The Curiosity On Mars Thread.

shedweller · 13-06-2012 4:45pm #1

(Thought it might be a good time to start a Mars Curiosity Rover thread, seeing as a milestone was reached recently.)

Curiosity departed Earth late last November and is now homing in on it's landing site. The landing site, on Gale Grater, has been narrowed down from an ellipse measuring 20 by 25km to just 7 to 20km.

However, an issue has cropped up. The drill has been shown to potentially introduce contaminants to the very samples it is getting! These come from the teflon seals on the drill motor and from the molybdenum disulfide grease within.
http://www.livescience.com/20886-nasa-mars-rover-contamination-landing.html

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20120611.html

Beeker · 13-06-2012 6:38pm

You got there ahead of me, I was going to do just that:) Realy looking forward to this mission, my interest in space was sparked by the Viking landings on Mars back in 1976 and ever since I have had a special interest in the Mars programme.
Fingers crossed for a safe landing in August!!

vonbarracuda · 13-06-2012 7:39pm

Can't wait for the landing. Always great watching mission control when there's a landing

shedweller · 13-06-2012 9:21pm

Here's a wee video that, while most of us have already seen it, it is narrated by Stephen Lee. He is the guidance, navigation, and control manager for the Mars Science Laboratory mission at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KLxmGLZQSY

Man that's a harrowing descent! :eek:

af_thefragile · 13-06-2012 11:54pm

I've got 6th of August marked on my calender!

Can't wait to see all the news pics from Mars from the new bigger and better rover!

AugustusMinimus · 14-06-2012 7:10pm

Has a very interesting landing mechanism. Looks very complicated. Hope nothing goes wrong with it.

Rubecula · 15-06-2012 10:00am

It is a lot bigger than Spirit isn't it?

shizz · 15-06-2012 11:42am

Rubecula wrote: »

It is a lot bigger than Spirit isn't it?

Yup

family-portrait-of-the-mars-rovers-sojorner-spirit-or-opportunity-curiosity.jpg

And here is it compared to a person.

EDIT: I'm starting to think that the first picture may not actually be to proper scale but may be the correct scale between the rovers?

af_thefragile · 15-06-2012 6:03pm

^What I read is its the size of a hatchback car.

shizz · 15-06-2012 6:16pm

af_thefragile wrote: »

^What I read is its the size of a hatchback car.

Yeah it is as can be judged by the second picture. I always knew the first one was a model, just thinking that it doesn't seem to be to actual scale.

shedweller · 16-06-2012 2:22pm

I must do a little research on the wheel design. I'd be interested to see what differences there are between this and the last rovers. It was Spirit that had a front wheel failure after a while and though it wasnt a show stopper, it did need a bit of working around.

Also, on the lander, there are 8 thrusters but any video i have seen of it in action has shown 4 in use. Are the other 4 backups? I would imagine there being a major need of some kind of backup, should a thruster fail!

af_thefragile · 16-06-2012 8:48pm

shedweller wrote: »

I must do a little research on the wheel design. I'd be interested to see what differences there are between this and the last rovers. It was Spirit that had a front wheel failure after a while and though it wasnt a show stopper, it did need a bit of working around.

Also, on the lander, there are 8 thrusters but any video i have seen of it in action has shown 4 in use. Are the other 4 backups? I would imagine there being a major need of some kind of backup, should a thruster fail!

From wiki:

Like previous rovers Mars Exploration Rovers and Mars Pathfinder, Curiosity is equipped with 6 wheels in a rocker-bogie suspension. The suspension system will also serve as landing gear for the vehicle, unlike its smaller predecessors.[51] Curiosity's wheels are significantly larger than those used on previous rovers. Each wheel has a pattern which helps it maintain traction but also leaves patterned tracks in the sandy surface of Mars. That pattern is used by on-board cameras to judge the distance traveled. The pattern itself is Morse code for "JPL" (·--- ·--· ·-··).

Although Curiosity has much bigger whels than Spirit/Opportunity so hopefully it shouldn't get stuck.

Speaking of Spirit, it reminded me of this:

jkforde · 17-06-2012 12:27am

really looking forward to this landing, watched a documentary on the development of the rover and the landing technology a good while back and even the development team at the start were disbelieving and daunted by the expectations and the how much they had to push the envelope in the time allowed but they managed it, truly inspiring what our species can achieve when we aren't fighting over petty worldly resources!.... fingers crossed....

shedweller · 17-06-2012 4:14pm

Jkforde, it may be an obvious question but what was the name of that doc?

jumpjack · 18-06-2012 8:00am

Rubecula wrote: »

It is a lot bigger than Spirit isn't it?

it's as big as a small car indeed. or as two 'spirit'.

Timfy · 18-06-2012 8:18am

af_thefragile wrote: »

From wiki:

Speaking of Spirit, it reminded me of this:

This cartoon always, without fail, makes me very sad

af_thefragile · 18-06-2012 1:01pm

^indeed. But its still amazing to see how Opportunity is still working fine and doing lots of good exploration and work on the planet. The little rover just keeps on going!

shedweller · 18-06-2012 3:52pm

For a rover designed to last 92 days but is over 3000 now, it has certainly done well! So if Curiosity has to last a year, it could (hopefully) last decades!!
Did anyone catch the press conference the other day? I'm away from the pc so i haven't had a chance to look at it.

jkforde · 22-06-2012 9:00am

shedweller wrote: »

Jkforde, it may be an obvious question but what was the name of that doc?

can't remember. twas a type of behind-the-scenes at JPL on NASA TV interviewing mission scientists and techs (might've been one of their Edge programmes). have searched http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/videoarchive/ but can't see it. if I come across it I'll post it.

thecommander · 22-06-2012 8:29pm

Great little vid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzqdoXwLBT8

Anyone know what time it's due to land? Coming back from honeymoon that morning from America, hoping it's not too early!

FOUND IT. Curiosity is scheduled to land at approximately 10:31 p.m. PDT Aug. 5 (1:31 a.m. EDT, Aug. 6)

shedweller · 23-06-2012 10:02am

Times like this i wish there was a go-pro strapped to its back!

thecommander · 23-06-2012 10:22am

shedweller wrote: »

Times like this i wish there was a go-pro strapped to its back!

There's a camera under the lander seemingly, so we'll get pics back of the sky crane working.

shedweller · 23-06-2012 10:32am

Aye, i hope it has a decent frame rate!

shizz · 23-06-2012 11:45am

I think they are hoping to catch it landing with one of the orbiting satellites.

Beeker · 23-06-2012 3:16pm

thecommander wrote: »

Great little vid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzqdoXwLBT8

Anyone know what time it's due to land? Coming back from honeymoon that morning from America, hoping it's not too early!

FOUND IT. Curiosity is scheduled to land at approximately 10:31 p.m. PDT Aug. 5 (1:31 a.m. EDT, Aug. 6)

That will make it 06:31 Irish time on Aug 6.

shedweller · 23-06-2012 4:16pm

Taken from a website run by Malin Space Science Systems:

With the primary concern raised about MARDI addressed, the NASA Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate agreed to return MSL MARDI to flight status. MARDI will be delivered in May 2008, and will take 1600x1200 pixel RGB color images at a rate of 5 frames per second during about 2 minutes of descent and landing in September 2010.

This being from the phoenix lander which had the same camera as MSL. 5fps is not too bad and the resulting video should look good.

murrayp4 · 24-06-2012 2:51am

thecommander wrote: »

Great little vid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzqdoXwLBT8

Anyone know what time it's due to land? Coming back from honeymoon that morning from America, hoping it's not too early!

FOUND IT. Curiosity is scheduled to land at approximately 10:31 p.m. PDT Aug. 5 (1:31 a.m. EDT, Aug. 6)

Wow...

shedweller · 25-06-2012 9:44am

shizz · 25-06-2012 10:26am

Wow, so close yet 13 MILLION km away.

Rubecula · 26-06-2012 10:48am

Any updates on this?

shizz · 26-06-2012 10:59am

Rubecula wrote: »

Any updates on this?

It hasn't landed yet.... :pac:

Rubecula · 26-06-2012 11:40am

:pac: :pac:

shedweller · 26-06-2012 5:11pm

Rubecula wrote: »

Any updates on this?

None that i know of right now. 12 to 13 million km to go so i would expect some procedures beginning, camera tests, orientation etc.

shedweller · 26-06-2012 10:45pm

Some more light reading: (It's kind of more of the same but it's all there is right now!)
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/savvy-scientist/nasas-sky-crane-over-mars/500

Mars is a much more intimidating place to land a spacecraft than those other worlds are because its atmosphere is paradoxically too dense to ignore and too thin to exploit well. The Martian atmosphere is only about a quarter as deep as Earth’s and its pressure is far lower but it still imposes a serious barrier to any spacecraft entering it at high speed.
Moreover, the planners of the Mars Science Laboratory’s mission have upped the ante by trying something extra ambitious during the initial atmospheric entry phase. Normally, space probes making fiery atmospheric entries have no control over their movements, so their landing sites can be predetermined only to within hundreds of kilometers. The Mars Science Laboratory craft, however, will for the first time attempt a guided entry, with thrusters trying to keep it within 20 kilometers or so of the preferred site in the Gale Crater — a geologically interesting area where Curiosity ought to be able to learn a lot about how water has acted on the planet throughout history.

And a Ustream video on the landing site, presented by Matt Golombek:http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21799427
It's an hour long but worth it!:)

shedweller · 27-06-2012 11:19pm

From nasa:

Mission Status Report

PASADENA, Calif. -- A maneuver on Tuesday adjusted the flight path of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft for delivering the rover Curiosity to a landing target beside a Martian mountain.

The car-size, one-ton rover is bound for arrival the evening of Aug. 5, 2012, PDT (early Aug. 6, EDT and Universal Time). The landing will mark the beginning of a two-year prime mission to investigate whether one of the most intriguing places on Mars ever offered an environment favorable for microbial life.

The latest trajectory correction maneuver, the third and smallest since the Nov. 26, 2011, launch, used four thruster firings totaling just 40 seconds. Spacecraft data and Doppler-effect changes in radio signal from the craft indicate the maneuver succeeded. As designed by engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., the maneuver adjusts the location where the spacecraft will enter Mars' atmosphere by about 125 miles (200 kilometers) and advances the time of entry by about 70 seconds.

"This puts us closer to our entry target, so if any further maneuvers are needed, I expect them to be small," said JPL's Tomas Martin-Mur, the mission's navigation team chief. Opportunities for up to three additional trajectory correction maneuvers are scheduled during the final eight days of the flight.

The maneuver served both to correct errors in the flight path that remained after earlier correction maneuvers and to carry out a decision this month to shift the landing target about 4 miles (7 kilometers) closer to the mountain.

It altered the spacecraft's velocity by about one-tenth of a mile per hour (50 millimeters per second). The flight's first and second trajectory correction maneuvers produced velocity changes about 150 times larger on Jan. 11 and about 20 times larger on March 26.

Shifting the landing target closer to the mountain, informally named Mount Sharp, may shave months off the time needed for driving from the touchdown location to selected destinations at exposures of water-related minerals on the slope of the mountain.

The flight to Mars has entered its "approach phase" leading to landing day. Mission Manager Arthur Amador of JPL said, "In the next 40 days, the flight team will be laser-focused on the preparations for the challenging events of landing day -- continuously tracking the spacecraft's trajectory and monitoring the health and performance of its onboard systems, while using NASA's Deep Space Network to stay in continuous communications. We're in the home stretch now. The spacecraft continues to perform very well. And the flight team is up for the challenge."

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20120626.html#

Here we go!!!!!!!!:D:D

shedweller · 28-06-2012 2:34am

I was thinking, wouldn't it be cool if opportunity caught a picture of MSL entering the atmosphere! I'm trying to ascertain if their paths may cross but my grasp of orbital mechanics is somewhat poor!:)

edit: It will be on the opposite side and MSL isn't going to orbit at all, just go straight in so i don't think Opportunity will see anything.

edit#2: Here's a pdf with some more detail on the landing phase. There's some cad drawings..........

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090007730_2009006430.pdf

Beeker · 28-06-2012 2:55pm

shedweller wrote: »

I was thinking, wouldn't it be cool if opportunity caught a picture of MSL entering the atmosphere! I'm trying to ascertain if their paths may cross but my grasp of orbital mechanics is somewhat poor!:)

edit: It will be on the opposite side and MSL isn't going to orbit at all, just go straight in so i don't think Opportunity will see anything.

edit#2: Here's a pdf with some more detail on the landing phase. There's some cad drawings..........

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20090007730_2009006430.pdf[/QUOTE]
Cool stuff! Thanks.

Zubeneschamali · 28-06-2012 3:30pm

shedweller wrote: »

I was thinking, wouldn't it be cool if opportunity caught a picture of MSL entering the atmosphere!

Like this time, when the MRO caught a picture of the Phoenix lander parachuting down.

shedweller · 01-07-2012 11:33pm

I put up another picture like the one above but the one above had updated itself. So here's the link to the nasa web page showing it:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/WhereIsCuriosity.html
Another few million miles shaved off!

camlinhall · 03-07-2012 8:40pm

Does anyone use online simulators to get an idea what it looks like from the viewpoint of the MSL as it heads towards Mars? The NASA website gives the "Eyes on the Solar System" visual tool, I was hoping to see how Mars was growing in size from the perspective of MSL, which is about 10 million kms out as I write. Mars would be taking up about a 2 second arc of the sky, and would appear a fifteenth the size of the moon as we see it from Earth. But it appears the same size as background stars on the simulator, maybe I'm doing something wrong here.

shedweller · 03-07-2012 10:21pm

Closest i can find is this:http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/whereistherovernow/

And a view equivalent to seeing mars through a 16X70 pair of binos, from MSL's location on june 18th:

shedweller · 04-07-2012 4:21am

Here is the JPL solar system simulator:

http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/

Should be useful!

camlinhall · 04-07-2012 1:38pm

Here's what they think the situation looks like today. At 2' arc I think Mars would be starting to look bigger.

08-07-2012 4:19am

NASA totally needs to start putting live stream web cam type devices on these.

Even some still shots of the probes from a camera on a tether with the sun at the rear lighting the probe would be excellent. Use HDR exposure techniques then to show the stars too

shedweller · 08-07-2012 3:36pm

I would happily pay into a fund to have a camera like that on various spacecraft!
It would be nice if the landing camera on curiosity would come on before the heatshield seperated. Then we could actually see the thing falling away. Its things like that that give me the feeling of being there!
I dont think there is a camera on the descent stage either, only the rover. I'd say the mast cameras are well stowed to protect them so there would be no feed from them.
But seriously, how hard would it be to space rate a few mobile phone cameras and stick them in a few good locations, store the data and send it home later?
I guess i'll have to dream on eh?!

Duiske · 08-07-2012 10:44pm

Would be amazing alright. I guess a live stream would be asking too much, but if it was available I would pay well to be able to view it.

Beeker · 09-07-2012 7:21am

shedweller wrote: »

I would happily pay into a fund to have a camera like that on various spacecraft!
It would be nice if the landing camera on curiosity would come on before the heatshield seperated. Then we could actually see the thing falling away. Its things like that that give me the feeling of being there!
I dont think there is a camera on the descent stage either, only the rover. I'd say the mast cameras are well stowed to protect them so there would be no feed from them.
But seriously, how hard would it be to space rate a few mobile phone cameras and stick them in a few good locations, store the data and send it home later?
I guess i'll have to dream on eh?!

While its a nice idea it would take up bandwidth which may not be available as it is necessary for monitoring the health of the vehicle at crucial times like landing. For this reason images are often recorded and played back later. It all depends on the available bandwidth.

Qwerty? · 09-07-2012 9:27am

I'm sure you have all seen these pics elsewhere but just in case anyone hasn't

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2170196/Mars-Exploration-photo-Spectacular-360-panorama-captured-NASAs-Opportunity-Rover.html

Qwerty? · 09-07-2012 10:13am

I'm sure you have all seen these pics elsewhere but just in case anyone hasn't

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2170196/Mars-Exploration-photo-Spectacular-360-panorama-captured-NASAs-Opportunity-Rover.html

DarkDusk · 09-07-2012 11:48am

Can't wait for landing day, I've been following this ever this it launched! Unfortunately, I have a bad feeling that everything is not going to go to plan - the landing sequence looks very risky and complicated! We all will be hoping for the best!

shedweller · 09-07-2012 12:28pm

The skycrane maneuver is off the wall but i have faith in it. I've seen various videos of things like quadrocopters, rc helis copying a human pilot then improving maneuvers as they repeat them, even lego mindstorms two wheeled machines balancing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JL04JJjocc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u82w9CpHc0o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-AiZJCxkeI

It'll work.......honestly!:D

The Curiosity On Mars Thread.

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