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#400 by notsorandom on 18 Aug, 2012 16:39
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Heat Shield, Meet Mars
Wow now that is cool! Thanks for pointing that out.
Published on Aug 17, 2012 by JPLnews
This sequence of images shows the heat shield from NASA's Mars Science Laboratory hitting the ground on Mars and raising a cloud of dust. The images were taken by the Mars Descent Imager on the mission's Curiosity rover while the rover was still suspended on a parachute, after the spacecraft had jettisoned the heat shield.... -
#401 by Fixer on 18 Aug, 2012 20:59
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New grayscale images of the mountain! http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=12 including this one http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/proj/msl/redops/ods/surface/sol/00012/opgs/edr/ncam/NLA_398561766EDR_F0030004NCAM00400M_.JPG
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#402 by TheFallen on 18 Aug, 2012 21:17
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I'd forgotten - until reminded by a USA friend - that my name (along with 1,246,445 other worldwide names) is etched onto a microchip on board MSL Curiosity now parked inside Gale crater.
The microchips (there are two of them) are installed on the top deck of Curiosity... I'm sure they're visible in the images already downloaded and posted online, but I wonder when JPL will have the time to post an update specifically pointing out the location of the chips aboard the rover... (Pages were eventually posted on the Stardust, Kepler and Cassini mission sites with pics of the microchips and/or DVDs aboard them)
EDIT: I found the image below through Google. This pic is uploaded through the MSL mission site...but I can't find the specific page this photo is posted on. Hm.
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/images/ChipCloseUptKSC.jpg
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#403 by TheFallen on 18 Aug, 2012 23:58
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Persistence! I found the page...and the location of the chips on Curiosity
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/sendyournameTEMP4/
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#404 by js117 on 19 Aug, 2012 00:31
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Will JPL ever drive MSL Curiosity to the landing site of the sky crane.
To far or of no interest. -
#405 by Jim on 19 Aug, 2012 00:43
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Will JPL ever drive MSL Curiosity to the landing site of the sky crane.
To far or of no interest.
Search the thread, been answered many times -
#406 by Duck on 19 Aug, 2012 02:22
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Will JPL ever drive MSL Curiosity to the landing site of the sky crane.
To far or of no interest.
Hi Js, no - they don't plan on going over there... they've mentioned that they're worried the fuel etc. would contaminate the sensors on the rover.
I agree though, it sure would be awesome to see! Maybe toward the end of the mission, after they're all finished with the other science experiments, they could head over there?
-Iain -
#407 by Hungry4info3 on 19 Aug, 2012 02:26
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Quote
after they're all finished with the other science experiments
You don't know how exploring other planets works, do you....
But no. Hydrazine from the Skycrane is like AIDS for MSL. It will be avoided. And there's no reason whatsoever to travel dozens of km off of Mt Sharp to see it, when there's no real science to be gathered there. -
#408 by kevin-rf on 19 Aug, 2012 03:38
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If MSL notices a martian hazmat crew cleaning it up, it might be worth wandering over to watch...
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#409 by hop on 19 Aug, 2012 04:07
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I agree though, it sure would be awesome to see! Maybe toward the end of the mission, after they're all finished with the other science experiments, they could head over there?
The have consistently said they won't get close. However, MSL has some nice long lenses, and Grotzinger (IIRC) said in the last telecon that they would definitely take a look if they got line of sight on any of the hardware.
The descent stage crash site is about 600m away from the current position. Mastcam 100 is good for 7.4 cm/pixel at 1km. ChemCam RMI is also a pretty good telescope. It shouldn't take much of a rise on the way to Glenelg (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=4482) to get a decent view. -
#410 by Plopper on 19 Aug, 2012 07:21
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At the last teleconference, when asked, Grotzinger did say that they will take pictures of the crashed equipment if they get the opportunity from heights on the mound. (Pfuii, Hop just said that)
What's happened with the 140 kg fuel on board the sky crane? Could parts of it have combusted when in contact with oxidizing chemicals on the ground? Does it evaporate? Does it freeze? Does its status change from day to night? -
#411 by Plopper on 19 Aug, 2012 07:39
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Concerning scientific value, they are quite interested in the little Goldburn scour because it scratched the surface bare. Hasn't the heat shield dug a much deeper pit? We've all seen that it threw a lot of materials around. Can anyone estimate how deep a crater it could've made? I think it was released at 238 m/s from 8 km altitude. Air resistance can almost be neglected, right? I can't find its mass, but it's large!
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/msl-20090710.html
Instead of landing heavy drilling equipment, they could just bomb the surface with high speed projectiles, dropped from orbiters at interesting targets, and let rovers examine the craters.
If I read the MRO images correctly, the heat shield is located only 3 times the distance to Glenelg, in the same direction, which is 130 degrees from the base of mount Sharp. Not far away at all!
EDIT: Actually, it's been said that Glenelg is 400 meters from MSL landing site, and that the heat shield is 1200 meters away. If so, it would only be about 800 meters from Glenelg to the heat shield crater. They are almost on a straight line, with no major obstacles, I gather. Going from Glenelg to the heat shield, would increase the distance to the base of mount Sharp by about 500 meters, so a visit there would result in a total extra driving of about 800+500 = 1300 meters. Wouldn't it be worth it, for the only chance to analyse fresh soil from maybe a meters depth? Also, it might be more interesting to drive to the base of mount Sharp closer along the dunes and mound.
Heat shield impact video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVLPXfF3l_U&feature=youtu.be
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#412 by jumpjack on 19 Aug, 2012 14:02
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First mission targets:
http://www.spaceflight101.com/uploads/6/4/0/6/6406961/5333173.jpg?824 -
#413 by Plopper on 19 Aug, 2012 14:50
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They don't wanna get near the heat shield because it contains carbon, I've learned now. I suppose it could disturb measurements of organic chemistry.
Aren't the Russians launching any Mars mission soon? They use to crash theirs, so NASA could ask them to crash the next one in Gale crater in order to get a nice fresh pit to scoop from...
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#414 by meekGee on 19 Aug, 2012 15:59
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Wouldn't it be worth it, for the only chance to analyse fresh soil from maybe a meters depth?
It won't be meters deep - this is not a large asteroid - it's a bit of lightweight aerospace structure that fell from rest from a few km at 1/2 g onto solid ground.
Actually, at 5 m/s2, 8000m, I get barely 280 m/s, even w/o atmosphere.
It will have disturbed the dust (eating up a bunch of energy), deformed, and then scratched the surface a little bit.
And on top of that, it's the one place on Mars that they know for sure contains a bunch of heat shield dust.
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#415 by Plopper on 19 Aug, 2012 16:17
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First mission targets:
Actually, this poor old rock might be zapped first (ChemCam zooms in on N165):
http://www.spaceflight101.com/uploads/6/4/0/6/6406961/5333173.jpg?824
http://yfrog.com/oeuyhcevj -
#416 by jumpjack on 19 Aug, 2012 17:45
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Uh-oh, we are ready to fire even before being ready to move?
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#417 by Kaputnik on 19 Aug, 2012 17:46
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it's a bit of lightweight aerospace structure that fell from rest from a few km at 1/2 g onto solid ground.
Actually, at 5 m/s2, 8000m, I get barely 280 m/s, even w/o atmosphere.
Not arguing with your basic point, but I don't think it 'fell from rest'; the vehicle was moving at several hundred metres per second when it jettisoned the heatshield. -
#418 by meekGee on 19 Aug, 2012 19:08
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it's a bit of lightweight aerospace structure that fell from rest from a few km at 1/2 g onto solid ground.
Actually, at 5 m/s2, 8000m, I get barely 280 m/s, even w/o atmosphere.
Not arguing with your basic point, but I don't think it 'fell from rest'; the vehicle was moving at several hundred metres per second when it jettisoned the heatshield.
Sure, though I'm not sure if it was all vertical. over here:
http://www.spaceflight101.com/uploads/6/4/0/6/6406961/mars_science_laboratory.pdf
it says 280 m/s at separation, some of it vertical, some horizontal. Then again, I also neglected aerodynamic forces. If moving at ~300 m/s, even in 1% atmosphere, it will slow it down.
I guess by "at rest" I meant "not at any kind of re-entry speed" - I was just being sloppy.
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#419 by Retired Downrange on 19 Aug, 2012 22:09
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By Associated Press,
PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Curiosity rover has zapped its first Martian rock, aiming its laser for the sake of science.
During the target practice on Sunday. Curiosity fired 30 pulses at a nearby rock over a 10-second window, burning a small hole.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/08/19/now-you-will-feel-the-firepower-of-a-fully-armed-and-operational-mars-rover/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/target-practice-nasa-rover-curiosity-uses-laser-to-target-a-small-martian-rock/2012/08/19/11fc960a-ea42-11e1-866f-60a00f604425_story.html
