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#120 by Blackstar on 06 Aug, 2012 22:50
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What would it take to put 3 comm satellites in stationary equitorial orbits equally spaced around Mars? How much would that speed the investigations performed by these robot missions? By manned missions?
Money. -
#121 by iamlucky13 on 06 Aug, 2012 22:57
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What would it take to put 3 comm satellites in stationary equitorial orbits equally spaced around Mars? How much would that speed the investigations performed by these robot missions? By manned missions?
The better part of a billion dollars.
The Mars Telecommunications Orbiter, a single dedicated relay orbiter in a high orbit that would have provided longer comm windows and larger coverage areas, was cancelled in the design phase a few years ago due to other projects going over budget, and because NASA decided the benefit of extra available bandwidth wasn't that big.
Given the slowdown (also budget related) in mission pace compared to plans when MTO was conceived, the impact of cancellation has arguably been even smaller than originally expected.
It's possibly a question that will be re-examined if we commit to a manned mission, as much for reducing no-comms periods as due to total bandwidth availability. -
#122 by mikes on 06 Aug, 2012 23:01
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Well that covers MAVEN what about ExoMars which isn't US, will it carry this as well?Are the upcoming MAVEN & ExoMars orbiters both designed to operate as relay satellites...?
All US orbiters must carry the relay package.
Yes, ExoMars has the Electra relay package
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExoMars_Trace_Gas_Orbiter
(I know, Wikipedia is a poor reference, but find me a counter-ref and I'll put the effort in!)
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#123 by BuDkaR on 07 Aug, 2012 10:36
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Hi,
do we know version of OS VxWorks(latest is 6.9) which is "using" MSL ? Thanks
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#124 by agenttokyo on 07 Aug, 2012 21:18
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Has there been any public release of the RAD data from the flight out or Sol 0? I'd be more doubtful of the latter given this morning's briefing, but I haven't found anything about the flight out either. I would have thought they had plenty of time / opportunity to send & process that data already.
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#125 by FOXP2 on 08 Aug, 2012 00:27
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So where is MSL exactly, like lat/long coordinates. Now that we have an MRO picture of its location that information has got to be available somewhere.
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#126 by robertross on 08 Aug, 2012 00:45
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So where is MSL exactly, like lat/long coordinates. Now that we have an MRO picture of its location that information has got to be available somewhere.
(assuming I got the numbers correct)
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=29612.msg938376#msg938376
And to add (because I wrote it down, but didn't post): N114E -
#127 by AnalogMan on 08 Aug, 2012 00:52
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So where is MSL exactly, like lat/long coordinates. Now that we have an MRO picture of its location that information has got to be available somewhere.
Nailing Down Curiosity's Landing Site
This image shows the location (green) where scientists estimate NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Mars within Gale Crater, based on images from the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI). The landing estimates derived from navigation and landing data agree to within 660 feet (200 meters) of this MARDI estimate.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16008.html
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#128 by jimflem on 08 Aug, 2012 01:22
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Due to communication lag and relay considerations, can you give us a time frame on when a typical event is scheduled, sent up, performed, sent down, and reviewed.
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#129 by Jim on 08 Aug, 2012 12:08
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Due to communication lag and relay considerations, can you give us a time frame on when a typical event is scheduled, sent up, performed, sent down, and reviewed.
There should be some info on MER on the web -
#130 by PeterAlt on 08 Aug, 2012 12:25
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What's NASA's protocol in the event that - let's say - fossilized bones are found? Would this be announced the day it's found, or will it be held from public knowledge, pending confirmation and internal debate or even presidential approval?
not even worth acknowledging
I used bones as an extreme example, but - if anything - fossilized bacteria is a possibility (unlikely possibility, yes, but possible).
What is NASA's protocol, if found. I remember that the Antartica Mars rock find was kept secret for some time, while multiple teams studied it for confirmation, and the news reached the President before the public news briefing. I would imagine that, since then, NASA had codified a procedure. -
#131 by Rocke on 08 Aug, 2012 13:34
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Hello
Are the High Gain Antenna now in in corect Position to Communitate
directly to earth?
Best wiches Rocke -
#132 by robertross on 08 Aug, 2012 15:43
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Hello
Are the High Gain Antenna now in in corect Position to Communitate
directly to earth?
Best wiches Rocke
Should be deployed, but probably still in work at this moment to get it pointed to Earth:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1295
"August 7: Curiosity Gets More Looks at its Surroundings; Health Checks Continue
"Curiosity is healthy as it continues to familiarize itself with its new home in Gale Crater and check out its systems. The team's plans for Curiosity checkout today included raising the rover's mast and continued testing of its high-gain antenna, whose pointing toward Earth will be adjusted on Sol 2. Science data were collected from Curiosity's Radiation Assessment Detector, and activities were performed with the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station instrument. Curiosity transmitted its first color image from the surface of Mars, from the Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI, showing part of the north rim of Gale Crater. Additional calibration images were received from Curiosity's Navcam and Mastcam. All systems are go for deployment of the rover's remote sensing mast on Sol 2, followed by a 360-degree pan by the rover's Navcam. The Mastcam will also be calibrated against a target image on the rover. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter returned a spectacular image of Curiosity's landing site, depicting the rover, parachute, back shell, heat shield and descent stage. Data were received from both NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey." -
#133 by gin455res on 08 Aug, 2012 18:53
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Possibly a stupid question.
Can the rover drive during the night? -
#134 by StephenB on 08 Aug, 2012 18:59
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Possibly a stupid question.
Can the rover drive during the night?
Apparently the answer is technically yes, but the power supply is already loaded with keeping the rover warm and trickle charging the battery at night. -
#135 by Lee Jay on 08 Aug, 2012 18:59
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Possibly a stupid question.
Can the rover drive during the night?
Yes (well, in theory, but I'm not sure if in practice navigation would be functional), but they probably won't. This was covered during one of the Q&A sessions. They don't have the energy to keep the rover awake all the time, much less drive all the time, because they still have to manage their energy balance even with the RTG versus the solar cells. -
#136 by neilh on 08 Aug, 2012 19:57
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Is there a mass breakdown available of the various components of MSL? What's the heaviest component aside from the chassis?
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#137 by iamlucky13 on 08 Aug, 2012 21:57
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What's NASA's protocol in the event that - let's say - fossilized bones are found? Would this be announced the day it's found, or will it be held from public knowledge, pending confirmation and internal debate or even presidential approval?
not even worth acknowledging
I used bones as an extreme example, but - if anything - fossilized bacteria is a possibility (unlikely possibility, yes, but possible).
What is NASA's protocol, if found. I remember that the Antartica Mars rock find was kept secret for some time, while multiple teams studied it for confirmation, and the news reached the President before the public news briefing. I would imagine that, since then, NASA had codified a procedure.
For the question of if there is a protocol for keeping such findings a secret for political purposes:
There is not.
There is a protocol, however, that protects the hard work of those directly involved in a project so that they get the first chance at getting credit for findings their hardware made possible. Normal practice is that they are allowed to keep the data only available to those involved in the project for up to one year, then it has to be made available to any interested party.
It is also regular practice, when you think you have discovered something significant, to keep it to yourself until you can increase the confidence in your discovery. It's embarrassing to publicly claim there are photos of a bunny rabbit on Mars, only to have others point out it's really just a piece of fabric from your lander.
Well...it would be embarrassing at least if Richard Hoagland had any sense of shame.
The president often gets briefed before major findings are published because:
1.) He's the boss. NASA reports to him. Usually the boss wants to hear about big news first.
2.) The public often looks to the president to discuss the relevance of a finding whenever anything important happens, so it is helpful to give his office time to understand what the finding and decide if they want to comment on it.
3.) Getting the president excited enough to come to your press conference makes you look really important, and that's good for your prestige. This is a double-edged sword, however, as you can be perceived as overhyping your findings, which hurts your credibility.
In the case of the Mars meteorite, Administrator Goldin briefed President Clinton a week beforehand that they were about to announce evidence that life may have existed on Mars in the past. This was a little over a week before the paper detailing the findings was to be published, and several months after it had been submitted.
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/07/us/clues-in-meteorite-seem-to-show-signs-of-life-on-mars-long-ago.html?pagewanted=2 -
#138 by Sesquipedalian on 09 Aug, 2012 02:05
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Is Curiosity going to examine its own crashed descent stage? In addition to getting us some really cool crash pictures, it would also present the opportunity to study some of that big pile of dirt the stage kicked up. Maybe the stage will have even dug some distance down into the ground, allowing subsurface sampling.
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#139 by QuantumG on 09 Aug, 2012 02:11
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Is Curiosity going to examine its own crashed descent stage? In addition to getting us some really cool crash pictures, it would also present the opportunity to study some of that big pile of dirt the stage kicked up. Maybe the stage will have even dug some distance down into the ground, allowing subsurface sampling.
Asked at the second press conference. Answer: no.
