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#680
by
robertross
on 06 Aug, 2012 23:43
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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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#681
by
thomson
on 06 Aug, 2012 23:44
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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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#682
by
robertross
on 06 Aug, 2012 23:45
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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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#683
by
robertross
on 06 Aug, 2012 23:46
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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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#684
by
mikes
on 06 Aug, 2012 23:48
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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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#685
by
robertross
on 06 Aug, 2012 23:49
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#686
by
iamlucky13
on 06 Aug, 2012 23:50
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Quote from Leo Enright's question:
"'Curiosity' is a word which news reporters understand, but we do not understand 'patience'"
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#687
by
robertross
on 06 Aug, 2012 23:50
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In the next few Sols, MRO will re-image the landing site
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#688
by
robertross
on 06 Aug, 2012 23:51
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Bill Harwood on wheel orientation
A: all wheels are pointing correctly
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#689
by
ugordan
on 06 Aug, 2012 23:52
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#690
by
robertross
on 06 Aug, 2012 23:55
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#691
by
John Duncan
on 06 Aug, 2012 23:55
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This is all so cool. The descent image movie is amazing!
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#692
by
Chris Bergin
on 06 Aug, 2012 23:56
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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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#693
by
Jim
on 07 Aug, 2012 00:03
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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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#694
by
marsman2020
on 07 Aug, 2012 00:08
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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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#695
by
iamlucky13
on 07 Aug, 2012 00:47
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Thank you very much for the detail. Very enlightening.
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#696
by
DeanG1967
on 07 Aug, 2012 00:58
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impressive brief
Sorry...had to do it
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#697
by
Comga
on 07 Aug, 2012 01:03
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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.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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#698
by
kevin-rf
on 07 Aug, 2012 01:41
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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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#699
by
Robotbeat
on 07 Aug, 2012 01:43
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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.
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.