NASASpaceFlight.com Forum
Robotic Spacecraft (Astronomy, Planetary, Earth, Solar/Heliophysics) => Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and Mars 2020 Rover Section => Topic started by: Chris Bergin on 08/05/2012 02:37 pm
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LIVE UPDATE THREAD for MSL Curiosity's EDL events.
This is a LIVE UPDATE Thread, so please use the other threads for non updates. Non update posts will be deleted.
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LEAD FEATURE ARTICLE:
MSL Curiosity set for historic Martian Landing at Gale Crater - by Chris Gebhardt:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/08/msl-curiosity-historic-martian-landing-at-gale-crater/
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Flow Article - by Chris Gebhardt:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/11/curiosityatlas-v-teams-set-weekend-launch-mars/
Launch Article - by William Graham:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/11/live-atlas-v-launch-nasas-msl-rover-mars/
Mars Rovers Feature Article - by Chris Gebhardt:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/01/opportunitys-eight-years-mars-story-science-endurance/
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FORUM Resources:
MSL Dedicated Section:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?board=57.0
PARTY THREAD - All Posts Allowed:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=29562.0
Pre-EDL UPDATE Thread:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=27414.0
MSL Q&A Thread:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=8183.0
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L2 Section for MSL (Internal Slides, NASA people notes, HR Photos, Video):
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?action=tags&tags=MSL
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Good luck Curiosity!!
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Heads UP.....
Live JPL last news conference before landing
http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl
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12 hours prior to landing
We may fail
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A rather relaxed presser. Teams will be sporting mutton chops, mohawk hair styles and holding trinkets.
Currently 100,000 miles from Mars, closing in at 8,000 miles per hour.
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The target:
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Here's the cool guy, Adam. Calling MSL a "she" and that she's warming up EDL systems right now.
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"Tonight's atmosphere on Mars looks perfect. Now it's to the fates."
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"We're rationally confident. Emotionally terrified. But ready for EDL".
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Adam pointing to the two parts of Tungsten that need to come off before entry to create the inbalance for lift.
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No need to take the final course correction (contingency) opportunity.
One more op to update parameters to the onboard knowledge, if required. Don't expect it to be required.
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First picture will be ready to go up from MSL after four minutes. It's a race to get it up before the orbiters go out of link.
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"If it succeeds it will be the greatest achievement in planetary exploration If it fails, we need to understand why it failed. Would it be the end of the program - no. We'll learn from it and do it again."
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Lots of failure questions. Lots of responses that they would do it again.
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"She seems like a she" - Adam. Notes the tradition of "she". I really like this fella!
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Odessey needs to roll before EDL to be able to communicate with MSL on the ground. One of four assets.
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Over the course of today we'll see if there is motion in the navigation. EDL update parameter 4 will come six hours out, where we might update MSL.
Midnight Eastern for live commentary.
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I still don't feel well-enough prepared to interpret telemetry clues to potential PARTIAL landing failure -- too hard, bad attitude, whatever. I remember Viking-2's landing -- comm problems kept us in suspense. I give the mission 90% chance of safe landing but I think it's a lot more likely, too, that initial telemetry will be surprising and baffling, or even entirely absent - NOT a total indicator of failure, but worrisome. So I'll be on line here, watching and wondering -- and wowing.
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NASA Science News Conference Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Rover Pre-Landing News Conference - Rover Communication overview
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7756
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This is so cool - live computer simulation with Mars in the background. Still over 70k miles to go :)
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60,000 miles to go; 8231mph; about 7hrs to go. Go MSL!
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Mars is slowly getting bigger! 6h20min to cruise stage sep
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Less than 43k miles to go, 4h48m to cruise stage sep
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Photos being uploaded to flickr from Ames
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/sets/72157630921897916/
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A little over four hours to EI Entry Interface, 4h12min to touchdown
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Got my fingers crossed for tonight.
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An attempt @ illustrating the landing site as viewed from over 34k miles out. The landing site itself is still hidden behind the horizon but will come into view as MSL gets closer to EI.
In exactly four hours from now, MSL will rest on the Martian surface - but for now, we're still 33400 miles out going 8432 mph. Puts things in perspective for sure.
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MSL Curiosity
@MSL_101
The #MSL Spacecraft is now pre-heating its Descent Stage Reaction Control System Thrusters as part of Pre-Entry Operations.
14 minutes ago via web
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Getting closer by the minute - 23.4k miles out time to touchdown 2h40min
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NTV about to start coverage. 26,000 on Ustream already.
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Ok, so a quick look at JPL. Commentary still an hour away though.
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Right, so this static view with no sound for 30 mins. Then a documentary at 30 mins past the hour. One hour to live coverage.
Keep those excellent shots coming EirikV!
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Test shot.....good, bad, ugly? What to change?
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Now under 2 hours to entry.
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Amazingly fluffy PAOer.
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XBox Live Feed just started. Sound is missing though.
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NASA TV currently interviewing Will.I.Am lol
Coming up on 90 minutes to cruise stage sep!
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Will.I.Am getting interviewed. To be fair, he's very supportive of STEM.
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According to my EDL timeline, final nav update, if required, was to be at 11:23pm EDT. Anyone know if it occurred? Not seeing anything via USF or Twitter.
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ESA Operations @esaoperations
Final pre-#EDL commanding of #MarsExpress is complete. #MEX will now follow the pre-programmed commands until after EDL #MSL
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Apparently MSL will play a Will.I.Am song from Mars.
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It's Doug, with JPL and UMSF! Met him and been to one of his presentations. Top guy.
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MSL Curiosity
@MSL_101
Seen from Curiosity's (non-existent) window seat, Mars has an angular diameter of more than 12 degrees now! #MSL
5 minutes ago via web
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Not sure if this already came up, but I'll post because it is awesome.
If anyone wants to see those neat computer animation shots in real time, it is the NASA JPL "Eyes on the Solar System" tool. Open access to all.
http://eyes.nasa.gov (http://eyes.nasa.gov)
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Let's go MSL! Land that thing right side up!
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Live commentary about to begin. Everyone feel welcome to add screenshots of use to the thread. (In fact, we could do with the help seen as NTV doesn't work in VLC anymore).
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Amazingly fluffy PAOer.
Video feed without the fluffy commentary at:
http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 (http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2)
- Bob
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90 minutes to touchdown (ERT)
@Bob - THANK YOU!
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Support rooms - and thanks Bob! ;D
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Polling go/no go for UPLINK TRANSMITTER to off
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Flight Dynamics screen.
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They are really sticking the cameras in the faces of the controllers.
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Clear to bring down the uplink transmitter.
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Now in the orbit of Deimos!
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Uplink transmitter off. Godspeed Curiosity.
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MSL is now on her own - Uplink confirmed off
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"Link removed. She is now truely on her own"
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Talking with Lori Garver
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58 minutes to Cruise Stage Sep
68 minutes to Entry
75 minutes to touchdown
Range 11650 miles / velocity 9274 [based on computer sim]
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Double the fluff at no extra charge...
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Our own Chris Gebhardt on this http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/tech/entry/mars_rover_to_land_early_monday_morning_-_join_us_live/ live webcast! :)
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Talking about the landing site (Gale crater).
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@esaoperations Both @ESA's #NewNorcia & @NASA's #DSS-5 stations are listening to #MarsExpress as it runs its final pre-#EDL preparation #MSL
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60 min to entry.
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talking with Pete Theisinger, Project manager at JPL
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Slightly more than an hour to go to landing.
Pete Theisinger, project manager and also worked on MER.
Damn that's a big wheel!
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MSL in the clean room pre-launch.
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wow, wheel comparison between Curiosity, Spirit & Opportunity's, and Soujourner's
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Quick question: Are all the orbiters now in position for the landing?
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Great post--thanks robertross. Very instructive of the advancing capabilities.
wow, wheel comparison between Curiosity, Spirit & Opportunity's, and Soujourner's
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Entry Ellipse differences between the different landers, noting how a pinpoint landing can only now be made for such a location
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ESA Operations @esaoperations
06:28 CEST #MEX's #Melacom UHF radio, used to listen to #MSL during landing has been switched on for a 40-min warm-up http://bit.ly/NuBGNq
5m ESA Operations @esaoperations
06:25 CEST ESA's #NewNorcia station has just started recording open loop data, listening for the X-Band tones of #MSL as it approaches Mars
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Orbiters go for EDL support.
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Orbiters all go for support.
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Apparently working a couple of issues before terminal entry, but still looking good.
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Working issues. But still on track.
Heard a request to privatize the net, so must be working something.
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HA, they wen't on a local loop, but with good hearing and a loud speaker in the background...maybe someone can make that out
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Working issues. But still on track.
Heard a request to privatize the net, so must be working something.
I thought I heard TDRSS in there, but I doubt that can be correct
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ESA @esa
RT @esaoperations: Final pre-#EDL commanding of #MarsExpress is complete. #MEX will now follow pre-programmed commands until after EDL #MSL
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40 min to cruise stage sep. Velocity now over 9600mph.
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how about this nav screen!
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This looks like a really cool TM display (like the STK we see on some launches). Will only update if there is telemetry from the rover.
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Running through they sequence to EDL and expected events.
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Less than 1 hour to landing now
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Giving EDL briefing.
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The guy above is excellent. Working console and commentating.
45 mins to entry.
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One way communications (MSL-Earth) only.
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"7 minutes of terror."
Same EDL engineer as Spirit and Opportunity.
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Not sure if this already came up, but I'll post because it is awesome.
If anyone wants to see those neat computer animation shots in real time, it is the NASA JPL "Eyes on the Solar System" tool. Open access to all.
http://eyes.nasa.gov (http://eyes.nasa.gov)
I've just run this tool in fullscreen with my nVidia Vision 3D glasses on - that's amazing!!!
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Dr Charles Elachi (Director of JPL) visible in the room.
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Mars is getting big in the window.
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45 min to touchdown, under 30 min to stage sep, velocity now passing 10,000 mph.
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The Admin
(http://i.imgur.com/TntgC.jpg?4226)
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awesome models!!
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Into "EDL Main Mode"
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ooo, clapping in the background!
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I want these models...
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Dr Charles Elachi (Director of JPL) visible in the room.
With Administrator Bolden.
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Subsystems poll ongoing.
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coming up on 40 min to touchdown
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All EDL devices healthy.
Running through the status of all the rover systems.
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20 minutes to Cruise Stage Sep
30 Minutes to Entry Interface
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Just broke 100,000 current viewers
(http://i.imgur.com/bFO9d.png)
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former astronaut John Grunsfeld
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John Grunsfeld
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Peanuts all around...
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Passing the peanuts in honor of the good luck of Ranger 7
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"Dare Mighty Things"
How appropriate
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Administrator Bolden
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Coming up on 20 min to entry.
Now within 3,000 miles of the surface.
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Rob Manning
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10 min to cruise stage sep, velocity passing 11,000 mph. 2500 miles from the surface.
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Great graphic of the comm resources.
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Odyssey is good
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Odyssey in position for EDL telemetry relay.
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Everyone, great work with the screenshots, but don't use .png.
ODY is ready to cover EDL! That's good news.
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Cruise ACS off.
Next step is coolant dump.
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Now within 2000 miles from the surface, coming up on 5 minutes to cruise stage sep.
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5mins to cruise stage sep; 11,500mph
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17 minutes to entry 25 to landing
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Electra is the surface communication module on MO and MRO.
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MSL should be @ EI right now (but not for another 14 minutes ERT)
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Cruise stage powering down.
Arming pyro electronics.
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Getting ready for cruise stage sep. Going through the checklist.
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Within 1500 miles from the surface. 2 min to cruise stage sep.
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First pyros fired.
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Less than a minute to go to cruise stage sep.
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30 sec to cruise stage sep.
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Receiving heartbeat tones
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priming RCS thrusters
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cruise stage separation!
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Sep confirmed. Here we go.
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Cruise stage sep!
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Separation!
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RCS warmup
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Ballasts ejected.
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Curiosity spinning down.
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Sep
(http://i.imgur.com/MMq1i.jpg)
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7 min to entry
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What a coincidence, I just opened up a fresh can of peanuts this evening.
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All should be quiet for the next few minutes
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Curiosity accelerating as Mars' gravity pulls it in.
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Velocity passing 12,000 mph.
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Ok. Game Face time everyone. Updates only - no exceptions. Don't mind duplicates.
Let's do this.
5 mins to Entry. Mars pulling her in.
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now at 5.5 km/sec
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5 minutes to EI.
Still receiving tones.
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OD227 miss distance of 2.32 meters (less than the divert)
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Curiosity Rover @MarsCuriosity
I feel lighter & faster already. Cruise balance masses ejected and Mars is pulling me in #MSL
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3 minutes to entry.
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300 miles above the surface now. Under 3 minutes to entry.
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2 min to entry
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Still receiving tones.
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diff between OD227 & OD228 is less than spinning difference
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EI-60 seconds. Go Curiosity!
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30 sec
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10, 9 , 8...
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heartbeat tones
on entry
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Successfully switched antennas.
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EI at 84 miles above the surface.
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Guided Entry!
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Entry interface!
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feeling the atmosphere.
started guided entry (via tones)
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Steering to the target.
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peak decelleration
11-12 earth Gs
processing data from odyssy!!
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Simulation showed peak velocity 13180mph, now deccelerating
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First bank reversal. Past peak decel. 11-12G decel.
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Past peak heating. ODY is processing telementry.
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Have Odyssey TM!
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Heading to the target - on target!
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Mach 2.4
alt: 17 km
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Mach 2.4.
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Go baby go!
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everything fine via tones
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mach 2
(pressure deploy at 1.4)
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Below Mach 2. parachute deploys at M1.7.
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Parachute deploy.
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parachute deploy!
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Chute deploy decel confirmed.
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Good deceleration. 150m/sec.
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Ground radar acquired
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Ground acquisition.
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90 m/s
6.5 km
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Radar confirmed
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a few warnings (lost something)
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Slowing down! So far so good.
Coming up on SkyCrane ops!
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Backshell sep!
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powered flight!
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Loss of tones. Powered flight
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Backshell sep. In powered flight.
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50 m/s
500m
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50 m/s.
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standing by for skycrane
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10 m/s
40m
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skycrane started
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Skycrane started.
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Touchdown!
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Skycrane deployed
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Touchdown confirmed!!!
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HOLY ----
Touchdown confirmed!
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touchdown confirmed!1
they did it!!
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TOUCHDOWN CONFIRMED!!
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TOUCHDOWN CONFIRMED
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Woot! Congrats to all! Now time to get to work...
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AND THAT LADIES AND GENTS IS HOW YOU DO THAT!! ;D
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MSL is safe.
Waiting for images!
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Wow. That's just amazing.
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Curiosity is safe!
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And the crowd goes wild!!
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Wow!!!!!!!
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ON THE SURFACE!!!!!
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images coming down!
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Images coming down.
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Images on the way!
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Congratulations JPL and the MSL team!
Respectfully,
Andrew Gasser
TEA Party in Space
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thumbnail!
wheel on mars!
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And images!! Wow, That's amazing! Congratulations.
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Absolutely fantastic!
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WHEELS DOWN ON MARS AMAZING!!!!
WOOOHOOOOO!
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Wheels down.
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Out on a long limb again -- and the limb held! What a thrill!!
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WHEELS DOWN ON MARS.
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Landing confirmed. Thumbnails coming down
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FANTASTIC!
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Another amazing Mars landing from the folks @ JPL.
Well done!!!!!
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"We must be prepared to Dream!!"
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Fantastic. Congrats to all!
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I can't believe it actually worked.
I can't BELIEVE it work!!!! New imagery back!
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Good job guys. Job well done!
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256k image
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Hands are shaking! ;D
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Hurray!
Everybody broke out cheering at touchdown...took a while for anyone to confirm descent stage separated.
I've never seen a mission control go so crazy.
First image is rear hazcam.
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Odyssey about to lose contact. No more data for now.
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Ok, this thread is open to everyone. Party thread or not, this is f-ing immense!
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shadow of the rover!
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Odyssey about to pass over the horizon.
Congratulations to everyone involved! What an amazing achievement.
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Hi res image
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FANTASTIC! AMAZING!
Another rover on Mars !!
Congrats !
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Congrats to all, another great accomplishment as mankind explores the solar system and beyond.
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Congratulations to all. Had to jump on while I'm on lunch at work.
An amazing achievement, and everyone at JPL is just going wild. Much deserved.
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This is incredible, congratulations JPL/NASA and contractors.
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I wish we could start a NEW countdown, today:
"Mr President; T-minus 12 years and counting for the first Human Landing..."
Go on - I Dare you... :)
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Congrats everyone!
Very impressive landing!
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Awesome :)
Such a complex maneuver, almost can't believe it went smoothly.
Congrats to NASA!
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Was tense!
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Fantastic, and congrats to all involved. Was biting my nails there.
Now, let's just hope the rover works as well as its predecessors.
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And she sticks the landing!!!!
Thanks for the coverage!
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Congrats! :)
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That's simply amazing! I just hope I'll see human beings landed there just as perfect as this one did one day...
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I cannot believe they did that. Very intense.
Congratulations to NASA / JPL. They are the best at this.
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Congratulations, that was an awesome EDL. Looking forward to seeing what she discovers.
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Superb!
Amazingly everything worked!
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Wow! And now I'm supposed to get to sleep? ;)
They have the current location, too. "If anyone is on... you should watch this fly-through." meanwhile, everyone is hugging and kissing everyone.
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2012 may be the best year for spaceflight in decades.
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Wow! amazing! The folks at JPL did an awesome job. I have to admit originally being a little skeptical of the landing scheme, but it appears to have worked perfectly, showing what good work was put into it. Congrats!!!
wm
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Amazing.
Greatest achievement in planetary science so far.
Amazing.
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Amazing stuff, congrats to NASA/JPL, and thanks to Chris/NSF for great coverage as ever.
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That was so Awesome. Congrats!!
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Blown away. Awsome. Fan_bloody_tastic. Congrats all involved. :)
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A superlative I don't use very often. OUTSTANDING!!!!
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This trumps SpaceX/ISS in cardio.
To trump this requires resumption of U.S. manned vehicles.
Cigars for now.
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There was so much risk in all those elements, but they pulled it off in the most amazing way.
Congrats to JPL, all the teams & scientists & engineers & anyone who worked to get her on the surface. You rock!
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Amazing.
Greatest achievement in planetary science so far.
Amazing.
I think you're overstating it a bit, but darn good news nonetheless.
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WOOOO-HOOOOOOO, go Curiosity! Go JPL! I knew these guys could pull it off! :) :) :)
What an achievement. That "crazy" sequence all worked, flawlessly. JPL have undoubtedly amassed the expertise needed to safely put large payloads on Mars.
Which brings me to the fact that I can't believe this program and team is being cut. Utterly, utterly, utterly stupid.
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Tremendous achievement. Those people @ JPL deserve to celebrate!
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And she sticks the landing!!!!
Thanks for the coverage!
Good one!
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Incredible, congratulations to everyone that made it happen.
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Amazing stuff, congrats to NASA/JPL, and thanks to Chris/NSF for great coverage as ever.
Absolutely! Thanks Chris.
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;D :o
WOW!!!! Better than the Super Bowl!
Congrats JPL!
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Scary and wonderful. Congratulations to all involved.
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Great news and congratulations to all involved. Hard to believe 36 years I was sweating out the Viking 1 landing and now this one. Whew!
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There was someone on the loop trying to get their attention on the landing spot (sounded like an animation recreation). Can't wait to see the bullseye they hit!
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YEEEEEEEEEEHAWWWWWWWWWW
That is how the boys at NASA get it done folks!
I still am stunned that it actually worked, and that it worked with basically NO ERRORS!
Astounding, absolutely astounding, the idea that was once consider too risky for landing works like a charm!
And the pictures are incredible.
A huge congratulations and thank you to everyone at JPL and NASA for getting America on mars again, on the back of curiosity we will continue the dream!
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Greatest achievement in planetary science so far.
Engineering, this was a great engineering achievement. Great science is yet to come, and congrats
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Now that is rcoket science.
Well done NASA!
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I hate to be a spoil-sport but we shouldn't be cheering just yet IMO. Wait until Curiosity has confirmed its functuality. Would really suck to have gone through such a complicated landing sequence sucessfully only to have the mission fail on some technical glitch in the MSL. After the Hubble debacle i'm always a bit on edge about these things...
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Gotta admit that that EDL system scared the hell out of me, despite all the really smart people behind it who know what they're doing. But it went like clockwork! I haven't felt this excited about a mission in a while...
(And I'm happy that Opportunity is still around to welcome Curiosity to Mars. I can't believe it's still going after all these years...)
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Well done EDL! Oppy is joined by a younger sister ;D
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Charlie Bolden : " I was a basket case. I was on pins & needles"
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You asked for pics from my trip. Here you go! My 1st look (of many to come) of my new home... MARS! #MSL pic.twitter.com/894ouNJt
Can't wait to see pictures of that mountain!
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Simply fabulous work by everyone at NASA and at JPL for pulling off this absolutely stunning achievement. I don't think the general public will ever TRULY understand the sheer importance of this event unless it logically leads to landing astronauts on the red planet. Let's hope that we see that in our lifetime!! But for now... party on folks!! You've more than earned this triumphant night!!!
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Excellent! Congrats to all involved. Glad the scary bit is done, now looking forward to several years of curiosities from Mars.
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Controllers now back in their seats into post landing checkouts.
John Holdren is on live!
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back to work
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I still am stunned that it actually worked, and that it worked with basically NO ERRORS!
I love when they called out a trajectory error of only 5.9 meters (out of 1.5 AU)!
Also, John Holdren has apparently never heard of Venera and Lunakhod. ::)
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John Holdren
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Do we know how far away the actual landing location is from the target?
-Iain
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Thanks NasaSpaceflight.com, thanks Chris for the fantastic coverage and the ongoing effort of this website.
Congratulations JPL/NASA for this wonderful achievement. It worked! :)
FOR SCIENCE!
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Chris G's article updates for success:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/08/msl-curiosity-historic-martian-landing-at-gale-crater/
And many thanks to all the people that helped with the live coverage. I had hardly anything to do. It was a proper community event! Top work all round! :)
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Party thread says allowed one post........ History Indeed Chris........Awesome NASA/JPL ,Awesome NSF!
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I still am stunned that it actually worked, and that it worked with basically NO ERRORS!
I love when they called out a trajectory error of only 5.9 meters (out of 1.5 AU)!
Also, John Holdren has apparently never heard of Venera and Lunakhod. ::)
Never pass up an opportunity to insult the Russians when they are flying our astronauts to the ISS.
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He just said we are the only country that has ever landed a lander on any other planet. He is wrong! The Russians landed on the moon and on Venus.
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Also, John Holdren has apparently never heard of Venera and Lunakhod. ::)
Yeah well. This guy can't fall any lower in my esteem anyway, so I'll just ignore that blooper...
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10:14:39 PDT touchdown time
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Also, John Holdren has apparently never heard of Venera and Lunakhod. ::)
That stuck out big time for me too.
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10:14:39 PDT touchdown time. (do the UTC conversion yourself! :D )
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1.4 kg of fuel left onboard
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Congrats JPL! Go Curiosity! That was F-ing incredible.
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-0.6739 m/s touchdown speed
horizontal velocity: 0.044365 m/s
140.6 kg fuel remaining
offset 4.37 deg
navigated lat: -4.591817 deg, lon: 137.440247 deg
2.279..... (cut off)
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He just said we are the only country that has ever landed a lander on any other planet. He is wrong! The Russians landed on the moon and on Venus.
The moon isn't a planet though ;D
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1.4 kg of fuel left onboard
I heard it as 140.6 kg
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2.279km from target. Not bad!
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Oh man CONGRATS CURIOSITY!
Congrats NASA!!
Congrats JPL!!!
great day. ;D
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1.4 kg of fuel left onboard
I heard it as 140.6 kg
Okay, I guess I wasn't hearing things. Thanks for that confirmation
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He just said we are the only country that has ever landed a lander on any other planet. He is wrong! The Russians landed on the moon and on Venus.
The moon isn't a planet though ;D
Hygens was ESA. Titan isn't technically a planet though, either.
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"A pretty good shot of being in the HiRISE image"
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The high res imagery :)
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Sorry for stacking that three times was accidental but I like it that way so I will leave it that way ;)
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Way to go!
The numbers are sounding pretty good. Soft landing!
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Awsome! Congratulations to all!
-
Looks like all the flight controllers have Apple MacBook Pros.
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This event was better than any cargo spacecraft visiting a LEO space station. ;-)
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He just said we are the only country that has ever landed a lander on any other planet. He is wrong! The Russians landed on the moon and on Venus.
And WE -- terrans -- have landed probes on Eros, Itokawa, and Titan, too.
-
Raw images:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/
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Dynamics just said that they calculated that they have a pretty good chance of having been caught in a HiRISE image !!! That is fortuitously awesome. Remember http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/images/hirise_parachute.jpg ?
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This event was better than any cargo spacecraft visiting a LEO space station. ;-)
Totally agree!!
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This event was better than any cargo spacecraft visiting a LEO space station. ;-)
Heh. Congrats Jim!
-
1.56 amps
bus: 32.18V (93% of charge)
1.57 amps
32.2V
(could not confirm data points, but I think those were of the battery bus)
-
Anyone know when contact will be reestablished?
-
Reading off temperatures on the RTG.
-
Couple of hours for MRO
-
Totally Amazing. Glad I stayed up for it.
-
All the NASA websites have crashed except one due to hits from interested folks-good to have great interest in the dead of the morning.
-
ha...several websites have crashed from so much traffic on trying to see the images!
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Peanuts will always mean something special to me after tonight LOL
Thankyou NASAS, and all the talented people around the US and the world who had a part in the creation of the MSL Project, you are truly the equals of the people who created Apollo and sent it to the Moon. May your place in history be held with the same reverence for many years to come, such that future generations say, "I want to do great things, just like the Apollo and Mars Science Laboratory did!"
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1.4 kg of fuel left onboard
I heard it as 140.6 kg
It was 1.4Kg, can't be 140Kg- too much.
Jim
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This event was better than any cargo spacecraft visiting a LEO space station. ;-)
Heh. Congrats Jim!
Thanks, now can't go back to sleep
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1.56 amps
bus: 32.18V (93% of charge)
1.57 amps
32.2V
(could not confirm data points, but I think those were of the battery bus)
I heard that too I was wondering if that was a bit low.
-
This event was better than any cargo spacecraft visiting a LEO space station. ;-)
Agreed. Haven't enjoyed something space related this much for WAY too long.
Wayne
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This event was better than any cargo spacecraft visiting a LEO space station. ;-)
Now you know I have to disagree with that! :D
-
For Immediate Release
Contact: Patrick Boland, 202-225-3278
Rep. Schiff Cheers Curiosity Landing at JPL Tonight, Renews Call to Fully Fund Mars Program
Pasadena, CA – Tonight, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) released the following statement after the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), known as Curiosity, successfully touched down on Mars and began its extraordinary mission:
"The landing of Curiosity is a remarkable engineering achievement and the culmination of nearly a decade of work by thousands of people here and around the world. In the coming weeks and months, Curiosity will answer many of the vital questions about Mars’ past and whether it ever had conditions suitable for life. But tonight we celebrate the genius of humankind.
“This success must reinvigorate our efforts to restore funding for planetary science and future Mars missions. While we have restored some of the funding –- almost $100 million so far –- much work remains to return the Mars Program to health. Without the certainty of future missions and support, we will find it impossible to maintain the most specialized workforce on earth –- the brilliant engineers and scientists who made this mission possible.”
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1.4 kg of fuel left onboard
I heard it as 140.6 kg
It was 1.4Kg, can't be 140Kg- too much.
Jim
How much burn time is that?
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This event was better than any cargo spacecraft visiting a LEO space station. ;-)
Totally agree!!
who would disagree? a few moments ago I just happened to have retweeted something from a software engineer at an LEO cargo craft company "what you just did so amazingly dwarfs what (we did) a few months ago. My hat is thoroughly off to all of you."
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1.4 kg of fuel left onboard
I heard it as 140.6 kg
It was 1.4Kg, can't be 140Kg- too much.
Jim
Yeah, I figured that number was too high. They must have mis-reported it.
-
1.4 kg of fuel left onboard
I heard it as 140.6 kg
It was 1.4Kg, can't be 140Kg- too much.
Jim
That number was prior to flyaway, so remaining fuel had to be used for that function.
-
Peanuts will always mean something special to me after tonight LOL
Thankyou NASAS, and all the talented people around the US and the world who had a part in the creation of the MSL Project, you are truly the equals of the people who created Apollo and sent it to the Moon. May your place in history be held with the same reverence for many years to come, such that future generations say, "I want to do great things, just like the Apollo and Mars Science Laboratory did!"
Yep I will be eating peanuts before every Manned flight from now on! :D
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Wow, good show!!
Anyone know the comm delay from Mars right now?
-
Wow, good show!!
Anyone know the comm delay from Mars right now?
14 minutes.
-
-
Does anyone have the miss distance that PAO stepped on?
-
1014:39 PDT is 0514:39 UTC - that must be SCET not ERT, but is about 3 min earlier
than per the previously expected timeline. Did anyone get an accurate time for entry
interface when it happened?
-
Engage 3D glasses!
-
~2.5 km
-
1.4 kg of fuel left onboard
I heard it as 140.6 kg
It was 1.4Kg, can't be 140Kg- too much.
Jim
Yeah, I figured that number was too high. They must have mis-reported it.
I'm sure I heard 140.6kg. Remember the descent stage started out with 390kg propellant aboard so seems a good number to me, given a smooth descent without complications.
-
I need to get a couple of hours shuteye in before the day job, so feel free to keep this ticking over as we'll use this thread for another day and then go into a surface update thread.
Great work everyone!
(Intense, Surreal, Victory!)
-
I watched the whole thing on NASA TV.
-
I need to get a couple of hours shuteye in before the day job, so feel free to keep this ticking over as we'll use this thread for another day and then go into a surface update thread.
Great work everyone!
(Intense, Surreal, Victory!)
Good night Chris.
-
This event was better than any cargo spacecraft visiting a LEO space station. ;-)
It was awesome ;D
Can't wait for more in the coming days
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That number was prior to flyaway, so remaining fuel had to be used for that function.
I'm looking forward to the computed distance from 'Curiosity' that the stage would have landed, now given the burn time. Ditto range to heat shield and parachute, The hunt for orbital images of all these objects now begins. Depending on terrain, one or more may leave indications visible from the rover, or be targets for early translation over to, to examine fresh-dug dirt,
-
Does anyone have the miss distance that PAO stepped on?
Assuming that's what they were talking about, initial calculation was 2.27 km.
Target ellipse is 20km long. I don't know how wide.
-
Congratulations to NASA for landing Curiosity now let's see what this puppy can do!
-
Does anyone have the miss distance that PAO stepped on?
Assuming that's what they were talking about, initial calculation was 2.27 km.
Target ellipse is 20km long. I don't know how wide.
I think it was like 20kmx6.5km. Sounds like they may have nailed 1 sigma.
-
Does anyone have the miss distance that PAO stepped on?
Assuming that's what they were talking about, initial calculation was 2.27 km.
Target ellipse is 20km long. I don't know how wide.
7km wide
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This event was better than any cargo spacecraft visiting a LEO space station. ;-)
who would disagree?
Umm, me, for one. ;)
Speaking purely personally, I was at about the same level of excitement for the SpaceX flight as I was for the MSL EDL. But I agree that significance wise, MSL wins hands down.
Way to go JPL. I still can't believe it actually worked! What a great day it is. :)
-
Just wanting to add my congratulations to the Nasa and JPL teams and eveyone here for the great reporting. This is an amazing achievement. Go Curiosity Go!
-
Does anyone have the miss distance that PAO stepped on?
Assuming that's what they were talking about, initial calculation was 2.27 km.
Target ellipse is 20km long. I don't know how wide.
Roughly 2 km. And the ellipse was almost due east-west, so they are either 2 km west or east of the target point. Either way, MSL is right in between the walls and central peak of Gale Crater.
-
News briefing up next.
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That number was prior to flyaway, so remaining fuel had to be used for that function.
I'm looking forward to the computed distance from 'Curiosity' that the stage would have landed, now given the burn time. Ditto range to heat shield and parachute, The hunt for orbital images of all these objects now begins. Depending on terrain, one or more may leave indications visible from the rover, or be targets for early translation over to, to examine fresh-dug dirt,
No word on that yet, and I might have heard it wrong, but I think there was a call out shortly before backshell separation estimating the cruise balance weights would hit 1.5 km or so downrange from the rover. I think that means about 90 degrees off from the planned direction of travel, but I'm half guessing there.
It's been reported previously that they will not examine the descent stage up close due to risk of contaminating SAM with hydrazine vapors.
-
Congratulations to all concerned. TBH I wasn't 100% convinced it would work, but they managed to do it, so well done. :)
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That number was prior to flyaway, so remaining fuel had to be used for that function.
I'm looking forward to the computed distance from 'Curiosity' that the stage would have landed, now given the burn time. Ditto range to heat shield and parachute, The hunt for orbital images of all these objects now begins. Depending on terrain, one or more may leave indications visible from the rover, or be targets for early translation over to, to examine fresh-dug dirt,
Yes, glad I am not the only one who is looking for those numbers! Let us know if you get them
-
Congratulations to NASA for landing Curiosity now let's see what this puppy can do!
Yep! I'll second that! :)
-
News briefing up next.
You know it's NASA when even the press conferences have a NET time.... ;)
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Congratulations to all concerned. TBH I wasn't 100% convinced it would work, but they managed to do it, so well done. :)
If you were watching the video from mission control, you can surmise that no one in there was 100% convinced it would work either, based on how excited they were that it seems to have gone perfectly.
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Cogratulations nasa and curosity jpl team
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Does anyone have the miss distance that PAO stepped on?
Assuming that's what they were talking about, initial calculation was 2.27 km.
Target ellipse is 20km long. I don't know how wide.
Roughly 2 km. And the ellipse was almost due east-west, so they are either 2 km west or east of the target point. Either way, MSL is right in between the walls and central peak of Gale Crater.
That's in the neighborhood of the accuracy you need for a human mission to Mars.
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1.4 kg of fuel left onboard
I heard it as 140.6 kg
It was 1.4Kg, can't be 140Kg- too much.
Jim
Yeah, I figured that number was too high. They must have mis-reported it.
I'm sure I heard 140.6kg. Remember the descent stage started out with 390kg propellant aboard so seems a good number to me, given a smooth descent without complications.
You did hear 140.6, as I did. That's right. Going from memory, 4 thrusters at 800 lbs each (3200 lbs) and hydrazine Isp at 230 gives about 14 lbs/sec (6.4 Kg/sec). So, they had about ten seconds of propellant left. Seems about right. Certainly NOT 1.4 kg.
-
Like a boss. That's five successful Mars EDLs in a row! With 4 different EDL techniques! JPL has this /down/. Time to give them the task of a manned Martian lander...
-
Briefing ready to start soon
-
Stuck the landing, a perfect 10...
-
Got an idea for a cartoon (wish I could draw) A beefy, grinning, confident Curiosity taking the baton from a wheezing, exhausted, small Opportunity, its tongue hanging out. Curiosity says; "Thanks, brother - I'll take it from here!" ;D
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Standing ovation in the Von Karman center.
-
Here come the rock stars
-
-
Who is the guy with the mohawk?
-
Who is the guy with the mohawk?
The question everyone wants to know.
-
Charlie thanking the Deep Space Network team members who couldn't be here
-
Got an idea for a cartoon (wish I could draw) A beefy, grinning, confident Curiosity taking the baton from a wheezing, exhausted, small Opportunity, its tongue hanging out. Curiosity says; "Thanks, brother - I'll take it from here!" ;D
Not so fast. What's Curiosity's nuc power profile timeline for the out years, compared to Opportunity's solar power with dust cleaning?
-
"Blazing a trail for human footprints on Mars"- Bolden. Music to my ears!
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Like a boss. That's five successful Mars EDLs in a row! With 4 different EDL techniques! JPL has this /down/. Time to give them the task of a manned Martian lander...
NASA/JPL has now demonstrated they can land a one-ton roving package with a landing error /less/ than it's expected roving range -- which means we can now do surface rendezvous!
Congratulations to all!
-Alex
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Bolden speaking
-
What a success! I can't believe the number of people following this. I've heard from people who never follow this kind of stuff. Front page news everywhere right now to boot.
This is as much a win for PR as for science, I hope.
-
This event was better than any cargo spacecraft visiting a LEO space station. ;-)
you did good Jim
-
Charlie making a plug for international cooperation withthe other 4 countries that are now on Mars because they came along withthe USA.
He wouldn't name them, but I know Canada is one of them :)
(thank you NASA & US of A)
-
Russian rad detector, Spanish weather sensors.
-
Holdren now speaking
-
Charlie saying that Holdren told him earlier he was so nervous he was going to throw up.
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1.4 kg of fuel left onboard
I heard it as 140.6 kg
It was 1.4Kg, can't be 140Kg- too much.
Jim
Yeah, I figured that number was too high. They must have mis-reported it.
I'm sure I heard 140.6kg. Remember the descent stage started out with 390kg propellant aboard so seems a good number to me, given a smooth descent without complications.
You did hear 140.6, as I did. That's right.
There is a margin, but I didn't think it was that big.
There's an update to this paper (this one is 2006), but I can't find it at the moment:
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090007730_2009006430.pdf
Page 13 says the +/- 3 sigma fuel consumption should be between 284.2 kg and 312.8 kg. That should have left 77.2 kg to 105.8 kg to spare.
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Holdren making the plug to invest in science & technology that made this possible
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Also heard 140.
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President Barack Obama (@BarackObama) via Twitter:
"Tonight, on the planet Mars, the United States of America made history. I congratulate and thank all the men and women of NASA who made this remarkable accomplishment a reality."
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1.4 kg of fuel left onboard
I heard it as 140.6 kg
It was 1.4Kg, can't be 140Kg- too much.
Jim
Yeah, I figured that number was too high. They must have mis-reported it.
I'm sure I heard 140.6kg. Remember the descent stage started out with 390kg propellant aboard so seems a good number to me, given a smooth descent without complications.
You did hear 140.6, as I did. That's right.
There is a margin, but I didn't think it was that big.
There's an update to this paper (this one is 2006), but I can't find it at the moment:
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090007730_2009006430.pdf
Page 13 says the +/- 3 sigma fuel consumption should be between 284.2 kg and 312.8 kg. That should have left 77.2 kg to 105.8 kg to spare.
Still makes 140.6 much more plausible. Any chance the readout was in lbs?
-
Holdren para: "If there were any doubts as to the capabilities of America landing a rover on Mars, there is a 1 ton piece of automobile inginuity that is sitting on the surface of Mars and should put any such doubts to rest"
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Holdren para: "If there were any doubts as to the capabilities of America landing a rover on Mars, there is a 1 ton piece of automobile inginuity that is sitting on the surface of Mars and should put any such doubts to rest"
A great quote! :) Although I think the line was more "If there were any doubts as to the capabilities of American spaceflight..."
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Got an idea for a cartoon (wish I could draw) A beefy, grinning, confident Curiosity taking the baton from a wheezing, exhausted, small Opportunity, its tongue hanging out. Curiosity says; "Thanks, brother - I'll take it from here!" ;D
Not so fast. What's Curiosity's nuc power profile timeline for the out years, compared to Opportunity's solar power with dust cleaning?
Yes, I know but... (shrugs). I was shooting for humor - Opportunity has run the greatest planetary marathon ever. I know the prospects for MSL lasting as long as Spirit & Oppy is very poor. Perhaps as a cost cutting measure in future, NASA could send more small-ish solar powered Rovers with large, tilting and wiper-blade equipped arrays? ;)
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Still makes 140.6 much more plausible. Any chance the readout was in lbs?
He said kilos
-
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Holdren para: "If there were any doubts as to the capabilities of America landing a rover on Mars, there is a 1 ton piece of automobile inginuity that is sitting on the surface of Mars and should put any such doubts to rest"
A great quote! :)
He could barely get through the quote because of all the cheering. :)
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They ain't gonna make _that_ (English vs. metric) mistake again... ;)
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1.4 kg of fuel left onboard
I heard it as 140.6 kg
It was 1.4Kg, can't be 140Kg- too much.
Jim
Yeah, I figured that number was too high. They must have mis-reported it.
I'm sure I heard 140.6kg. Remember the descent stage started out with 390kg propellant aboard so seems a good number to me, given a smooth descent without complications.
You did hear 140.6, as I did. That's right.
There is a margin, but I didn't think it was that big.
There's an update to this paper (this one is 2006), but I can't find it at the moment:
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090007730_2009006430.pdf
Page 13 says the +/- 3 sigma fuel consumption should be between 284.2 kg and 312.8 kg. That should have left 77.2 kg to 105.8 kg to spare.
I updated my comment from earlier - probably not a good idea in a fast moving live thread.:
Going from memory, 4 thrusters at 800 lbs each (3200 lbs) and hydrazine Isp at ~230 gives about 14 lbs/sec (6.4 Kg/sec). So, they had about ten seconds of propellant left. Seems about right. Certainly NOT 1.4 kg.
Not sure on these numbers, but think they are close.
-
-
Where's Bolden boogying off to?
-
140kg prop remaining... So they could've landed another 100kg, right? ;)
-
Pure chaos at the moment. :) Most seem to have forgotten that this is a press conference...
-
This place is going crazy!!
-
Were there this many hi-fives for MER? Are high-fives kind of more trendy now?
-
-
140kg prop remaining... So they could've landed another 100kg, right? ;)
Wasn't that before flyaway?
-
Were there this many hi-fives for MER? Are high-fives kind of more trendy now?
The EDL team is much larger this time...
-
140kg prop remaining... So they could've landed another 100kg, right? ;)
Wasn't that before flyaway?
Correct.
-
Russian rad detector, Spanish weather sensors.
Polish uncooled infrared detectors.
-
Were there this many hi-fives for MER? Are high-fives kind of more trendy now?
Oh let them have their moment in the spotlight... :)
-
HOLY ----
Touchdown confirmed!
Wooooohooooooooooooooo !!!! Can't believe it. It boggles the mind. Now, go for exploration, were no MER has gone before.
-
I still cannot believe it worked, flawlessly to boot.
It looks like they can't either.
-
140kg prop remaining... So they could've landed another 100kg, right? ;)
Wasn't that before flyaway?
It was kind of a joke. But it does kind of mean this Skycrane system (blah, maneuver, blah) should be capable of an even 1 ton.
-
The team brough us victory today (like the Olympics)
Great inspiration for young people
-
"What a deal. This movie cost less than $7 per American citizen"
-
There is a margin, but I didn't think it was that big.
There's an update to this paper (this one is 2006), but I can't find it at the moment:
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090007730_2009006430.pdf
Page 13 says the +/- 3 sigma fuel consumption should be between 284.2 kg and 312.8 kg. That should have left 77.2 kg to 105.8 kg to spare.
Going from memory, 4 thrusters at 800 lbs each (3200 lbs) and hydrazine Isp at ~230 gives about 14 lbs/sec (6.4 Kg/sec). So, they had about ten seconds of propellant left. Seems about right. Certainly NOT 1.4 kg.
Not sure on these numbers, but think they are close.
That's rather more thrust than the weight, no? Something like 3000 pounds-mass, but at only 40% of Earth gravity. Fuel consumption is presumably throttled back.
-Alex
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Who is the guy with the mohawk?
Flight director Bobak Ferdowski. Brian Portock mentioned him in today's presser, commenting that his unique hairstyle has been a tradition at big events.
http://whatstrending.com/2012/08/meet-mohawk-guy-nasa-mars-curiosity-livestream/
-
-
There is a margin, but I didn't think it was that big.
There's an update to this paper (this one is 2006), but I can't find it at the moment:
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090007730_2009006430.pdf
Page 13 says the +/- 3 sigma fuel consumption should be between 284.2 kg and 312.8 kg. That should have left 77.2 kg to 105.8 kg to spare.
I updated my comment from earlier - probably not a good idea in a fast moving live thread.:
Going from memory, 4 thrusters at 800 lbs each (3200 lbs) and hydrazine Isp at ~230 gives about 14 lbs/sec (6.4 Kg/sec). So, they had about ten seconds of propellant left. Seems about right. Certainly NOT 1.4 kg.
Not sure on these numbers, but think they are close.
It will be throttled down, not max rated thrust. The touchdown descent rate is constant velocity, so thrust should be right around m*g (750 lbs rover + weight of descent stage that I don't know).
If JPL expected no more than 105 kg back in 2006, and mass went up a bit since (I think), I really can't imagine they'd have ended up with more than that.
I agree though. 1.4 kg seems implausibly low. Maybe that was relative to a nominal remaining?
-
"The rover is made in the USA"
-
Charles Elachi and Grunsfeld
-
"A priveledge to lead such an event"
"as easy as it looked tonight, it's because of those in the blue shirts here tonight"
"words cannot state the kind of work that they have done"
-
-
I especially want to thank the man to my right, Richard Cook" . "We would not have been succesful without him"
-
Richard Cook
"I have now done this 4 times, and it never gets old"
"Pathfinder was great, but we were young and stupid"
-
-
Richard: "Say something profound" (to Adam as he gets emotional)
-
Adam:
"To work with such a great group of talent...is truly an honor"
"we are toolmakers, agriculturalists, and pioneers"
"I want to say 'thank you', to the blue shirts"
-
There is a margin, but I didn't think it was that big.
There's an update to this paper (this one is 2006), but I can't find it at the moment:
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090007730_2009006430.pdf
Page 13 says the +/- 3 sigma fuel consumption should be between 284.2 kg and 312.8 kg. That should have left 77.2 kg to 105.8 kg to spare.
I updated my comment from earlier - probably not a good idea in a fast moving live thread.:
Going from memory, 4 thrusters at 800 lbs each (3200 lbs) and hydrazine Isp at ~230 gives about 14 lbs/sec (6.4 Kg/sec). So, they had about ten seconds of propellant left. Seems about right. Certainly NOT 1.4 kg.
Not sure on these numbers, but think they are close.
It will be throttled down, not max rated thrust. The touchdown descent rate is constant velocity, so thrust should be right around m*g (750 lbs rover + weight of descent stage that I don't know).
If JPL expected no more than 105 kg back in 2006, and mass went up a bit since (I think), I really can't imagine they'd have ended up with more than that.
I agree though. 1.4 kg seems implausibly low. Maybe that was relative to a nominal remaining?
Good point - they were probably throttled back somewhere around 50%, plus or minus. And, yeah IF they said 1.4 (which I don't think they did) maybe it was a delta off what was expected to be remaining. For all that it matters. :-)
Will be very interesting if they can image the descent stage and see how far away it landed. What a great engineering accomplishment.
Looking forward to possible snapshots of MSL during descent from HiRISE, and to the HD descent images.
-
406 science team members
no greater inspiration to middle school members.
The #hits on the internet is astounding
about the cost being that of a movie:" that's a movie I want to see"
-
Confirms total fuel reserves at touchdown 140 kg. 400 to start with.
-
Craig (American Space): tell us about the landing
-Looked extremely clean
-Touchdown in the more benign side of our nominal expectation
-Very nominal
-Remarkably good navigation error (low side)
-Powered flight appears to be good
-(confirmation) landed with 140 kg fuel reserves (of 400 kg)
-
140kg confirmed by Adam
-
Landed in a beautiful spot
-
Notice the nationalistic hype at the conference... Bolden referencing the "four nations" that have been to Mars, but it was the US that made those nation's missions possible.... Later the reference that only the US has successfully landed on Mars... Not that I have a problem with it... Just found it a little odd... Could be because of the Olympics....
I counted... Not only are we the only nation to successfully land... But we did it SEVEN times! Is that count correct? Viking 1, Viking 2, Pathfinder, MER-1, MER-2, Polar Lander, Curiosity
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnG-rFFpP8A&feature=g-all-u
-
Asking about file type & compression
No idea
-
Sally Rail (planetary Society)
Asking if Adam plans to name his new daughter (coming in the next few weeks) Curiosity
Probably not
-
Need to sleep. Signing off. Hopefully someone can post.
What a Great day
-
The nasatv coverage showed a projected video with "MSL EDL LIVE telemetry visualization", that at first said "waiting for odyssey" and then showed computer graphics of the landing, with 38 stages listed on the left of the screen. On the bottom of the screen, it has drawn analog gauges of fuel, velocity, mach, acceleration and altitude. The nasatv cameras showed it intermittently.
Does anyone know if a video recording of that screen from start to finish exists? I would like to see the whole thing, instead of cutting from that to views of the people and back. Maybe do a split screen view or something.
-
Question relating to UMSF reports of landing position to 5 decimal places, putting rover 500m from base of Mt Sharp.
Adam replies- they don't know the landing accuracy to that degree- will know better at tomorrow's presser.
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Question relating to UMSF reports of landing position to 5 decimal places, putting rover 500m from base of Mt Sharp.
Adam replies- they don't know the landing accuracy to that degree- will know better at tomorrow's presser.
During the webcast you could clearly hear a flight controller reading off the landing coordinates to 5 decimal places, so that is likely the source of the UMSF report.
-
Confirmed images are taken through the dust covers.
Next Oddy pass in about 25mins.
-
Q: Ho long could Curiosity survive, potentially?
Grotzinger: mission is about patience
-
Congratulations on the landing to NASA, JPL and to the scientists technicians and hundreds of workers around the globe that made this work! Now, lets get this rover to start it's main job. Let's get rolling!
-
When are the first color images expected?
-
Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Rover Landing
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7757
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Presser ending
-
When are the first color images expected?
Not until they get the mast up. Next Odyssey pass might have better hazcam images, though.
Also, could get something from MARDI (the descent imager).
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/images/malin-4rovercam-br2.jpg
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When are the first color images expected?
Not until they get the mast up. Next Odyssey pass might have better hazcam images, though.
Before the mast goes up, there should be colour pictures from the MARDI descent camera later today, then from the MAHLI camera on the arm on the 7th.
http://www.knowledgeorb.com/2012/08/planned-images-mars-curiosity-rover/
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That was a beautiful moment in space exploration history. It was a joy to watch it on NASA TV. Wow. Go team go! ;D
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When are the first color images expected?
Not until they get the mast up. Next Odyssey pass might have better hazcam images, though.
Also, could get something from MARDI (the descent imager).
Odyssey is the main relay? Aren't the other orbiters relaying data? Odyssey is 11 years old now... I would expect the newer orbiters to have better relay abilities....
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Actually the Electra UHF relay module is identical on the two vehicles (MRO and ODY). LRO also has the same module, BTW.
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When are the first color images expected?
Not until they get the mast up. Next Odyssey pass might have better hazcam images, though.
Also, could get something from MARDI (the descent imager).
Odyssey is the main relay? Aren't the other orbiters relaying data? Odyssey is 11 years old now... I would expect the newer orbiters to have better relay abilities....
Odyssey is the main relay for EDL, which I think from reading between the lines is due to its antenna configuration:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1265
Relay during the science mission will depend largely on which spacecraft is best positioned and not otherwise occupied. MRO is capable of the highest data rates.
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/communicationwithearth/data/
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NASA TV is back on with live discussion. :)
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Surface operations are now on the stream.
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Is Curiosity still running on an automated sequence? When will they start sending commands up to her?
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Low horizon pass this time around for Odyssey, expected to be a low volume data pass.
Expected to receive health data and new pictures with dust covers removed.
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How are the dust covers removed? With pyrotechnics ?
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From the animation they showed the other day, it looks like a simple electrical motor. The cap doesn't detach from the rover but hangs down.
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Heard them mention pyros.
Also currently confirming that the whole first day on surface is running on a script, like EDL.
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"One of the first activities tomorrow is to deploy the HGA"
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How are the dust covers removed? With pyrotechnics ?
Yes
http://www.exploremars.org/msl-picture-of-the-day-t-2-days-navigation
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Explaining what we can expect from this pass:
Nominal pass: Rear Haz Cam
Good pass: Front and Rear Haz Cams
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Amazing
Intense
Superb
...and inspiring.
I would guess that some person who watched this, WILL walk on Mars.
Of course my thoughts go to the team at SpaceX, and I wish them,
and all who follow Curiosity to Mars...
godspeed
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Congratulations to JPL, NASA, and Curiosity!!!! A very important thing was accomplished tonight.
Looking forward to the next set of images in about 10 minutes.
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Delivering the marbles used for counting each day of Cruise, along with adding all the marbles needed to count each day of surface operations. One is removed for each day completed.
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We have data
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I haven't heard any statements from the Prez. I wonder if he's awake and watching it or if he's sleeping...
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Receiving image data now.
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Mountains visible in rear hazcam
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Rear Haz Cam - Cover removed
"Probably the crater rim you can see"
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I haven't heard any statements from the Prez. I wonder if he's awake and watching it or if he's sleeping...
https://twitter.com/BarackObama
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Rear hazcam: some dust on lens but otherwise alright and survived pyro event. A ridge on the horizon (crater rim?), looking into sun causing some saturation on the image.
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Our knowledge of Mars will now far surpass our knowledge of the other planets. We need in-situ missions on Venus, rovers on Titan, submarine explorer on Europa, orbiters on Neptune, and orbiters on Uranus!
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Downlink over
NTV Coverage finished as well
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No front hazcam?
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No front hazcam?
Doesn't look like it, nominal pass was only the rear haz cam. Needed a good one for the front as well.
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Simply awesome that everything has gone well so far.
The wait for the mission to start is going to be torture.
How long till a drive is planned?
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Doesn't look like it, nominal pass was only the rear haz cam. Needed a good one for the front as well.
Ah ok, just seemed from the commentary they were expecting one from the pass. Probably a little confusion there.
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NASA TV is doing a replay of the after landing Media Briefing.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVzfDZlEwaU&feature=g-all-u
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How are the dust covers removed? With pyrotechnics ?
Yes
http://www.exploremars.org/msl-picture-of-the-day-t-2-days-navigation
Doesn't look like pyros to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tRviMJ6p-jA
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Mars Science Laboratory / Curiosity Rover Post-Landing News Conference
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7758
Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Rover Landing Coverage and Commentary #2
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7759
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Per UMSF.com, it appears that MRO has succeeded in capturing an image of MSL on the way down!
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Per UMSF.com, it appears that MRO has succeeded in capturing an image of MSL on the way down!
Awesome ;D Any idea when we can expect to see it ?
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Well done EDL! Oppy is joined by a younger sister ;D
A younger but MUCH BIGGER sister... ;)
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Awesome ;D Any idea when we can expect to see it ?
Unsure, but I'd guess not for at least several more hours.
EDIT: It might be released at the 09:00 PT briefing so that's about 7 hours from now.
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Yeah they tweeted it'd be at the 9 am briefing.
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I still cannot believe it worked, flawlessly to boot.
It looks like they can't either.
I wouldn't attribute their excitement over successfully landing to surprise because it was complicated (complicated to us). Much of that could be simply relief that the risky part is over after YEARS of work. These folks have been working on this night for the better part of a few years. Unlike other fields, you have a hard deadline to meet for things like this so the hours can be extreme. When that is finished, there is a huge relief.
Awesome job to all those involved - made it look easy
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Per UMSF.com, it appears that MRO has succeeded in capturing an image of MSL on the way down!
Does anybody know what sort of angle/range the photo was taken at? Can we expect a similar or better photo compared to the Phoenix descent?
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Sorry for being late, but could anybody link me to info about the rover I'm particularly interested about how it is being powered.
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High fives to the Mars EDL team....now they're out of a job! ;D
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Job well done, folks!
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Sorry for being late, but could anybody link me to info about the rover I'm particularly interested about how it is being powered.
It is nuclear powered. The power plant on the back side of the rover provides both heat (to keep warm in the cold Martian atmosphere) and electricity.
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Well done EDL! Oppy is joined by a younger sister ;D
A younger but MUCH BIGGER sister... ;)
Let's hope she isn't big and clumsy, stumbling over her wheels and knocking over the neighbours' stuff. ;)
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Our knowledge of Mars will now far surpass our knowledge of the other planets.
It already does.
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Aerojet Propulsion Helps Land Mars Science Laboratory
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=10000953
ATK Supports Launch, Flight, Descent and Scientific Instruments of New Mars Rover
http://atk.mediaroom.com/2012-08-06-ATK-Technologies-on-Display-as-NASAs-Mars-Curiosity-Rover-Makes-Successful-Landing
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Great job NASA and everybody involved! I had a strong feeling that the landing will succeed because these guys know how to do the job and it did!
I hope this success will help saving JWST.
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I still cannot believe it worked, flawlessly to boot.
It looks like they can't either.
I wouldn't attribute their excitement over successfully landing to surprise because it was complicated (complicated to us). Much of that could be simply relief that the risky part is over after YEARS of work. These folks have been working on this night for the better part of a few years. Unlike other fields, you have a hard deadline to meet for things like this so the hours can be extreme. When that is finished, there is a huge relief.
Awesome job to all those involved - made it look easy
Have watched quite a few of these now and they always celebrate that way. Nothing any different for this mission.
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A textbook example of “American exceptionalism”… This should be a reminder of the great things this nation is capable of. We needed to be reminded of this and continue the work ahead…
Well done…
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Our knowledge of Mars will now far surpass our knowledge of the other planets.
It already does.
All but one.
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Per UMSF.com, it appears that MRO has succeeded in capturing an image of MSL on the way down!
Does anybody know what sort of angle/range the photo was taken at? Can we expect a similar or better photo compared to the Phoenix descent?
MRO passed Gale Crater nearly overhead during Curiosity EDL, so distance to Curiosity is less (not looking to the side), more of a overhead shot, I'd expect. Minimum range to target is about 275km.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=1099
zeke
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Congratulation!
You guys have a treasure trove in the JPL! You should nurture and take very good care of it because it unique in this world.
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With the fuel remaining and the 45 degree pitch, am I right in assuming the descent stage, relieved of Curiosity's weight, could have crash landed a long way off? Potentially Kilometers away? That will be interesting to find out.
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Our knowledge of Mars will now far surpass our knowledge of the other planets.
It already does.
All but one.
He said, "other planets".
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Obviously there are many more important upcoming tasks, but does anyone have a guess as to when we might see that 4 fps video from MARDI of the landing actually taking place?
I think that's going to be all over the news!
-Iain
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Not for quite a while. 18 selected thumbnails will first be downlinked. The full dataset will have to wait many days because of the huge data volume.
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With the fuel remaining and the 45 degree pitch, am I right in assuming the descent stage, relieved of Curiosity's weight, could have crash landed a long way off? Potentially Kilometers away? That will be interesting to find out.
If they get MRO images of the landing site, I would expect it will be in one of the images. An MRO image of the MSL descent is supposed to be released today, so I am confident there will be others later.
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I haven't heard any statements from the Prez. I wonder if he's awake and watching it or if he's sleeping...
They would have woken him up if they had found martians. But otherwise, he was sleeping.
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another textbook Mars landing!
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Thanks to all for keeping the thread ticking over. Really top work from our community for this event.
El Presidente is awake:
For Immediate Release August 06, 2012
Statement by the President on Curiosity Landing on Mars
Tonight, on the planet Mars, the United States of America made history.
The successful landing of Curiosity – the most sophisticated roving laboratory ever to land on another planet – marks an unprecedented feat of technology that will stand as a point of national pride far into the future. It proves that even the longest of odds are no match for our unique blend of ingenuity and determination.
Tonight’s success, delivered by NASA, parallels our major steps forward towards a vision for a new partnership with American companies to send American astronauts into space on American spacecraft. That partnership will save taxpayer dollars while allowing NASA to do what it has always done best – push the very boundaries of human knowledge. And tonight’s success reminds us that our preeminence – not just in space, but here on Earth – depends on continuing to invest wisely in the innovation, technology, and basic research that has always made our economy the envy of the world.
I congratulate and thank all the men and women of NASA who made this remarkable accomplishment a reality – and I eagerly await what Curiosity has yet to discover.
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With the fuel remaining and the 45 degree pitch, am I right in assuming the descent stage, relieved of Curiosity's weight, could have crash landed a long way off? Potentially Kilometers away? That will be interesting to find out.
I was thinking the same thing. Bill Harwood reports that there were 140 kg. of fuel reserves after landing which would probably have translated to about 15-20 seconds of flight after disconnection. I would think that would power the crane quite a fair distance.
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"I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you." - Airplane!
Watched the TV stream last night then picked up this thread this a.m. Better late than never. Thanks, Chris, for your magnificent website.
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Rear hazcam: some dust on lens but otherwise alright and survived pyro event. A ridge on the horizon (crater rim?), looking into sun causing some saturation on the image.
Would that lens dust be from blowing the cover too early, or just the blowing itself?
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Congrats to the MSL Team. Well done!!!
I understand they've already snapped a few photo's too.
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Congrats to the MSL Team. Well done!!!
I understand they've already snapped a few photo's too.
Great! Now where is the Iludium Q-36 explosive space modulator?
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Congrats to the MSL Team. Well done!!!
I understand they've already snapped a few photo's too.
Great! Now where is the Iludium Q-36 explosive space modulator?
That's their name for the RTG. ;)
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Congrats to the WHOLE MSL team on this amazing achievement !! I will be the first to admit that I felt the whole "sky crane" concept was too complicated and would end up in a crash. Never been happier to be wrong or eat crow. Well done !! I'll never doubt you guys again !! You rock !! Looking forward to all the amazing images and data to come from Curiosity !!
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It proves that even the longest of odds are no match for our unique blend of ingenuity and determination.
I heard Holdren say much the same thing last night, 'gutsy determination' overcoming 'long odds', with skill.
I'm not sure they understand what 'long odds' means.
In the 1990s, NASA was directed to use determination and sincerity to make difficult missions easier. It was one disaster after another.
You use insight and intelligence to REDUCE the long odds to much BETTER odds, and then when you launch, the odds are on your side, not AGAINST you.
You 'stack the deck' and 'load the dice'. You do NOT wish hard, cross your fingers, squeeze your eyes shut, and jump. Or if you do, you will fail, and you will deserve it.
I'm probably over sensitive to this loose wording, since I've been up close and very, VERY personal to the hideous costs of relying on enthusiasm and self esteem to overcome Mother Nature.
So I'll just shrug it off as meaningless political phrase-making, which is not inappropriate at this joyous time. And I'll jump up and down and wear a silly hat, for a proper celebratory interval, as the success warrents.
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New images coming down from Curiosity! :)
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It proves that even the longest of odds are no match for our unique blend of ingenuity and determination.
I heard Holdren say much the same thing last night, 'gutsy determination' overcoming 'long odds', with skill.
I'm not sure they understand what 'long odds' means.
In the 1990s, NASA was directed to use determination and sincerity to make difficult missions easier. It was one disaster after another.
You use insight and intelligence to REDUCE the long odds to much BETTER odds, and then when you launch, the odds are on your side, not AGAINST you.
You 'stack the deck' and 'load the dice'. You do NOT wish hard, cross your fingers, squeeze your eyes shut, and jump. Or if you do, you will fail, and you will deserve it.
I'm probably over sensitive to this loose wording, since I've been up close and very, VERY personal to the hideous costs of relying on enthusiasm and self esteem to overcome Mother Nature.
So I'll just shrug it off as meaningless political phrase-making, which is not inappropriate at this joyous time. And I'll jump up and down and wear a silly hat, for a proper celebratory interval, as the success warrents.
Ah, yes, "Better, Faster, Cheaper" . . . Pick any two. :-\
And I'd dearly love to see pics of you wearing the silly hat, JimO. ;D
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United Launch Alliance Congratulates NASA on Flawless Mars Landing
ULA’s Atlas V Successfully Launched Mars Science Lab November 2011
Centennial, Colo., (Aug. 6, 2012) – United Launch Alliance (ULA) congratulates NASA on the flawless landing of the Mars Science Lab (MSL) on the surface of Mars after a nearly nine-month journey to the red planet.
"ULA applauds NASA’s MSL team on the remarkable technical achievements witnessed today as MSL touched down to begin its science mission on the Martian surface,” said Jim Sponnick, ULA vice president, Mission Operations. “We could not be more proud of our role in safely and accurately delivering MSL and the Curiosity rover to orbit and look forward to the tremendous science that Curiosity will collect along with the yet unknown discoveries it will make.”
Officials at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., had prepared for a possible course-correction maneuver 15 days after launch, but navigators determined the trajectory was spot-on and did not need the maneuver.
"This was among the most accurate interplanetary injections ever," said Louis D'Amario, mission design and navigation manager for Mars Science Lab during an interview in December 2011.
In celebration of MSL’s landing, ULA hosted an event for 300 school-age children where future rocket scientists conducted simulated launch countdowns and MSL mission landings to learn about the importance of this science mission, as well as to generate excitement about pursuing science, technology and engineering careers.
The MSL mission was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Nov. 26, 2011 aboard an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Atlas V 541 configuration vehicle, which includes a 5-meter diameter RUAG Space payload fairing along with four Aerojet solid rocket motors attached to the Atlas booster. The Atlas booster was powered by the RD AMROSS RD-180 engine and the Centaur upper stage was powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RL10A engine.
“This was an impressive launch on the Atlas V,” said Amanda Mitskevich, program manager of NASA’s Launch Services Program. “The teamwork between NASA’s Launch Services Program, ULA and JPL made for an almost seamless integration and perfect launch of this historic mission."
Developed by the United States Air Force to provide assured access to space for Department of Defense and other government payloads, the commercially developed EELV Program supports the full range of government mission requirements, while delivering on schedule and providing significant cost savings over the heritage launch systems.
ULA's next launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida is the Atlas V Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission for NASA scheduled August 23 from Space Launch Complex-41.
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(link: http://www.commercialspaceflight.org/?p=3285)
Commercial Spaceflight Federation Congratulates the Mars Science Laboratory Team
Washington D.C. - The Commercial Spaceflight Federation applauds the team of explorers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, industry, and throughout NASA, that has successfully delivered the Curiosity rover to the surface of Mars. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) landed on the Martian surface at 1:31AM ET today after launching from Cape Canaveral in November.
“Curiosity is NASA’s next great explorer, a technological wonder that will bring Mars into laboratories and living rooms across the country,” said Michael Lopez-Alegria, President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. “Thousands of people designed, developed, built and delivered Curiosity, and they all deserve our acclaim. Congratulations, in particular, to the scientists and engineers of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who have led their team to such an inspiring achievement.”
Many CSF companies were involved in the successful delivery of MSL to Mars. Back in November, MSL began its journey atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Sierra Nevada Corporation and Aerojet worked on key components of the rover such as the descent brake and descent engines, respectively, among others. And Planetary Resources was a JPL contractor that assisted with various aspects of the MSL program.
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Nathan Moeller has just tweeted this:
https://twitter.com/AstroN8/status/232496228464750592/photo/1/large (https://twitter.com/AstroN8/status/232496228464750592/photo/1/large)
WOW. :o
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Oh my.
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WOW. :o
Wow indeed. I didn't expect the image to be that good.
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Nathan Moeller has just tweeted this:
https://twitter.com/AstroN8/status/232496228464750592/photo/1/large (https://twitter.com/AstroN8/status/232496228464750592/photo/1/large)
WOW. :o
Right on Nathan!!
What an image! Beat us all to the punch
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Nathan Moeller has just tweeted this:
https://twitter.com/AstroN8/status/232496228464750592/photo/1/large (https://twitter.com/AstroN8/status/232496228464750592/photo/1/large)
WOW. :o
That's pretty freaking amazing right there, on so many levels.
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Excellent pic, simply awesome!
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Doesn't look like pyros to me.
If pyros look like pyros, they're probably oversized. The animation clearly shows a spring on the cover, but it was likely restrained by some sort of catch severed by a pyro. It could alternatively have been solenoid released like a pop-up flash on a camera, but usually a pyro is the lightest, simplest, and most reliable way. It could be as simple as thin wire coated in a little bit of powder that creates enough gas pressure to push a pin out of a slot or burns through a severable link.
Sorry for being late, but could anybody link me to info about the rover I'm particularly interested about how it is being powered.
There's a really good 2 page (PDF) description of the RTG here:
http://www.ne.doe.gov/pdfFiles/MMRTG_Jan2008.pdf
The RTG charges a small set of batteries that give engineers more flexibility in using the energy generated, similar to a hybrid car.
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Nathan Moeller has just tweeted this:
https://twitter.com/AstroN8/status/232496228464750592/photo/1/large (https://twitter.com/AstroN8/status/232496228464750592/photo/1/large)
WOW. :o
Stunning!
By which I mean, it's stunning nobody wrote "Hi Mom" or anything like that on the parachute before packaging it. :D
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I am so hopping that pic is real... Incredible if it is!
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It is real, but apparently it was leaked prior to the press conference.
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I am so hopping that pic is real... Incredible if it is!
Seems real enough.
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It's real. The official MSL Twitter account just tweeted it a few minutes ago too.
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MSL Curiosity
@MSL_101
Now that the image has leaked out, we can post it too... MRO captures #MSL pic.twitter.com/zK7iTCjX
19 minutes ago via web
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MSL Curiosity
@MSL_101
Now that the image has leaked out, we can post it too... MRO captures #MSL pic.twitter.com/zK7iTCjX
19 minutes ago via web
It's real. The official MSL Twitter account just tweeted it a few minutes ago too.
Just to be clear - that is NOT the official twitter account - its from spaceflight101. The official twitter account has not posted it.
https://twitter.com/MarsCuriosity (https://twitter.com/MarsCuriosity)
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Nice recap video with animation interspersed to kick off the noon presser!
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I dunno, I'm still skeptical. The image is just too perfect.
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I dunno, I'm still skeptical. The image is just too perfect.
It was just explained how the picture was taken, how it was zoomed, etc. No need for skepticism when it's covered in the presser. (Unless you think she was lying?)
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I dunno, I'm still skeptical. The image is just too perfect.
It was just explained how the picture was taken, how it was zoomed, etc. No need for skepticism when it's covered in the presser. (Unless you think she was lying?)
Sorry, I missed the presser.
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Lander module was told to go to the north, no idea where it landed though. If HiRISE takes an image that would be the only way they can find it.
They will be taking images of landing site (maybe in the next day but that would be a little hazy.) Best images 6- and 12-days from now, and in those images they can probably find where other components landing.
The picture above is 33cm/pixel.
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The "blotch" artifact in image could be landing component, could be dust devil, but it's just one image so not really sure.
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The "blotch" artifact in image could be landing component, could be dust devil, but it's just one image so not really sure.
Two images, actually, both the left and the right eye show it.
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Lander module was told to go to the north, no idea where it landed though. If HiRISE takes an image that would be the only way they can find it.
They will be taking images of landing site (maybe in the next day but that would be a little hazy.) Best images 6- and 12-days from now, and in those images they can probably find where other components landing.
The picture above is 33cm/pixel.
A hair over a foot a pixel... I wonder if the original units where English and this is the translation, that or someone said 1/3 of a meter.
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140kg of fuel was left over. Touchdown speed reported by spacecraft was .75m/s which was intended velocity. But will take more analysis to get true velocity.
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A hair over a foot a pixel... I wonder if the original units where English and this is the translation, that or someone said 1/3 of a meter.
The distance to the spacecraft was quoted to 3 digits and the HiRISE angular resolution is known so I'd guess that's the actual number.
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I think she's American too ;)
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Front hazcam image should be down in a few hours (1130am PDT.) Trickle down thumbnails from descent imager.
B&W panoramas coming tomorrow, one color image from the microscope in two days.
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If they do find impact craters, they will try to avoid due to hydrazine. If they come across they will take a look, but will not go there intentionally. That's why they flew it north because they didn't plan on exploring north.
If they can find ballast that might be another story, but those are pretty far down the track.
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High gain deploy is in about 12 hours.
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I dunno, I'm still skeptical. The image is just too perfect.
Too perfect to be real? Are we still talking about Mars? :)
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I dunno, I'm still skeptical. The image is just too perfect.
Too perfect to be real? Are we still talking about Mars? :)
The entire event is kind of surreal but apparently that image is true. NASA has it on their home page.
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https://twitter.com/MarsCuriosity/status/232510435440603136
Eye in the Sky: MRO's @HiRISE camera caught this shot of me & my parachute during landing at Mars #MSL http://twitpic.com/ag8j1w
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From the presser (late getting to it):
Science instruments are still being tested.
MRO to be used to image rover, to provide updated traverse paths (in case of new dust hazards, ect).
The relay satellites can easily handle the data handling of both rovers since they are in two completely different sites
Q: What will be in the first color image? A: I don't know, but we can find out. Hopefully Mount Sharp & Crater Rim
Q: The team is working on the Mars 90 Sols & why?
A: For the team to be efficient to work on a real Mars day. 400 scientists on the mission & 300 engineers. We need to get to know each other really well and know the systems. Essentially immersion training (like a foreign language).
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This is an amazing image! I've always wished for external images of missions; they're rare. I think video of the entire landing sequence could have been possible too: just before landing (a min. or so?) shoot out a small camera that embeds or otherwise lands into the soil. Then it tracks and records video--imagine seeing the whole thing in HD. Would have been incredible, not to mention extremely useful for capturing general public interest...
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Not sure the camera would make it down before the lander, nor would it have a good focused shot, plus it'd be tough to find it afterwards and retrieve and then download the data.
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RTG operates as a 'trickle charger'. We run off the bateries during the day but recharge the batteries at night. The heat from the RTG gets pumped around the rover to keep everything warm.
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And in case anyone missed it: ;)
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Was there any word during the presser about what the altitude of MSL above Mars was when the MRO image was taken?
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140kg of fuel was left over. Touchdown speed reported by spacecraft was .75m/s which was intended velocity. But will take more analysis to get true velocity.
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?
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My guess is there is always residual... Plus as mentioned afterwards - they have no intention of sending the rover north, so that's where they sent the stage.
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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?
That appears to be essentially what they did, and there would still be residual hydrazine in the wreckage.
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Rear hazcam: some dust on lens but otherwise alright and survived pyro event. A ridge on the horizon (crater rim?), looking into sun causing some saturation on the image.
Would that lens dust be from blowing the cover too early, or just the blowing itself?
If pyros look like pyros, they're probably oversized. The animation clearly shows a spring on the cover, but it was likely restrained by some sort of catch severed by a pyro. It could alternatively have been solenoid released like a pop-up flash on a camera, but usually a pyro is the lightest, simplest, and most reliable way. It could be as simple as thin wire coated in a little bit of powder that creates enough gas pressure to push a pin out of a slot or burns through a severable link.
Well, since 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.
The covers are indeed are restrained by a metal rod, which was cut by a dual NSI pyro cable cutter. The cutter is massive overkill for the job, but....
These dust covers were one of the last things added to the rover. The MSL HazCams are build-to-print copies of the MER HazCams. On MER, the cameras were protected inside the lander, and in over 10 rover-years on the ground they haven't seen dust building up enough to be worrysome. The Skycrane system was supposed to reduce the plume ground pressure during landing to the point where dust wouldn't be an issue for MSL.
But after Phoenix landed and everyone saw the pictures of pebbles *on top of* the pads on the bottom of the lander legs, and the legs themselves coated with a sticky looking layer of dust, some concerned folks looked at the issue more closely. It turned out there is a core flow in the Mars Lander Engines on the descent stage that stays strong all the way to the surface, even hanging at the end of the skycrane. And that can kick up a lot of dust+reaction products during the skycrane maneuver, some of which would go back towards the rover. There was a review of hardware in danger of being coated with "sticky" dust; everything was determined to be dust tolerant *except* the HazCams.
Oh, but the HazCams were already done, and so were their mounting interfaces onto the rover, and the mounting hardware was already built....
I was given the task of working around all the geometric constraints of were the cameras needed to be to do their job, carving out a volume for the covers to open, making sure they end up above the belly pan of the rover so they don't impede mobility after they are open, etc (just finding room for the covers to swing with the vehicle design where it was in late 2009 was....fun). The covers were a "do no harm" best effort - the idea was not to impact the existing HazCams. Some of the constraints in that area meant they couldn't be 100% sealed, hence the dust particles that got past them. But the front images from last night especially showed a LOT of caked-on dust blocking a significant amount of the images - and that's what we were really trying to protect against - caked on dust or impacts from small pebbles damaging the coating on the cameras.
Another consequence of being a late addition to the design was that we didn't have time to procure a custom mini-cable-cutter, and we had to fire something with the same electrical characteristics as a NASA Standard Initiator. The cutters I used had been ordered for another part of MSL and then went unused because of a design change in that other subsystem.
The cover flips open (in 10-20ms depending on if it's the front or the rear) into a honeycomb energy absorber that bring it to stop with a constant deceleration. The honeycomb absorbers I used had been fabricated 10 years ago as flight spares for the TES mission and kept in their purge/baked out bags with all the certifications by the engineer who built them. I went to review my absorber design with him one day, showed him the size and shape, and he said - "I already built that, I have 60 flight certified units in storage". Once the covers are open, the spring force from the torsion springs holds it in place against ever moving again. Because the springs are oversized to meet design practices for moving mechanism torque margins, they have plenty of torque to simply hold the covers open forever. No latches or other mechanism needed.
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Nathan Moeller has just tweeted this:
https://twitter.com/AstroN8/status/232496228464750592/photo/1/large (https://twitter.com/AstroN8/status/232496228464750592/photo/1/large)
WOW. :o
That's pretty freaking amazing right there, on so many levels.
Yes indeed. The timing, the visual acuity. Knowing where to look. Pretty amazing.
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Well, since 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.
Thanks for the information ;D And good work, and congratulations!
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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.
Thanks very much for taking the time to give us that detailed and authoritative account. Much appreciated...
Noel
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Nathan Moeller has just tweeted this:
https://twitter.com/AstroN8/status/232496228464750592/photo/1/large (https://twitter.com/AstroN8/status/232496228464750592/photo/1/large)
WOW. :o
That's pretty freaking amazing right there, on so many levels.
Yes indeed. The timing, the visual acuity. Knowing where to look. Pretty amazing.
Here is the full shot.
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/images/Milkovich_2_Parachute-w-inset-full.jpg (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/images/Milkovich_2_Parachute-w-inset-full.jpg)
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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.
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SpaceflightNow in its landing story:
"... A sophisticated radar altimeter then began measuring altitude and velocity, feeding those data to the rover's flight computer while a high-definition camera began recording video of the remaining few minutes of the descent."
Any chance we will get to see that video?
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No.
:)
That's not the sort of info they would keep private. Nothing big comes down until the mast is up.
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Then what was the purpose of that video?
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This is an amazing image! I've always wished for external images of missions; they're rare. I think video of the entire landing sequence could have been possible too: just before landing (a min. or so?) shoot out a small camera that embeds or otherwise lands into the soil. Then it tracks and records video--imagine seeing the whole thing in HD. Would have been incredible, not to mention extremely useful for capturing general public interest...
Not feasible. The camera would be a lander itself and would require many services.
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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?
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Any chance we will get to see that video?
Yes, but as has been pointed out several times, it's going to take many days if not weeks to get the whole thing on the ground in original resolution. What we are expected to receive in the next couple of hours are 18 selected *thumbnail* frames (192x144 pixels, color) from that imager.
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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.
You now have a great moment to carry with you, congrats.
Thanks for the earlier details on the covers. I always like seeing perfectly good hardware put to use, even years later
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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.
Thanks very much for taking the time to give us that detailed and authoritative account. Much appreciated...
Noel
+1
Great to have an inside engineering story like that.
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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?
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?
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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?
The cameras on the Remote Sensing Mast (4x engineering NavCams, MastCams, and ChemCam are protected by features in the interface between the stowed RSM and the rover top deck. The Mars Hand Lens Imager on the turret has its own dust cover with a motor that can open and close it throughout the mission, so it is protected as well.
The main challenge with the HazCams is that they are right at the lower outer edged of the rover chassis, directly in the path of any reflected flow and its associated excavated material from the landing engines during touchdown. The 4 front cameras are in two interleaved pairs (ABAB) at the center of the front panel of the chassis; the rears are 1 pair on each side of the RTG (AA ||| BB). From the pictures it looks like the front covers got hit pretty good with the caked on material, and the rears received a good dusting.
The NavCams can stand in for the HazCams during autonomous navigation if needed, but because they are a different focal length and multiple pictures have to be taken and processed it slows down driving to the point where with NavCams alone, the minimum mission success criteria wouldn't be met. Also the front HazCams are used to image the workspace of the robotic arm/turret for the operation of the sampling system. All that payed into the decision to protect the HazCams as best we could. (I didn't actually make that decision, I just made it happen.)
When the RSM deploys it will take a panorama "self portrait" of the rover and we will have a better idea of what the dust situation is.
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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?
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 descent stage did not burn until depletion. It just throttled up the four canted thrusters to 100% for 6 seconds, then sent due north and then cut-off the thrusters and then flew on a ballistic trajectory and impacted the surface.
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The data in hand suggest they had nearly 120kg of Hydrazine remaining
140kg per presser.
The purpose of my inquiry is that a question was asked how far afield the descent stage might have landed
They don't know, HiRISE might answer in the next two weeks.
with the extra hydrazine on board is there a contamination issue.
Issue is probably a strong word.
seems 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.
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marsman2020, Thanks for all the background info! :)
Your work (& that of everyone else involved with MSL) is very much appreciated. This is going to be a fun mission to follow.
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The data in hand suggest they had nearly 120kg of Hydrazine remaining
140kg per presser.
The purpose of my inquiry is that a question was asked how far afield the descent stage might have landed
They don't know, HiRISE might answer in the next two weeks.
with the extra hydrazine on board is there a contamination issue.
Issue is probably a strong word.
seems 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.
Thanks guys. Will be nice to see where it landed once HiRISE gets a chance.
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Even just having the covers there and making them clear so we could assess what hit them gives useful information for future rovers. It was still an open question among some members of the MSL team if they were really "needed" or not. Even after I built the hardware and tested it many times with an EM HazCam, there was some consternation about putting a pyro so close to the cameras. This is a good example of high quality systems engineering - taking the lessons learned from another mission (Phoenix) and applying them into MSL within months, even though it caused a lot of heartburn and added cost - because it was the right thing to do to ensure the success of the mission.
Oh, I forgot to add - in the pictures with the covers closed, there are pan head bolts with washers under them that hold the clear Lexan in place with "just enough" force that it can still slide with respect to the aluminum cover structure during thermal expansion/contraction. One of those is a small Belleville disc spring....that I bought from McMaster-Carr. It was one of their items that has a materials/lot certification to the relevant AMS spec included, and we did additional materials and force:deflection testing on samples of the lot so my materials engineer would let me fly it. Since we had those testing facilities in-house, it was less costly and faster to qualify an the off the shelf part (for a low-risk application) vs having a custom run of parts made.
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Marsman2020 thanks for all your really interesting information on this.
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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?
They wanted to do a known maneuver and not worry about dispersion.
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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?
They wanted to do a known maneuver and not worry about dispersion.
Understood but in this case wouldn't it be safe to assume that a longer burn or maximum burn would have only moved that dispersion farther afield? I can't imagine a scenario where it burns so long and so squirrel-ly that it actually returns "closer" to the landing site?
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I recall hearing at one point that the descent stage has a very limited computer capability, so the sequence that it could run after the bridal separation had to be deliberately simple.
The design on MSL was to use the rover computer for everything.... So a more complex sequence for a burn to depletion might not have been an option.
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Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Rover Post-Landing News Briefing - Landing Recap and Sol 1 Outlook
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7763
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A few new images have been downlinked, in full resolution this time. Mount Sharp in view!
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Front HazCam cover deployed!
Look at those nice clean cameras!
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A few new images have been downlinked, in full resolution this time. Mount Sharp in view!
WOW!! look at those mounds over to the left of image!!!
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with the extra hydrazine on board is there a contamination issue.
Issue is probably a strong word.
seems 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.
Call it a "concern." It's still a legitimate reason to avoid the descent stage. I haven't heard if they might look for the backshell, heat shield, or cruise balance weights. They also can "scuff" the soil with the wheels to get shallow trenches to examine.
The criteria here is basically better safe than sorry. SAM contains several very sensitive instruments...far more so than anything on the MER's. The value of that sensitivity is compromised if you detect something that just as easily could be from the descent stage as from Mars itself.
Then what was the purpose of that video?
He was joking. We'll see it in a few days. It provides local context of the landscape around the lander. This will help the science team plan the initial drives based on what appears interesting or challenging in higher resolution than what can be seen from orbital images. More info here from the company that built the camera:
http://www.msss.com/science/msl-mardi-science-objectives.php
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I think this downlink means there's a good chance we got some of the MARDI thumbnails down as well. Too bad we have to wait for the press conference a 4 PM Pacific to see them.
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With this front hazcam I would think we could pinpoint pretty well where we are?
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A few new images have been downlinked, in full resolution this time. Mount Sharp in view!
How totally cool! Great to see the martian terrain and Curiosity's wheels in so much detail this early on.
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A few new images have been downlinked, in full resolution this time. Mount Sharp in view!
And that's a fisheye view. It makes things look distant and small. Mt Sharp is up close and big! I can't wait to see the Navcam images.
Also, that soil looks like a rover driver's dream. The wheels don't appear to have settled in at all, but there are a few pebbles visible inside the left wheel. I wonder if that is due to the thruster plume.
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A few new images have been downlinked, in full resolution this time. Mount Sharp in view!
And that's a fisheye view. It makes things look distant and small. Mt Sharp is up close and big! I can't wait to see the Navcam images.
Also, that soil looks like a rover driver's dream. The wheels don't appear to have settled in at all, but there are a few pebbles visible inside the left wheel. I wonder if that is due to the thruster plume.
It also might bode well for MARDI images if the plane is relatively free of lighter sandy material. Still would love to know where she is??
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I can't wait to see the Navcam images.
Or until someone linearizes one of these images ;)
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Does anyone know how much bandwidth the rover has?
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To all on Twitter. Please link the post or the thread, not the "attachment" as it's simply using bandwidth and the people clicking it are not coming to the site, just the attachment.
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Well, since 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.
The covers are indeed are restrained by a metal rod, which was cut by a dual NSI pyro cable cutter. The cutter is massive overkill for the job, but....
Very informative post. Thanks!
I think I found a spec sheet for the NSI:
www.hstc.com/Download.aspx?ResourceId=28223
There's actually not much propellant in it - almost all of the volume of the NSI is the housing and the electrical connector.
In your application does it cut by mechanical overload, or burning through the pin?
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http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?rawid=FLA_397506083EDR_F0010008AUT_04096M_&s=0
Mount Sharp in view
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Rear hazcam: some dust on lens but otherwise alright and survived pyro event. A ridge on the horizon (crater rim?), looking into sun causing some saturation on the image.
Would that lens dust be from blowing the cover too early, or just the blowing itself?
If pyros look like pyros, they're probably oversized. The animation clearly shows a spring on the cover, but it was likely restrained by some sort of catch severed by a pyro. It could alternatively have been solenoid released like a pop-up flash on a camera, but usually a pyro is the lightest, simplest, and most reliable way. It could be as simple as thin wire coated in a little bit of powder that creates enough gas pressure to push a pin out of a slot or burns through a severable link.
Well, since 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.
The covers are indeed are restrained by a metal rod, which was cut by a dual NSI pyro cable cutter. The cutter is massive overkill for the job, but....
These dust covers were one of the last things added to the rover. The MSL HazCams are build-to-print copies of the MER HazCams. On MER, the cameras were protected inside the lander, and in over 10 rover-years on the ground they haven't seen dust building up enough to be worrysome. The Skycrane system was supposed to reduce the plume ground pressure during landing to the point where dust wouldn't be an issue for MSL.
But after Phoenix landed and everyone saw the pictures of pebbles *on top of* the pads on the bottom of the lander legs, and the legs themselves coated with a sticky looking layer of dust, some concerned folks looked at the issue more closely. It turned out there is a core flow in the Mars Lander Engines on the descent stage that stays strong all the way to the surface, even hanging at the end of the skycrane. And that can kick up a lot of dust+reaction products during the skycrane maneuver, some of which would go back towards the rover. There was a review of hardware in danger of being coated with "sticky" dust; everything was determined to be dust tolerant *except* the HazCams.
Oh, but the HazCams were already done, and so were their mounting interfaces onto the rover, and the mounting hardware was already built....
I was given the task of working around all the geometric constraints of were the cameras needed to be to do their job, carving out a volume for the covers to open, making sure they end up above the belly pan of the rover so they don't impede mobility after they are open, etc (just finding room for the covers to swing with the vehicle design where it was in late 2009 was....fun). The covers were a "do no harm" best effort - the idea was not to impact the existing HazCams. Some of the constraints in that area meant they couldn't be 100% sealed, hence the dust particles that got past them. But the front images from last night especially showed a LOT of caked-on dust blocking a significant amount of the images - and that's what we were really trying to protect against - caked on dust or impacts from small pebbles damaging the coating on the cameras.
Another consequence of being a late addition to the design was that we didn't have time to procure a custom mini-cable-cutter, and we had to fire something with the same electrical characteristics as a NASA Standard Initiator. The cutters I used had been ordered for another part of MSL and then went unused because of a design change in that other subsystem.
The cover flips open (in 10-20ms depending on if it's the front or the rear) into a honeycomb energy absorber that bring it to stop with a constant deceleration. The honeycomb absorbers I used had been fabricated 10 years ago as flight spares for the TES mission and kept in their purge/baked out bags with all the certifications by the engineer who built them. I went to review my absorber design with him one day, showed him the size and shape, and he said - "I already built that, I have 60 flight certified units in storage". Once the covers are open, the spring force from the torsion springs holds it in place against ever moving again. Because the springs are oversized to meet design practices for moving mechanism torque margins, they have plenty of torque to simply hold the covers open forever. No latches or other mechanism needed.
Excellent explanation and thank you for "covering" us.
-Steve Nimchuk
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http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?rawid=FLA_397506083EDR_F0010008AUT_04096M_&s=0
Mount Sharp in view
There's a Left and Right version of that picture (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=0 (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=0)), should make for a nice stereoscopic image when combined!
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Already done.
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=7397&view=findpost&p=187172
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To all on Twitter. Please link the post or the thread, not the "attachment" as it's simply using bandwidth and the people clicking it are not coming to the site, just the attachment.
Note that you can get the URL for a specific post (not just a thread) via the "title" of the post, above the reply number text at the top of any post (e.g. 631 for this one).
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This is an amazing image! I've always wished for external images of missions; they're rare. I think video of the entire landing sequence could have been possible too: just before landing (a min. or so?) shoot out a small camera that embeds or otherwise lands into the soil. Then it tracks and records video--imagine seeing the whole thing in HD. Would have been incredible, not to mention extremely useful for capturing general public interest...
Not feasible. The camera would be a lander itself and would require many services.
Fair enough, but I'm thinking to keep it very small and simple since it's not mission-critical. All we need is a way to eject it safely, and then perhaps its own engine fires it down into the ground, so it hits before the rover. Think of a model rocket.
So if it's a tube then, it just drives itself into the ground, with the camera left sticking out at the end. This should be easy to refine and test on Earth, and the entire thing is self-sufficient with battery power. Then much later as time permits, it transmits its data back to the rover. It would be also invaluable I would think, to have external video of the rover driving around, from say 200' away! Of course then it will drive up and say hello. :)
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Excellent explanation and thank you for "covering" us.
-Steve Nimchuk
+1, it's great to get an engineering backstory like that, thanks.
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This is an amazing image! I've always wished for external images of missions; they're rare. I think video of the entire landing sequence could have been possible too: just before landing (a min. or so?) shoot out a small camera that embeds or otherwise lands into the soil. Then it tracks and records video--imagine seeing the whole thing in HD. Would have been incredible, not to mention extremely useful for capturing general public interest...
Not feasible. The camera would be a lander itself and would require many services.
Fair enough, but I'm thinking to keep it very small and simple since it's not mission-critical. All we need is a way to eject it safely, and then perhaps its own engine fires it down into the ground, so it hits before the rover. Think of a model rocket.
So if it's a tube then, it just drives itself into the ground, with the camera left sticking out at the end. This should be easy to refine and test on Earth, and the entire thing is self-sufficient with battery power. Then much later as time permits, it transmits its data back to the rover. It would be also invaluable I would think, to have external video of the rover driving around, from say 200' away! Of course then it will drive up and say hello. :)
Unfortunately, dedicating precious kgs to something that has great entertainment value but little scientific value otherwise (and multiple failure modes on top of that) is a no-go. That weight^H^H^H^H mass goes to scientific instruments...
I keep seeing comments on the internet about lack of video. Are we being spoilt in 2012? In the old days, "we" were happy to land in one piece :)
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I was personally happy to see all the live coverage, images+ photo of the landing from orbit. I came to realization (well, I always knew about that, but hm.. never actually thought about it) that new technology is really advanced. This skycrane looks crazy and suspicious, but it's much more elegant than past landing systems like the one of Mars 3 employing plastic foam for landing cushion.
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I keep seeing comments on the internet about lack of video. Are we being spoilt in 2012? In the old days, "we" were happy to land in one piece :)
You know, if you gave them realtime video feed, they'd be complaining about getting it 14 minutes later than folks on the other side ;)
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I just wanted to give Chris and Co. a quick thank you and shout out for the incredible consistency and stability of this site especially at a times like this. So far the unmanned side of spaceflight has been a bit buggy and it is hell-a frustrating. The main thread over there disappeared for some reason without explanation. In all sincerity Chris and all, thank you!!
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I can't wait to see the Navcam images.
Or until someone linearizes one of these images ;)
I don't have lens data, so this isn't very well done, but it's entertaining anyway.
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Word has it there will be some amazing EDL images released at the press conference in about 1.5 hrs. Just a heads up that according to the plan, we were supposed to get 18 MARDI thumbnails (192x144 pixel) and *maybe* one full color frame (1600x1200 pixels)
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Well, since 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.
...
This exemplifies what I love about NSF. HOTTOL and I have a gentle argument over pyro or non-pyro, each backing up our argument with an obscure page dredged up through Google, then along ambles marsman2020 saying "oh, yes, I designed that didn't I" and delivers a nerd's dream of detail that would never make it to mainstream media.
Many thanks marsman2020, and ongoing thanks to Chris for this wonderful site.
And this ain't even L2 ...
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Thanks for the above! Much appreciated!
Presser about to start. Let's have everyone's screenshot fu on "strong".
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Presser about to start. Let's have everyone's screenshot fu on "strong".
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starting
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(missed the others)
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Earlier we had ~ 5Mbits of data on the ground
we now have ~ 40 Mbits on the ground
Rover will wake up at 5:45 pm
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Rover soon to wake up on Sol 1. Main task is to check out an antenna.
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High Gain antenna deploy
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Relay
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low gain antenna
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high gain antenna
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Sol1 activities
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heat shield image!!
edit to add: this is just below the location of the parachute descent image (just off screen above of capture)
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Looks like the photoed the heatshield impact spot.
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front hazcam image from earlier
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heat shield from on-board camera
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MAHLI field of view
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multi-frame animation will be coming up
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Heatshield sep images!
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mid-altitude image
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picked up dust (first image of dust)
20m above surface
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0.9 msec shutter speed
image on surface
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current commentator
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not sure I have the name right
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first image of wheel (image upside down)
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10 minutes of resolution talk, and then an epic video! :)
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They just showed the animation (which I couldn't capture obviously)
MUST SEE!!!!!!!!!1
It was incredble from heat shield falling away, to the dust kick-up, to landing & stop
edit: added image of heat shield falling away
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Hi Res haxcam
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current commentator: Joy Crisp
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"Thank goodness we had dust covers"
A nice plug to our friend on here!
:)
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Hazcam FOV
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Q&A
Not expecting to find hematite berries at this site
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Q: Has anything not gone right?
A: No
expanding: we still need many things to go right & everything to test out right.
(some testing to take 4 Sols)
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Q (french journalist): Dust on optics that can be a problem?
A: It can be a problem. We installed dust covers as we had seen a problem before. Cameras higher up to mitigate, but we'll have to see.
Q: on weather
A: No data from meterological station yet (will get it later in the day tomorrow)
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Q: why it takes so long to start up since vehicle is nuclear powered?
A: RTG to charge batteries, heating during the night to keep things warm
2080 Watt-hours that can be used (which is the constraint)
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Q: On white area on an image. Is that snow?
A (Joy): Not sure. When I got in to work all the scientists had gone. It might be.
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Q: When will the science experiments begin?
A: Sol 5 to get things going (2 sols primary computer, 2 Sols for secondary computer)
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Q: On white area on an image. Is that snow?
A (Joy): Not sure. When I got in to work all the scientists had gone. It might be.
She said it was just the image stretch that made it look bright.
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Expansion on the night-time operations response while robertross keeps up with the Q/A:
The response was basically that it takes more energy to operate at night due to need to turn on heaters to various system, so operations are best done during daytime to keep within the 2080 Watt-hour per day constraint.
As they characterize the RTG performance on-location, they may be able to start budgeting more than 2080 Watt-hours per day, but not right away.
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Well, since 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.
I found a cool video showing your cover opening. I'm sure you're very familiar with this particular video.
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/videos/movies/hazcamatlo20120803/hazcamatlo20120803-1280.mov
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Curiosity's middle name might be Patience, as it will take time to get everything checked out, including before they are ready to drill
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Catching up, from Toronto airport. Fantastic news! Go Curiosity, go JPL!
Risking moderation and other punishments that allmighty moderators may unleash on me, I'll ask anyway:
Does the skycrane scale? What are the payload/size limitations from EDL perspective (assuming delivering payload to Mars is not an issue)?
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Q: when will we see images?
A: Images & animation (motion jpeg) to be posted on website soon.\
Q: full res images?
A: A couple weeks. A few full frame images over the next week. One tomorrow morning. Sol 4, we re-prioritize the remaining 17, so Sol 5 or Sol 6 timeframe
(everyone wants it now...)
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Irish reporter on live feed
No live feed tonight
Q: on intermission.
A: Hazcam has some idiosyncrasies that we couldn't test on the ground.
Chemcam also doing some tests.
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Irish reporter
Leo Enright. I've heard some of his BBC stuff. Pretty good at presenting space material.
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Quote from Leo Enright's question:
"'Curiosity' is a word which news reporters understand, but we do not understand 'patience'"
:D
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In the next few Sols, MRO will re-image the landing site
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Bill Harwood on wheel orientation
A: all wheels are pointing correctly
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGMDXy-Y1I
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Ended
Landing site
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This is all so cool. The descent image movie is amazing!
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Great work with the presser, Robert. Thanks!
Now at some point we need to move from this EDL live thread to a post landing update thread, so I'll work on that for tonight or tomorrow.
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So if it's a tube then, it just drives itself into the ground, with the camera left sticking out at the end. This should be easy to refine and test on Earth, and the entire thing is self-sufficient with battery power. Then much later as time permits, it transmits its data back to the rover. It would be also invaluable I would think, to have external video of the rover driving around, from say 200' away! Of course then it will drive up and say hello. :)
No, it wouldn't be that simple.
a. It would still need to be a "lander" even to stick in the ground. Would need a rugged camera.
b. how is it going to track the lander? there is no GPS on Mars and still how is it to find the lander?
c. Now you are adding more weight, systems and resources to the rover by adding a receiver, in addition to the camera system
d. There is no value much less invaluable to have external video. It serves no useful service with only more cost.
No, this is not a good idea
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Well, since 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.
I found a cool video showing your cover opening. I'm sure you're very familiar with this particular video.
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/videos/movies/hazcamatlo20120803/hazcamatlo20120803-1280.mov
I've actually moved on from JPL to another company now, so the first time I saw it was yesterday morning with everyone else at the pre-landing briefing. They missed one solid body in the animation (there is a "base" to the covers that surrounds the lenses on the HazCams) but it was really cool to see that they made a press-quality video of it! The 10+ minute MSL Mission animation was made using an in-development version of my CAD models, and doesn't show the covers deploying.
It's a lot more impressive at 4000 fps. ;) We did several videos of that to check that my estimates of mechanism friction were correct by measuring the time for the covers to open.
Well, since 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.
The covers are indeed are restrained by a metal rod, which was cut by a dual NSI pyro cable cutter. The cutter is massive overkill for the job, but....
Very informative post. Thanks!
I think I found a spec sheet for the NSI:
www.hstc.com/Download.aspx?ResourceId=28223
There's actually not much propellant in it - almost all of the volume of the NSI is the housing and the electrical connector.
In your application does it cut by mechanical overload, or burning through the pin?
If you look at this paper on MER - http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/2003ESASP.524..387B/0000388.000.html - it shows in Figure 2 a 'Y' cable cutter (I believe the first version was used on Surveyor, or so my Pyro Engineer said). That's basically what I used. The 2 NSIs create hot gas which pushes a blade forward, cutting the target, and striking an anvil. In most applications this is used as a cable cutter with a stainless aircraft cable, but I used a solid rod made of the same material as the covers and cover base so that the rod would expand/contract the same amount as the cover assembly over the wide temperature range we had to design for on MSL. My pyro engineer found reference to the same cutter being used on Pathfinder to cut a solid rod of the appropriate material, with the associated qual testing, so we used that cross sectional area for the rod on the covers and carried forward the work that others had done already.
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Thank you very much for the detail. Very enlightening.
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impressive brief
Sorry...had to do it
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This is an amazing image! I've always wished for external images of missions; they're rare. I think video of the entire landing sequence could have been possible too: just before landing (a min. or so?) shoot out a small camera that embeds or otherwise lands into the soil. Then it tracks and records video--imagine seeing the whole thing in HD. Would have been incredible, not to mention extremely useful for capturing general public interest...
Not feasible. The camera would be a lander itself and would require many services.
Fair enough, but I'm thinking to keep it very small and simple since it's not mission-critical. All we need is a way to eject it safely, and then perhaps its own engine fires it down into the ground, so it hits before the rover. Think of a model rocket.
So if it's a tube then, it just drives itself into the ground, with the camera left sticking out at the end. This should be easy to refine and test on Earth, and the entire thing is self-sufficient with battery power. Then much later as time permits, it transmits its data back to the rover. It would be also invaluable I would think, to have external video of the rover driving around, from say 200' away! Of course then it will drive up and say hello. :)
That sounds like Deep Space 2. (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=DEEPSP2)
Let's stick with astounding success, and remember better is the mortal enemy of good enough.
Please add my congratulations to those already heaped on the JPL team.
And now back to updates and downloads.
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impressive brief
Sorry...had to do it
Martin is better than the "You Didn't land there" mars images that have been circulating on facebook... (political statements not conspiracy theory)
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impressive brief
Sorry...had to do it
Martin is better than the "You Didn't land there" mars images that have been circulating on facebook... (political statements not conspiracy theory)
Ironic, because MSL is clearly government funded.
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Congrats to the JPL team and the folks here for a great thread on a marvelous achievement. I have nothing really to add here except for one comment: In celebrating this great achievement JPL and NASA have to find a way to leverage its success politically. Part of that work includes changing how projects like this are planned for, budgeted, and sold to Congress.
MER was full of controversy for years before launch because the low-ball budget for the mission from JPL/NASA got accepted by the Congress, then the cost of the project grew almost as fast as Kudzu grass. There was a lot of discussion about killing the whole project IIRC. The rapidly inflating cost of the rover and it's unique way of doing things ran into many hurdles, including the nuclear power generator it has.
For great projects like this to continue happening, and to rescue things like the Webb Space Telescope from the budget knife, NASA has to get its act together and find a way to sell people on what it can do, if given time, money, flexibility, and by earning trust by being honest about programs like this. the alternatives are either no programs, or trying to work with 4 or 5 five other entities on projects like this, which won't work to save money in the long run (contra Adm. Bolden's remarks at the press conference). NASA can still do great things if its allowed to do them.
Thanks for the coverage, and congrats to NASA! Can't wait to see we find out there.
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Will keep this open for a while, but all new updates for SOL 1 onwards can go into the new update thread:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=29633.0
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Mt Sharp to the front, the crater rim to the rear a foreboding shadow cast on the Martian surface.
So much to look forward to now I guess.
Mast pop up.
Colour pictures.
Full res landing video.
Drive!!! 8)
Robotic arm, turret, lazer.
This really is a jam packed mission. So happy that Curiosity is down but really want them to get on with it.
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Some interesting papers on MSL and post MSL EDL
All public web
Aerothermodynamic Design of the Mars Science Laboratory Backshell and Parachute Cone
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090024230_2009023822.pdf
MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY PARACHUTE DYNAMICS MODELING AND SIMULATION
http://www.planetaryprobe.eu/IPPW7/proceedings/IPPW7%20Proceedings/Papers/SessionP2/p489.pdf
Findings from the Supersonic Qualification Program of the Mars Science Laboratory Parachute System
http://toc.proceedings.com/05495webtoc.pdf
On the Use of a Range Trigger for the Mars Science Laboratory Entry Descent and Landing
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20110008289_2011008972.pdf
A couple interesting papers on MSL and post MSL EDL
NASA/TM-2011-217055 Feb 2011
ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20110007018_2011006233.pdf
NASA/TM-2011-216988 Jan 2011
Entry, Descent and Landing Systems Analysis Study: Phase 2 Report on Mars Science Laboratory Improvement
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20110015739_2011016739.pdf
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MSL EDL Mode Commander
JPL
Public Web
http://www.planetaryprobe.org/SessionFiles/Session4/Presentations/4_Brugarolas_MSL_EDL.pdf
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I keep seeing comments on the internet about lack of video. Are we being spoilt in 2012? In the old days, "we" were happy to land in one piece :)
You know, if you gave them realtime video feed, they'd be complaining about getting it 14 minutes later than folks on the other side ;)
...and why weren't there two so it could be in 3D?
cheers, Martin
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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?
They wanted to do a known maneuver and not worry about dispersion.
Understood but in this case wouldn't it be safe to assume that a longer burn or maximum burn would have only moved that dispersion farther afield? I can't imagine a scenario where it burns so long and so squirrel-ly that it actually returns "closer" to the landing site?
There are four engines - where will it end up if they don't all burnout at the same moment?
cheers, Martin
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Front HazCam cover deployed!
Look at those nice clean cameras!
Congrats, and I'll add my thanks for your great stories.
cheers, Martin
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There are four engines - where will it end up if they don't all burnout at the same moment?
cheers, Martin
Eight engines in four pairs.
But your point stands. :)
The flight computer remained on the rover. The engine management computer did the fly-away, so it had to be kept as simple as possible. Don't worry about how much fuel is left, or what altitude you're at, just tilt north and give 6 seconds of omph. Ther'll be no time to get far enough off course to need any steering. Elegant and simple.
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Curiosity's First Color Image of the Martian Landscape:
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Curiosity's First Color Image of the Martian Landscape:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=4282
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I keep seeing comments on the internet about lack of video. Are we being spoilt in 2012? In the old days, "we" were happy to land in one piece :)
You know, if you gave them realtime video feed, they'd be complaining about getting it 14 minutes later than folks on the other side ;)
...and why weren't there two so it could be in 3D?
cheers, Martin
Soon enough you'll hear people claiming it's recorded from a studio and whatnot ;D
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Folks at Wind River (makers of VxWorks, the realtime operating system that Curiosity's software is built upon) are also celebrating:
Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5ULMfelrw0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5ULMfelrw0)
White paper: http://www.windriver.com/announces/curiosity/Wind-River_NASA_0812.pdf (http://www.windriver.com/announces/curiosity/Wind-River_NASA_0812.pdf)
Homepage: http://www.windriver.com/announces/curiosity/ (http://www.windriver.com/announces/curiosity/)
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Teledyne Proudly Powers NASA’s Curiosity Rover
http://www.teledynetechnologies.com/news/tdy_08062012_2.asp
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It's unusual but pleasant to have an engineer/designer in an amateur forum :) .
Unfortunatley I don't know your real name: I'd like to add it to the post in my blog:
http://jumpjack.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/i-coperchi-delle-telecamere-del-rover-msl-curiosity/
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Elegant and simple.
Too much, IMHO: I wold have exploited the situation to attempt a full retro-rocket landing and to collect data for future human-landing. I don't think humans will be landed by a sky-crane... or will they?
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Elegant and simple.
Too much, IMHO: I wold have exploited the situation to attempt a full retro-rocket landing and to collect data for future human-landing. I don't think humans will be landed by a sky-crane... or will they?
Considering the dust we've already seen I think the skycrane was a good choice. With humans at least they could clean the dust off the instruments.
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Full Tiff 24 MB :
That is Phoenix
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Full Tiff 24 MB :
That is Phoenix
You're right,sorry. So maybe this time :)
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/images/2012/details/cut/ESP_028256_9022_RED.NOMAP-long.tif
540 MB
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Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Rover Post-Landing News Briefing - Sol 1 Mid-Day Update
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7764
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Elegant and simple.
Too much, IMHO: I wold have exploited the situation to attempt a full retro-rocket landing and to collect data for future human-landing. I don't think humans will be landed by a sky-crane... or will they?
The skycrane didn't replace rockets.... it just made the lander land at a height of 21' above ground level, avoiding backwash (easier to control) and dust (keeping things cleaner), and simplified the separation of the motors and tanks (to save roving weight) to a single cut of a tether.
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There are rumors on twitter about a post-MDL MRO image...
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Too much, IMHO: I wold have exploited the situation to attempt a full retro-rocket landing and to collect data for future human-landing. I don't think humans will be landed by a sky-crane... or will they?
Why? There is no need to test anything for humans for many years
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Why? There is no need to test anything for humans for many years
Data don't get old.
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This talk about landing humans is OT for this thread.
Dedicated thread here:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=29622.0
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Elegant and simple.
But contaminating, wasteful, and not beautiful.
The tanks are expected to burst, I presume? I quite realize that early missions need not conform to "EPA" standards, nor am I claiming that they should have in this mission. Still, I would have rather seen it land upright, in a controlled and predictable fashion.
That data would have been far more informative for future missions.
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Still, I would have rather seen it land upright, in a controlled and predictable fashion.
How much more would you have been willing to pay to get that ability?
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Elegant and simple.
But contaminating, wasteful, and not beautiful.
The tanks are expected to burst, I presume? I quite realize that early missions need not conform to "EPA" standards, nor am I claiming that they should have in this mission. Still, I would have rather seen it land upright, in a controlled and predictable fashion.
That data would have been far more informative for future missions.
That is your personal preference. A different options was chosen that delivers the same mission objectives at less risk and cost.
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Still, I would have rather seen it land upright, in a controlled and predictable fashion.
How much more would you have been willing to pay to get that ability?
Isn't the real question "How much science would you be willing to give up?"? TANSTAAFL.
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Why? There is no need to test anything for humans for many years
Data don't get old.
That is not a relevant reason. It is a waste to compromise a vehicle to gather data that is useless for the near term
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Elegant and simple.
But contaminating, wasteful, and not beautiful.
The tanks are expected to burst, I presume? I quite realize that early missions need not conform to "EPA" standards, nor am I claiming that they should have in this mission. Still, I would have rather seen it land upright, in a controlled and predictable fashion.
That data would have been far more informative for future missions.
Future rovers are planning on using this method.
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Isn't the real question "How much science would you be willing to give up?"?
In the context of a clearly HSF-centric forum, one could put it that way as well...
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Still, I would have rather seen it land upright, in a controlled and predictable fashion.
How much more would you have been willing to pay to get that ability?
JWST program has plenty of cash margin. Come on.
Everybody knows that cost is an issue for capability. Would it be helpful for me to incorrectly extrapolate your thinking? Continue to insist upon a throwaway exploration budget? Never consider reusability? Abandon the idea of controlled landings? Ridicule the idea of contamination?
I didn't think so.
...Still, I would have rather seen it land upright, in a controlled and predictable fashion.
That data would have been far more informative for future missions.
That is your personal preference. A different options was chosen that delivers the same different mission objectives at less risk and cost.
Of course it is. A controlled landing will always be a different mission objective, not the "same". With different risks and costs, as is well known.
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Future rovers are planning on using this method.
Which method? Landing or skycrane?
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Future rovers are planning on using this method.
Which method? Landing or skycrane?
Skycrane.
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Still, I would have rather seen it land upright, in a controlled and predictable fashion.
How much more would you have been willing to pay to get that ability?
JWST program has plenty of cash margin. Come on.
As long as noone touches the HSF budget, yes, let's raid the unmanned budgets for demonstrations trying to prove something I don't know what and of what use to the unmanned arena.
Never consider reusability? Abandon the idea of controlled landings? Ridicule the idea of contamination?
Reusability? Really? On hardware landed on Mars? Come on. We can't even make hardware get to LEO and be reusable and you're suggesting we start thinking about not throwing away spent hardware because it's just... well, a waste of good, spent hardware?
Who's ridiculing the idea of contamination? You're trying to blow it out of proportion.
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Future rovers are planning on using this method.
Which method? Landing or skycrane?
Skycrane, see ABL.
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Reusability? ... Who's ridiculing the idea of contamination?
As I said:
Would it be helpful for me to incorrectly extrapolate your thinking? I didn't think so.
I simply suggested that I would rather see it land upright in a controlled fashion. You responded with the classic (around here) snark of "How much more would you have been willing to pay..."
You do get that snark is not helpful in the discussion.
We can't don't even make hardware get to LEO and be reusable and you're suggesting we start thinking about not throwing away spent hardware because it's just... well, a waste of good, spent hardware?
In the larger picture of HSF and even unmanned exploration, we've continued to dispose of hardware, while wondering at the incredible unsustainability of all space exploration, manned and unmanned. If we never "start thinking" about re-usability, it will never happen.
The truth is, as I see it, after forty years of putzing around in space we don't even attempt re-usability. It is not the case that we can't do this, due to some law of physics. It is not the case that re-usability will be "easy". It is the case that reusability will be necessary for humanity to maintain a permanent presence in space. The time to start thinking about this is now.
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There's less and less about MSL in here and more about nonsense. Please take the "lets put LM landing gear on the Skycrane" stuff someplace else.
And if you don't know what a LM is you shouldn't be here anyway. :)
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There's less and less about MSL in here and more about nonsense. Please take the "lets put LM landing gear on the Skycrane" stuff someplace else.
And if you don't know what a LM is you shouldn't be here anyway. :)
Yeah, LockMart....
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Isn't it pas time to close this thread? We're al;ready onto Sol1 and there really aren't any more "updates" for this thread.
EDIT: Just pointing out that this thread is quickly devolving into "Lets human-rate Skycrane by stealing from the JWST budget" instead of MSL updates...
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Well, when they release the hires video of MSL landing, it should noted here and not the SOL-1 thread, though it should be posted to the video thread...
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You responded with the classic (around here) snark of "How much more would you have been willing to pay..."
You do get that snark is not helpful in the discussion.
It was an honest question which you didn't even attempt to answer but also snarkily pointed at JWST. It's very easy to sit here and contemplate such feature creep. Everything costs money. Armchair engineering is the easiest.
We can't don't even make hardware get to LEO and be reusable and you're suggesting we start thinking about not throwing away spent hardware because it's just... well, a waste of good, spent hardware?
You can argue semantics if you want. Trying to levy a reusability requirement on a Mars lander at this point, when each additional kilogram of mass delivered there costs millions is ludicrous, IMO.
Think about what you were asking for:
Still, I would have rather seen it land upright, in a controlled and predictable fashion.
Prior to this, guided entry on Mars was undemonstrated. The parachute as the biggest supersonic parachute ever and it couldn't have been tested at the specified Mach number on Earth. The skycrane maneuver was undemonstrated. Among all that, you'd also love to have the descent stage do a nice flyaway and a soft landing? Who pays for that capability and for what purpose on this particular EDL?
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You responded with the classic (around here) snark of "How much more would you have been willing to pay..."
You do get that snark is not helpful in the discussion.
It was an honest question which you didn't even attempt to answer but also snarkily pointed at JWST. ...
I'll take your word that it was an honest question. But I did interpret it as snark, and responded in kind.
We can't don't even make hardware get to LEO and be reusable [modified by JF]...
You can argue semantics if you want. Trying to levy a reusability requirement on a Mars lander at this point, ...
It should be clear that I'm not levying a new requirement on the vehicle, I'm talking about the larger issue of re-usability, in general, while using this vehicle as a convenient case in point, because of its topicality. My larger point holds. At least Mr. Musk agrees with my thinking about re-usabilty.
Think about what you were asking for:
Still, I would have rather seen it land upright, in a controlled and predictable fashion.
Prior to this, guided entry on Mars was undemonstrated. ... Among all that, you'd also love to have the descent stage do a nice flyaway and a soft landing? Who pays for that capability and for what purpose on this particular EDL?
Yeah, it would have been a "nice to have". But I didn't invent that budgetarily expensive and mission creepy phrase. Even so, the purpose would have been pretty clear: Demonstrate a controlled landing. Clearly a useful demonstration that will have to be made in due course.
Excuse me for a minute tho. I gotta adjust my armchair.
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Isn't it pas time to close this thread? We're al;ready onto Sol1 and there really aren't any more "updates" for this thread.
Yep. Especially now we've got Buzz Killington forgetting its a LIVE UPDATE THREAD posting ;)
It's been emotional! ;D
New live thread:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=29633.0