might have landedThey don't know, HiRISE might answer in the next two weeks.Quotewith the extra hydrazine on board is there a contamination issue.Issue is probably a strong word.Quoteseems to me that leaking hydrazine would present a significant concern to the science?"Significant" is probably too strong of a word. But regardless, that is why they sent it north where they aren't going.
Quote from: Pheogh on 08/06/2012 05:20 pmIf the hydrazine was going to be a possible issue why didn't they just pre-command the descent stage to expend all prop and crash ballistically?They wanted to do a known maneuver and not worry about dispersion.
A few new images have been downlinked, in full resolution this time. Mount Sharp in view!
Quotewith the extra hydrazine on board is there a contamination issue.Issue is probably a strong word.Quoteseems to me that leaking hydrazine would present a significant concern to the science?"Significant" is probably too strong of a word. But regardless, that is why they sent it north where they aren't going.
Then what was the purpose of that video?