"Curiosity"

[Toppack]

8-)How About that Mars Lander! 8:)

 

:!:'Way to Go' NASA :!::-D

[Toppack]

Well, I am making plans to build a beach-side Hotel on Mars, 8-)

as soon as I Stake-a-claim to a Gold-mine on Mars, :grin:

and as soon as they Find enough Water to make a Beach. :roll: :lol:

[gavind]

This is already done. I think only the government has all the details though.

[Toppack]

I'm Continually Surprized at how Great the very Complicated landing and power-up procedure is going. :shock:

A truly Amazing Accomplishment! :!:

[Melvin_Deal]

I have been watching this closely as well!

 

Thank you Toppack for opening this thread!

 

All members and visitors can find the official NASA/JPL Mars Science Lab (i.e Curiosity) site by clicking on this link!

 

A truly amazing accomplishment built on the success of the previous two rovers.

 

Sincerely,

-Mel

Live long and prosper!

[Melvin_Deal]

It is going to go this mountain.

 

Mt. Sharp. It has an eroded face (similar to what is exposed in the face of a canyon wall)that will allow Curiosity to explore the geology and surface of Mars over a vast timescale. Curiosity will start at the bottom (oldest) and actually climb to newer levels to do this. This rover is the size of a small automobile... many times larger than the previous two.

 

This is a link to a cool panoramic video taken from its mast camera at the landing site.

 

I would have loved to have been a martian watching this thing come in and land!:mrgreen:

 

 

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/images/Crisp-1-br.jpg

 

 

Sincerely,

-Mel

Live long and prosper!

[Toppack]

Yes, the Good Hires color pictures are yet to come. (about two weeks)

The pictures downloaded now are simple thumbnail pics, to test some of the cameras and to verify the condition and position of the Lander.

JPL is presently uploading the operational software, to actvate the other cameras, robotic-arm, drive-motors, etc.

 

The software and command signals are sent from Earth to a Satellite, in orbit around Mars, then relayed to Curiosity.

 

Mount Sharp is in the center of a very large impact-crater and was created by that large meteor.

Curiosity landed about half-way between the center and an outer-wall of that large crater.

[Melvin_Deal]

First Hi-Res photo mosaic from the mastcam!

 

I have revised this post as the Image was too large. Go to this NASA/JPL page to view the Image. You can click on the Image there to zoom in on specific areas.

 

Sincerely,

-Mel

Live long and prosper!

 

 

 

 

EDIT: I have given the link instead of the image Mel, as it was a bit too much broadband consuming for the forum!

EDIT: When I posted it I didn't realize how large it was!!!

[Toppack]

I remember a place that looked Just Like That,

when we drove through West-Texas! :shock: :lol:

[Melvin_Deal]

Rocks.

 

I would love to pick up one of those rocks to see how far I could throw it!!:-)

 

The blast marks from the Sky Crane's retro-rockets are clearly visible just above and to the left of the visible portion of the rover. They are the two slightly gray ashen areas on the ground.

 

There are two more on the right side of the image in line with those.

 

I wonder what caused this anomaly on the top right corner of the image??

 

 

http://forums.iobit.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10321&d=1344796261

 

 

Sincerely,

-Mel

Live long and prosper!

[Toppack]

Here's an interesting pic of prototype models of the various Mars Rovers:

(showing the size difference of Curiosity, which is on right-side)

Notice that the Nuclear-generater is missing from tail-end of the prototype.

[Melvin_Deal]

The first destination.

 

This image is to the base of Mt. Sharp where Curousity will go first. The exact path is not known as it involves guidance by the programmers here as well as the software that allows the rover to drive itself. Notice the eroded face of the mountain with the apparently Fluvial plain off to the right and left! Something cut that channel, looks like a dry riverbed to me!!!

 

So you can see... the rover must travel toward this destination where the surface drops suddenly down (and out of sight) in the picture. So it will have to cross that rise and look downhill. From this view it would be as if looking over from the top of a hill, you can't see whats on the other side. Then there is a distance it must travel before it approaches the bottom of the mountain.

 

It is a hi-res file... only one image from the mosaic I posted earlier so I will post the image... I don't think it will be too large. If it is then Please remove it. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/images/pia16053-figure_4color-br2.jpg

 

Sincerely,

-Mel

Live long and prosper!

[Toppack]

There are deep Sand-dunes in that area that they need to avoid,

so they are thinking about going the Long way around.

[solbjerg]

Hi Toppack

Interesting subject. The achievements in space are remarkable.

I was wondering if the sandstorms could create what now looks like riverbeds.

There probably was was water on Mars originally - as far as I have read there is some left at the Marsian north pole in the form of ice. South pole frozen carbon dioxide. Most of the atmosphere is carbon dioxide, - the amount of water is minute:

 

 

Mars and

Earth atmosphere

Carbon dioxide

 

95,32%

 

 

0,04%

 

Nitrogen

 

 

2,70%

 

 

78%

 

Argon

 

 

1,60%

 

 

0,93%

 

Oxygen

 

 

0,13%

 

 

21%

 

Carbon monoxide

 

0,07%

 

 

0,00001%

 

Water Vapor

 

0,03%

 

 

1%

 

 

 

Mean temperature -60°C (+20° to -140°) Rotation period about the same as the Earth. Mars is about 50% further from the Sun that the Earth.

The diameter of Mars is about half that of Earth - so the gravitational field is smaller.

Cheers

solbjerg

 

 

There are deep Sand-dunes in that area that they need to avoid,

so they are thinking about going the Long way around.

[Toppack]

I think 99% of the erosion features on the surface were caused by Wind.

They do see small Clouds but none seem large enough to cause Rain.

 

It's so Cold there that all liquids are locked-up in Ice.

Lukily Curiosity has a Nuclear-generator to keep it Warm. ;-)

 

Not a Good place for a Vacation, I guess. :cry:

[atailor1]

Good Morning All,

 

Found this while making my morning rounds (Panoramic view from Curiosity). Has ability to pan and zoom. Enjoy!

http://www.360cities.net/image/curiosity-rover-martian-solar-day-2#171.10,26.50,70.0

 

A.T.

[Toppack]

Thanks for the Link,

But I can not find Mount-Sharp in that picture ?

(maybe the height (altitude) of everything is distorted by the Fish-eye lense of that camera?)

[atailor1]

Here you go Toppack (gotta love it)

 

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/08/nasa-curiosity-lmfao-parody/

 

A.T.

[Toppack]

:shock::!::grin:

* Nerds Rule *

[gavind]

:shock::!::grin:

* Nerds Rule *

 

I couldn't agree with you more on this. Chicks are really digging nerds now days.

[atailor1]

Curiosity Update (Wagons Roll!!)

 

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/curiosity-first-tracks-mars/?pid=4639

 

People just don't realize how amazing this really is. I realize that we all have our everyday lives to get through, but if you just stop and give it a little thought.......

 

A.T.

[Toppack]

Yes, I did not realize that the 6 wheels have diffrent shape and number of holes in them,

so they can tell which wheel made each track in the soil. 8-)

They are coded for visual referance.

 

They also did the first testing of the Laser-spectrometer, which seems to be operating properly. 8-)

It can tell which Elements are present in a rock sample, from up to 20 feet away from the rock. :shock:

 

As soon as they find Gold in the rocks, I'm going to sign-up for the next trip. :lol:

[atailor1]

Latest pano from Curiosity. Be sure and go fall screen and have a look around.

 

A.T.

[atailor1]

Here's the link, got trigger happy and posted too fast :)

 

http://www.panoramas.dk/mars/curiosity-first-color-360.html

 

A.T.

[Melvin_Deal]

Hi atailor and toppack.

 

This isn't bad for 44 year old images. Neil Armstrong died last week.:cry:

 

http://www.panoramas.dk/moon/apollo-11-the-first-man-on-moon.html

 

"Thats one small step for a man... one giant leap for mankind."

 

-Mel

 

P.S. Mars seems more hospitable than the moon... too bad its so darn far away!