Updates Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity)

[orb]

An update on Curiosity by "Mohawk Guy":
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-45pcRWjcg4"]Curiosity Rover Report (Aug. 17, 2012) - YouTube[/ame]

 

[MattBaker]

JPL made a video where you can see the heat shield's impact as seen by MARDI:

 

[Andy44]

THe heatshield impact looks like when Wile E. Coyote falls off a cliff.

 

[RGClark]

Above freezing max temperature at Curiosity landing site.

In Friday's teleconference lead Curiosity scientist John Grotzinger initially gave the max temperature at the landing site as 1 degree above freezing:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/24773693

However, later in response to a question for clarification on that temperature at about 22 minutes into the teleconference, he gave the temperature as 276 degrees Kelvin. This is about 3 degrees C, or 37 degrees F.
The temperatures are expected to go higher as we get into Spring at the landing site.

Bob Clark

 

[MattBaker]

JPL: Rover's Laser Instrument Zaps First Martian Rock

Today, NASA's Mars rover Curiosity fired its laser for the first time on Mars, using the beam from a science instrument to interrogate a fist-size rock called "Coronation."

The mission's Chemistry and Camera instrument, or ChemCam, hit the fist-sized rock with 30 pulses of its laser during a 10-second period. Each pulse delivers more than a million watts of power for about five one-billionths of a second.

The energy from the laser excites atoms in the rock into an ionized, glowing plasma. ChemCam catches the light from that spark with a telescope and analyzes it with three spectrometers for information about what elements are in the target.

"We got a great spectrum of Coronation -- lots of signal," said ChemCam Principal Investigator Roger Wiens of Los Alamos National Laboratory, N.M. "Our team is both thrilled and working hard, looking at the results. After eight years building the instrument, it's payoff time!"

ChemCam was developed, built and tested by the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory in partnership with scientists and engineers funded by the French national space agency, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and research agency, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).

Five one-billionths of a second to melt the surface of a rock...

 

[Codz]

Here's a picture.

 

[Unstung]

Here are all the frames at full resolution, it's definitely stunning:

 

[tblaxland]

Here are all the frames at full resolution, it's definitely stunning:

This version shows a label where the heat shield impact occurs:

It gives a nice view of Glenelg too. I often wonder where these names come from.

 

[Topper]

Here are all the frames at full resolution, it's definitely stunning:

So true...

This is the first video which shows the landing on another planet isn't it?

This is the same one but with more frames:

[Edit]

Oh just saw that tblaxland's video has the same no. of frames... But i let the link because it's without label...
Don't forget to switch to highest resolution! (1080p)

 

[Columbia42]

Has anyone seen an HD video of the landing in real time? The last couple posted have been sped up a lot, it seems.

 

[orb]

NASA / NASA JPL:
Curiosity Stretches its Arm

August 20, 2012

Mars Science Laboratory Mission Status Report

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity flexed its robotic arm today for the first time since before launch in November 2011.

The 7-foot-long (2.1-meter-long) arm maneuvers a turret of tools including a camera, a drill, a spectrometer, a scoop and mechanisms for sieving and portioning samples of powdered rock and soil.

"We have had to sit tight for the first two weeks since landing, while other parts of the rover were checked out, so to see the arm extended in these images is a huge moment for us," said Matt Robinson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, lead engineer for Curiosity's robotic arm testing and operations. "The arm is how we are going to get samples into the laboratory instruments and how we place other instruments onto surface targets."

[table="head;width=225"]

Click on image for details​

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity extended its robotic arm on Aug. 20, 2012, for the first time on Mars and used its Navigation Camera (Navcam) to capture this view of the extended arm.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech​

[/table]​

Weeks of testing and calibrating arm movements are ahead before the arm delivers a first sample of Martian soil to instruments inside the rover. Monday's maneuver checked motors and joints by unstowing the arm for the first time, extending it forward using all five joints, then stowing it again in preparation for the rover's first drive.

"It worked just as we planned," said JPL's Louise Jandura, sample system chief engineer for Curiosity. "From telemetry and from the images received this morning, we can confirm that the arm went to the positions we commanded it to go to."

The image of Curiosity's arm is online at: http://1.usa.gov/OSyG3B.

The turret has a mass of about 66 pounds (30 kilograms). Its diameter, including the tools mounted on it, is nearly 2 feet (60 centimeters).

"We'll start using our sampling system in the weeks ahead, and we're getting ready to try our first drive later this week," said Mars Science Laboratory Deputy Project Manager Richard Cook of JPL.

{...}



CBS News Space: Curiosity rover flexes robot arm for first time

SPACE.com: Mars Rover Curiosity Flexes Robotic Arm for 1st Time

Aviation Week: Photo: Curiosity's Arm (from Mars)

 

[Mattyv]

 

[Topper]

Has anyone seen an HD video of the landing in real time? The last couple posted have been sped up a lot, it seems.

Just saw this, it's with sound and some more frames...

So it should be real time...

[Edit]
I was wrong, description:

Ok, so here's the deal: 934/1504 frames ran at 10 frames per second. Real-time was at 4 frames per second. As far as the audio is concerned, I just took the most important snippets from the mission control audio and filled the silent gaps with the audio when they were not talking, so it sounds seamless. I believe I got it pretty accurate, but nothing would be as accurate as 4 frames per second (the real rate it was filmed).
I like to put it at 10 FPS because it's smoother, and being that I'm better with audio, it was a snap.

 

[orb]

SPACE.com: Mars Rover Curiosity to Take 1st Martian Drive Wednesday

CBS News Space: After steering test, Mars rover set for initial test drive

Florida Today: Curiosity gets closer to first test drive

Discover Magazine - Bad Astronomy: Curiosity spins its wheels!

 

[Keatah]

Looks like there's a damage wire in the wind direction sensor assembly..

 

[RGClark]

Surface temperature and pressure in liquid water range.

Just saw this posted to the www.marsroverblog.com forum:


PIA16081: Taking Mars' Temperature.

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16081



PIA16080: First Pressure Readings on Mars..

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16080



Note that the pressure never fell below the 6.1 mbars pressure required for pure water to remain liquid, i.e., not boil off.
Also, eyeballing the temperature graph it looks like surface temperatures remain above 0C for perhaps 3 hours per day.

Bob Clark

 

[Screamer7]

Now that is very interesting.
Is that data what they expected?

 

[orb]

NASA / JPL:

• First Words of Safe Landing on Mars - Tango Delta Nominal
  
  
• NASA's Curiosity Studies Mars Surroundings, Nears Drive
  
  
• NASA to Hold Televised Curiosity Rover Media Briefing Aug. 22

The Planetary Society Blog: Curiosity sol 15 update: Wheel wiggles, arm flexes, and bad news about REMS

 

[RGClark]

Now that is very interesting.
Is that data what they expected?

I believe also Spirit and Opportunity showed above freezing daytime surface temperatures and above triple point (6.1 millibars) pressure readings.

Bob Clark

 

[Notebook]

BBC article on the damaged wind sensor:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19338870

N.