Some interesting choices (comments by Mission manager Mark Adler).
Spirit's Playlist:
Sol 2: Good Morning, Good Morning, by the Beatles.
Sol 3: Oh What a Beautiful MorninÂ?, by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Sol 4: Hail to the Chief, by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (Presidential phone call.)
Sol 5: Satisfaction, by the Rolling Stones. ("I can't get no ...", Air bags not cooperating.)
Sol 6: Get Up, Stand Up, by Bob Marley. (Lift mechanism actuated.)
Sol 7: Da Da Da, by Casaca. (Brazilian song suggested by investigator from Brazil, RRGTM student that week from Brazil.)
Sol 8: Soak Up the Sun, by Cheryl Crow. (Laid-back sol.)
Sol 9: I Can See Clearly Now, by Jimmy Cliff. (Picture taking sol.)
Sol 10: Unchained, by Van Halen; Hit the Road Jack, by Buster Poindexter; Turn, Turn, Turn, by the Byrds. (Cable-cutting, backup on landing deck. start turn on deck.)
Sol 11: I Get Around, by the Beach Boys; Round and Round, by Ratt; You Spin Me Â?Round, by ThalÃ*a. (Rest of turn on landing deck.)
Sol 12: Born to be Wild, by Steppenwolf; Rawhide, by Riders in the Sky; Who Let The Dogs Out?, by the Baha Men. (Egress.)
Sol 13: Reach Out, by the Four Tops. (First robotic arm activity.)
Sol 14: YouÂ?ve Got The Magic Touch, by the Platters. (Touching robotic arm down on Mars.)
Sol 15: If You Love Somebody Set Them Free, by Sting; Roam, by The B-52Â?s; Good Times Roll, by The Cars. (Last engineering activities, first drive on the surface.)
Sol 16: After Midnight, by Eric Clapton; Trash Day, by Weird Al Yankovic. (Crew starts Mars day after California midnight, part of the sol dedicated to deleting contents of flash.)
Sol 17: We Will Rock You, by Queen. (First arm activities and observations on a rock.)
Sol 18: Sledgehammer, by Peter Gabriel. (Intended first [Rock Abrasion Tool] RAT sol, though ran into problems later, to put it mildly.)
Sol 19: S.O.S., by Abba. (Objective was to regain contact with Spirit after a loss of communications. We did.)
Sol 20: Baby, Talk to Me, from the musical Bye Bye Birdie. (Objective was to get Spirit to send data. She did.)
Sol 21: Satellite, by The Hooters. (A rousing lullaby for when we were trying, and succeeded, to get the rover to go to sleep.)
Sol 22: We Can Work it Out, by The Beatles. (Beginning debugging activities to get Spirit back to normal.)
Sol 23: Start Me Up, by the Rolling Stones. (Booting in crippled mode.)
Sol 24: Flash, by Queen. (Clearly a flash problem, continuing to debug.)
Sol 25: (You're The) Devil In Disguise, by Elvis Presley, and With a Little Help From My Friends, by The Beatles. (Continuing debug, got picture!)
Sol 26: I Want a New Drug, by Huey Lewis & The News. (Trying yet another recipe for getting task trace, still didn't work.)
Sol 27: Anticipation, by Carly Simon. (Seeing if the file deletes will do the trick or not. They did.)
Sol 28: On the Road Again, by Willie Nelson. ("Can't wait to get back on ...", back to normal use of the flash file system, itching to get going.)
Sol 29: Here Comes the Sun, by The Beatles. (More normal operations, Mars Express coordinated overflight.)
Sol 30: Lean On Me, performed by Club Nouveau. (Intended RAT brush sol, pressing RAT on rock, though activities did not complete.)
Sol 31: I Wanna Be Sedated, by the Ramones. (Very low activity sol to get the rover rested and ready for surgery on the following sol.)
Sol 32: Wipe Out, by The Surfaris, and We're Not Gonna Take It, by Twisted Sister. (File system reformat.)
Sol 34: The Laundry Cycle: Pounded on a Rock, by The Bobs, and Bump N' Grind, by R. Kelly. (First RAT grinding.)
Sol 35: Up Around the Bend, by Credence Clearwater Revival. (Intended drive around lander to begin drive to crater. Didn't get anywhere though.)
Sol 36: Stuck On You, by Elvis Presley. (Drive didn't work yestersol -- we've been stuck here for weeks. Drive did work later that sol.)
Sol 37: Proud Mary, performed by Tina Turner. ("And we're rolling, rolling, rolling on the river ...", first long drive, ended up being more than 20 meters.)
Sol 38: Runnin' With the Devil, by Van Halen. (HGA [High Gain Antenna] problem that sol, no activities, song played late in the sol.)
Sol 39: Hit the Road Jack, by Buster Poindexter. (Another long drive -- yes, this is a reuse of that song.)
Sol 40: What a Wonderful World, by Louis Armstrong. (Mars, that is.)
Sol 41: Open Road Song, by Eve 6. (Driving song, though only did several inches of driving to position in front of rock.)
Sol 42: Lift Up Every Stone, by John Hiatt. (Observations of the rock "Mimi".)
Sol 43: Livin' On a Prayer, by Bon Jovi. (Many sols tend to start with our fingers crossed.)
Sol 44: Way Over Yonder, by Carole King. (Heading for that crater.)
Sol 45: Touch Me in the Morning, by Diana Ross. (Touch and go sol.)
Sol 46: Wake Up Little Susie, by The Everly Brothers. (Generic wake-up song.)
Sol 47: Dig Down Deep, by Hot Soup. (Trenching sol.)
Sol 48: Working in the Coal Mine, by Devo. (Working in the trench.)
Sol 49: Coisinha Do Pai, by Beth Carvalho. (Brazilian song played on Mars Pathfinder, played again for Carnival weekend.)
Sol 50: Samba De Marte, by Beth Carvalho. (Brazilian song written by same artist inspired by use of previous song on MPF, this one is a "Mars Samba", also for Carnival weekend. Starts off "Hello NASA!".)
Sol 51: Chariots of Fire, by Vangelis. (Appropriate for slow-motion races.)
Opportunity's playlist:
Sol 2: So Happy Together, by the Turtles (First full sol with both rovers on Mars.)
Sol 3: The Spirit of Radio, by Rush (HGA release.)
Sol 4: n/a
Sol 5: Stand, by REM; I'm Still Standing, by Elton John (Standup.)
Sol 6: Lookin' Out My Back Door, by Creedence Clearwater (Revival.); Release Me, by Elvis Presley (Middle wheel release); Born to Run, by Bruce Springsteen (Wake up.)
Sol 7: I'm Free, by The Who (Cable Cut #3); Going Mobile, by The Who (Egress.)
Sol 8: You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, by Bachman-Turner Overdrive (First dual surface nominal rover operation.)
Sol 9: I'm Coiming Out, by Diana Ross (IDD release.)
Sol 10: Pictures of You, by The Cure (First MI image.)
Sol 11: Please Please Tell Me Know, by Depeche Mode (First MB data readout of soil.)
Sol 12: I'm Leaving Here, by Motorhead (First drive since egress.)
Sol 13: Little Honda (aka First Gear), by the Beach Boys (Jaunt away from lander.)
Sol 14: Should I Stay or Should I Go, The Clash (We went.)
Sol 15: The Flintstones Theme Song, end credits, Version 2 from 1962 (For the arrival at the "bedrock.")
Sol 16: Slip Slidin' Away, by Paul Simon (Large slips along drive up to the outcrop.)
Sol 17: Wake Me Up, by Wham (Touch and go.)
Sol 18: Running Down a Dream, by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Drive along the outcrop.)
Sol 19: Here I Go Again, by Whitesnake (Repeat of sol 18 drive objective.)
Sol 20: I Like Dirt, by Red Hot Chili Peppers; The Pioneers of Mars, by Landa/Linsley (MI/MB and drive.)
Sol 21: Send Me On My Way, by Rusted Root; Desert Drive, by Tangerine Dream (Drive back to El Capitan.)
Sol 22: Invisible Touch, by Genesis (MI-MB placement.)
Sol 23: Spinning Wheel, by Blood, Sweat, and Tears (Right front trenching wheel.)
Sol 24: Trench Town Rock, by Bob Marley (Make use of the trench.)
Sol 25: Fascination, by Human League (Regarding the img return from the trench.)
Sol 26: Body Movin', by the Beastie Boys (Every rover part exercised.)
Sol 27: Touch and Go, by Emerson, Lake and Powell (Touch and go.)
Sol 28: I am a Rock, by Simon and Garfunkel (El Capitan target assessment.)
Sol 29: Riders on the Storm, by the Doors (Heavy weather at DSS-63 and DSS-14.)
Sol 30: Rock 'n Me, by Steve Miller Band (1st RAT on opportunity.)
Sol 31: Rock around the Clock, by Bill Haley and His Comets (APXS/MB.)
Sol 32: Let It Be, by the Beatles (Long MB integration -- no IDD or mobility.)
Rather underwhelming presentation. They're not Steve Jobs. No discussion of the macaroni, the fiber (probably lander material), nor the bright stuff in the tracks...
Evidence the rocks (in the landing site that wasn't a suspected lake basin) have been "drenched in water" isn't impressive enough for you?
whether groundwater percolating up from under, or surface water either standing or sea/waves, both hypotheses were left on the table until further examination of possible cross-beds, etc
but the panelists clearly stated that the sulfate/chlorine/bromine salt concentrations of up to 40% required water, and the compositional features like spherules and vugs fit a precipitation/dissolution regime that water produces while eliminating some of the purely volcanic origin hypotheses
part of the overall Mars plan for some time has been expressed as "Follow the Water"
Unambiguous evidence that "long interaction with water" formed some of the Meridiani rocks is huge
Gusev was the place everybody was describing as an ancient lake in an old crater.
Only when Spirit gets to Bonneville crater to inspect stratigraphy will more evidence of water likely surface, but Steve noted that most of the rocks found there have been purely volcanic (solid basalt, not layered sulfur bearing spherules and vacules suggestive of water action)
as for your question about the 'white marks' in Spirit's trench and tracks images,
Unless I'm mistaken, this is solely a change in brightness, no spectral shift was observed
IIRC, the leading explanation is that surface compaction of the soil by the patterned wheels causes a change in reflectivity in some places more than others, and that the sun angle of these images is such that you're getting more glare in place where the wheels left a compacted soil patch than at areas where the treads disturbed the mini-mirror, than at areas untouched by the rover where natural diffusion rules.
anthropomorphizing, zoomorphizing, or pastamorphizing ?
people see elvis or saintly or bigfoot in everything from abalone soup to zebra stripes
not sure how to respond to "noodle-like object", but after hearing 'blueberries in the muffin' analogies, at least I can sympathize with the occasional homer moment... mmm muffins
Evidence the rocks (in the landing site that wasn't a suspected lake basin) have been "drenched in water" isn't impressive enough for you?
Well, it doesn't really fascinate me at all, and it usually takes a lot to impress me. So whether it was impressive or not really depends on the person.
Quote:
as for your question about the 'white marks' in Spirit's trench and tracks images,
Unless I'm mistaken, this is solely a change in brightness, no spectral shift was observed
IIRC, the leading explanation is that surface compaction of the soil by the patterned wheels causes a change in reflectivity in some places more than others, and that the sun angle of these images is such that you're getting more glare in place where the wheels left a compacted soil patch than at areas where the treads disturbed the mini-mirror, than at areas untouched by the rover where natural diffusion rules.
I'm fine with this. It seems to be an amazing amount of reflectivity though.
Quote:
not sure how to respond to "noodle-like object", but after hearing 'blueberries in the muffin' analogies, at least I can sympathize with the occasional homer moment... mmm muffins
there is an option that was excluded, STOPWAISTING BILLIONS OF TAX $$$$$$$
While I agree Bush' push to "put a man on Mars" is 100% election year grandstanding (because he never said anything about Mars until the two rovers landed successfully, had they not he would've remained silent on the matter), but I think the whole attitude of "space exploration is a waste of money" is ignorant.
Yes, there are plenty of problems right here on earth that could use more funding, but that doesn't mean you gain nothing from studying Mars. For one thing, if you had looked into it at all, you'd know that undertanding Mars and how it was / came to be like it is, is a good way to understand some of the earth's own geological and historical processes.
Furthermore, you cannot assume that all of this planet will be habitable in 100 years. The moon or Mars or the moons of Mars might be "the next place some of us live", so it IS important that we understand the place and its potential as a possible human outpost (if even a temporary one). With your attitude, we would've never continued the Space Program at all, after "the race" was over. No Space Shuttles putting satellites in orbit and doing scientific research, no Hubble Telescope, none of it.
I had a longwinded reply to a_greer's apparent misunderstanding of budget
(NASA represents about 1% of US Gov't expenditures... the MER Rovers cost $800 Million.
Iraq war spending was $87 Billion (as in 1000 Million) in one lumpsum alone.)
but decided not to beat a dead horse with bang for the buck comparisons...
as for where the smart money is... and isn't anymore...
Quote:
March 3
Bookies Stop Taking Bets on Life on Mars
LONDON (AP) -- The information coming in from the Mars rovers is exciting for NASA, but it's ending some of the action for bookies in Britain.
The bookmaking firm Ladbrokes announced it's stopped taking bets on the question of whether there was ever life on Mars.
NASA scientists said yesterday that the rover Opportunity found strong evidence to suggest at least part of the Red Planet once had a wet enough environment to sustain life.
A Ladbrokes spokesman says the latest odds in favor of past life on Mars were 16-1.
Back in the '70s, when the first bets were placed, the odds were 1,000-1.
He says he expects that scientists will find evidence of past life on Mars within the coming years.
find me some suckers who'll still bet there wasn't past life on Mars
This is the best way our tax dollars could be spent. The best bang for the buck of any research. Some short sighted people don't see now but everybody ( that's still around ) will in the long run.
Today's briefing included some evidence of past liquid water in Igneous rocks at Spirit's site.
Also discussed were the magnets mounted on the rover and preliminary dust collection data.
C-SPAN seems to archive a 128Kbps RealPlayer8 version of the briefing for those who crave info now and/or don't want to wait for the scheduled replay on JPL's 350Kbps RP9 stream.
Meanwhile, in response to email questions from the tinfoil hat brigade,
This movie of the "bunny ears," compiled from three panoramic camera images taken about two minutes apart, indicates that the object can move in a light wind.
Conclusions and more images are at the link above... I won't spoil the surprise.
Also released was this spiffy new panorama from higher on the rim at Meridiani.
At the left edge of the third image from the left, you can clearly see the heatshield sitting next to its divot.
The center of the panorama (brighter sky start) includes a dark rock next to the crater rim, inside one of the visible bounce marks. Although it is possible this is a piece of the airbag, it might just be that "not only did the rover score a hole in one to land in this crater, we hit the only rock around on the way in" (paraphrased from today's briefing).
Overhead view of the same location shows crater rim and features.
The panorama above is roughly centered on the angle of the arrow.
Missed last week's briefing while teaching, and since they're now only weekly
this post has a bit of catch up to do.
Spirit's view home was posted in another thread, but it's worth two views.
Quote:
This is the first image ever taken of Earth from the surface of a planet beyond the Moon. It was taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit one hour before sunrise on the 63rd martian day, or sol, of its mission. The image is a mosaic of images taken by the rover's navigation camera showing a broad view of the sky, and an image taken by the rover's panoramic camera of Earth. The contrast in the panoramic camera image was increased two times to make Earth easier to see.
The inset shows a combination of four panoramic camera images zoomed in on Earth. The arrow points to Earth. Earth was too faint to be detected in images taken with the panoramic camera's color filters.
better yet are the photos of the first transits (of Phobos and Diemos) from the surface of another planet
Quote:
This panel combines the first photographs of solar eclipses by Mars' two moons. The panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity captured the images as the first in a planned series of eclipse observations by Opportunity and Spirit.
The Deimos image was taken at 03:04 Universal Time on March 4, 2004. This irregularly shaped moon is only 15 kilometers (9 miles) across in its longest dimension. It appears as just a speck in front of the disc of the Sun. The Phobos image was taken as that moon grazed the edge of the solar disc at 02:46 Universal Time on March 7, 2004. Phobos is 27 kilometers (17 miles) in its longest dimension. Its apparent size relative to Deimos is even greater because it orbits much closer to Mars' surface than Deimos does.
Today's news:
Opportunity confirms the "blueberries" are Hematite. more evidence of water.
Spirit is probably NOT going into Bonneville crater, but will circle the south side (right in this pic)
What some suggested was "a dude with a mirror, signalling us" near the centre of the far crater rim can clearly be seen in this image (and even more in the 26.4 Mb version of this image. click on the pic below for the 1 Mb 'medium res' to easily pick out both the heatshield and to the left of it the dark smudge of its impact crater.
This is "near true-colour" so the heatshield's bluish tint is infrared not visible.
Near the center right of Bonneville crater in the sandy soil part of the floor, you can see a minicrater which must have come down more recently. Also visible are distinct windblown dunes and apparent material changes, suggesting lots of erosion here since either impact.
This would make me want to examine the heatshield impact crater, since we know it's fresh, but the planned traverse is going around the other side and then off to the hills
some other curious material boundary zones (called neapolitan for its tri-band appearance) are visible in Opportunit's latest Hazcam images, but the colour pancam shots that might provide better compositional clues depending on the spectral filters shot with were just being downlinked as of the briefing.
Mission manager Mark Adler said an upgrade in software planned for both rovers at the end of March will conserve the vehicles' dwindling energy and make them faster drivers by turning off their hazard avoidance systems.
So basically they're becoming Mars' first elderly drivers.
I don't know....I was thinking something more like Thelma and Louise!
Who could have imagined that we'd be talking about "blueberries" a month or so back? This has been a great mission. Letting the rovers go on a final road trip is fantastic.
The finding by the Opportunity Mars rover of a body of gently flowing saltwater translates to shrimp for all.
In January the Long John Silver's, Inc. restaurant chain offered to give America free "Giant Shrimp" if NASA found conclusive evidence of an ocean on Mars. Now that one of the rover?s has coughed up the scientific goods, the company is making good on its promise: Giving America free Giant Shrimp on Monday, May 10.
Between the hours of 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. on May 10, customers can stop by any participating Long John Silver's restaurant and enjoy a free Giant Shrimp (one piece per customer).
In a letter to NASA chief, Sean O?Keefe, Long John Silver's President Steve Davis noted:
"This is one small step for man, and one giant leap for Giant Shrimp."
He expressed interest in Long John Silver's becoming the first seafood restaurant on Mars.
Comments
Space.com reports "Mars Rocks!". playlists below.
Some interesting choices (comments by Mission manager Mark Adler).
Spirit's Playlist:
- Sol 2: Good Morning, Good Morning, by the Beatles.
- Sol 3: Oh What a Beautiful MorninÂ?, by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
- Sol 4: Hail to the Chief, by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (Presidential phone call.)
- Sol 5: Satisfaction, by the Rolling Stones. ("I can't get no ...", Air bags not cooperating.)
- Sol 6: Get Up, Stand Up, by Bob Marley. (Lift mechanism actuated.)
- Sol 7: Da Da Da, by Casaca. (Brazilian song suggested by investigator from Brazil, RRGTM student that week from Brazil.)
- Sol 8: Soak Up the Sun, by Cheryl Crow. (Laid-back sol.)
- Sol 9: I Can See Clearly Now, by Jimmy Cliff. (Picture taking sol.)
- Sol 10: Unchained, by Van Halen; Hit the Road Jack, by Buster Poindexter; Turn, Turn, Turn, by the Byrds. (Cable-cutting, backup on landing deck. start turn on deck.)
- Sol 11: I Get Around, by the Beach Boys; Round and Round, by Ratt; You Spin Me Â?Round, by ThalÃ*a. (Rest of turn on landing deck.)
- Sol 12: Born to be Wild, by Steppenwolf; Rawhide, by Riders in the Sky; Who Let The Dogs Out?, by the Baha Men. (Egress.)
- Sol 13: Reach Out, by the Four Tops. (First robotic arm activity.)
- Sol 14: YouÂ?ve Got The Magic Touch, by the Platters. (Touching robotic arm down on Mars.)
- Sol 15: If You Love Somebody Set Them Free, by Sting; Roam, by The B-52Â?s; Good Times Roll, by The Cars. (Last engineering activities, first drive on the surface.)
- Sol 16: After Midnight, by Eric Clapton; Trash Day, by Weird Al Yankovic. (Crew starts Mars day after California midnight, part of the sol dedicated to deleting contents of flash.)
- Sol 17: We Will Rock You, by Queen. (First arm activities and observations on a rock.)
- Sol 18: Sledgehammer, by Peter Gabriel. (Intended first [Rock Abrasion Tool] RAT sol, though ran into problems later, to put it mildly.)
- Sol 19: S.O.S., by Abba. (Objective was to regain contact with Spirit after a loss of communications. We did.)
- Sol 20: Baby, Talk to Me, from the musical Bye Bye Birdie. (Objective was to get Spirit to send data. She did.)
- Sol 21: Satellite, by The Hooters. (A rousing lullaby for when we were trying, and succeeded, to get the rover to go to sleep.)
- Sol 22: We Can Work it Out, by The Beatles. (Beginning debugging activities to get Spirit back to normal.)
- Sol 23: Start Me Up, by the Rolling Stones. (Booting in crippled mode.)
- Sol 24: Flash, by Queen. (Clearly a flash problem, continuing to debug.)
- Sol 25: (You're The) Devil In Disguise, by Elvis Presley, and With a Little Help From My Friends, by The Beatles. (Continuing debug, got picture!)
- Sol 26: I Want a New Drug, by Huey Lewis & The News. (Trying yet another recipe for getting task trace, still didn't work.)
- Sol 27: Anticipation, by Carly Simon. (Seeing if the file deletes will do the trick or not. They did.)
- Sol 28: On the Road Again, by Willie Nelson. ("Can't wait to get back on ...", back to normal use of the flash file system, itching to get going.)
- Sol 29: Here Comes the Sun, by The Beatles. (More normal operations, Mars Express coordinated overflight.)
- Sol 30: Lean On Me, performed by Club Nouveau. (Intended RAT brush sol, pressing RAT on rock, though activities did not complete.)
- Sol 31: I Wanna Be Sedated, by the Ramones. (Very low activity sol to get the rover rested and ready for surgery on the following sol.)
- Sol 32: Wipe Out, by The Surfaris, and We're Not Gonna Take It, by Twisted Sister. (File system reformat.)
- Sol 33: Back In the Saddle Again, by Gene Autry, and The Star Spangled Banner , performed by Beyoncé. (Back to normal operations, color flag picture on RAT.)
- Sol 34: The Laundry Cycle: Pounded on a Rock, by The Bobs, and Bump N' Grind, by R. Kelly. (First RAT grinding.)
- Sol 35: Up Around the Bend, by Credence Clearwater Revival. (Intended drive around lander to begin drive to crater. Didn't get anywhere though.)
- Sol 36: Stuck On You, by Elvis Presley. (Drive didn't work yestersol -- we've been stuck here for weeks. Drive did work later that sol.)
- Sol 37: Proud Mary, performed by Tina Turner. ("And we're rolling, rolling, rolling on the river ...", first long drive, ended up being more than 20 meters.)
- Sol 38: Runnin' With the Devil, by Van Halen. (HGA [High Gain Antenna] problem that sol, no activities, song played late in the sol.)
- Sol 39: Hit the Road Jack, by Buster Poindexter. (Another long drive -- yes, this is a reuse of that song.)
- Sol 40: What a Wonderful World, by Louis Armstrong. (Mars, that is.)
- Sol 41: Open Road Song, by Eve 6. (Driving song, though only did several inches of driving to position in front of rock.)
- Sol 42: Lift Up Every Stone, by John Hiatt. (Observations of the rock "Mimi".)
- Sol 43: Livin' On a Prayer, by Bon Jovi. (Many sols tend to start with our fingers crossed.)
- Sol 44: Way Over Yonder, by Carole King. (Heading for that crater.)
- Sol 45: Touch Me in the Morning, by Diana Ross. (Touch and go sol.)
- Sol 46: Wake Up Little Susie, by The Everly Brothers. (Generic wake-up song.)
- Sol 47: Dig Down Deep, by Hot Soup. (Trenching sol.)
- Sol 48: Working in the Coal Mine, by Devo. (Working in the trench.)
- Sol 49: Coisinha Do Pai, by Beth Carvalho. (Brazilian song played on Mars Pathfinder, played again for Carnival weekend.)
- Sol 50: Samba De Marte, by Beth Carvalho. (Brazilian song written by same artist inspired by use of previous song on MPF, this one is a "Mars Samba", also for Carnival weekend. Starts off "Hello NASA!".)
- Sol 51: Chariots of Fire, by Vangelis. (Appropriate for slow-motion races.)
Opportunity's playlist:
- Sol 2: So Happy Together, by the Turtles (First full sol with both rovers on Mars.)
- Sol 3: The Spirit of Radio, by Rush (HGA release.)
- Sol 4: n/a
- Sol 5: Stand, by REM; I'm Still Standing, by Elton John (Standup.)
- Sol 6: Lookin' Out My Back Door, by Creedence Clearwater (Revival.); Release Me, by Elvis Presley (Middle wheel release); Born to Run, by Bruce Springsteen (Wake up.)
- Sol 7: I'm Free, by The Who (Cable Cut #3); Going Mobile, by The Who (Egress.)
- Sol 8: You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, by Bachman-Turner Overdrive (First dual surface nominal rover operation.)
- Sol 9: I'm Coiming Out, by Diana Ross (IDD release.)
- Sol 10: Pictures of You, by The Cure (First MI image.)
- Sol 11: Please Please Tell Me Know, by Depeche Mode (First MB data readout of soil.)
- Sol 12: I'm Leaving Here, by Motorhead (First drive since egress.)
- Sol 13: Little Honda (aka First Gear), by the Beach Boys (Jaunt away from lander.)
- Sol 14: Should I Stay or Should I Go, The Clash (We went.)
- Sol 15: The Flintstones Theme Song, end credits, Version 2 from 1962 (For the arrival at the "bedrock.")
- Sol 16: Slip Slidin' Away, by Paul Simon (Large slips along drive up to the outcrop.)
- Sol 17: Wake Me Up, by Wham (Touch and go.)
- Sol 18: Running Down a Dream, by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Drive along the outcrop.)
- Sol 19: Here I Go Again, by Whitesnake (Repeat of sol 18 drive objective.)
- Sol 20: I Like Dirt, by Red Hot Chili Peppers; The Pioneers of Mars, by Landa/Linsley (MI/MB and drive.)
- Sol 21: Send Me On My Way, by Rusted Root; Desert Drive, by Tangerine Dream (Drive back to El Capitan.)
- Sol 22: Invisible Touch, by Genesis (MI-MB placement.)
- Sol 23: Spinning Wheel, by Blood, Sweat, and Tears (Right front trenching wheel.)
- Sol 24: Trench Town Rock, by Bob Marley (Make use of the trench.)
- Sol 25: Fascination, by Human League (Regarding the img return from the trench.)
- Sol 26: Body Movin', by the Beastie Boys (Every rover part exercised.)
- Sol 27: Touch and Go, by Emerson, Lake and Powell (Touch and go.)
- Sol 28: I am a Rock, by Simon and Garfunkel (El Capitan target assessment.)
- Sol 29: Riders on the Storm, by the Doors (Heavy weather at DSS-63 and DSS-14.)
- Sol 30: Rock 'n Me, by Steve Miller Band (1st RAT on opportunity.)
- Sol 31: Rock around the Clock, by Bill Haley and His Comets (APXS/MB.)
- Sol 32: Let It Be, by the Beatles (Long MB integration -- no IDD or mobility.)
</rummages in iTunes to build similar playlist>Both Foale and Kaleri are outside in suits.
Hope they left the key under the mat.
The "Women and Mars" Webcast interviewing the distaff Rover Staff is due to air at 4pm PST today
but I still think they should have titled the webcast "Mars Needs Women"
Curiousburb, do you have the skinny on the news conference tomorrow? Any good pictures of the macaroni?
11am PST Tuesday, March 2nd on NASA TV
Expected to confirm the past presence of _liquid_ water at Meridiani
Should be an interesting day.
imagery and the official press release are here
http://www.cspan.org/ has an archived mirror of today's webcast
(though currently too many streams of connected users)...
NASA TV should be repeating the full webcast (usually a 3hr repeat cycle)
the press conference is about to be rebroadcast on NASA TV right now
macaroni (or rotini pasta)
white stuff in wheel tracks
whether groundwater percolating up from under, or surface water either standing or sea/waves, both hypotheses were left on the table until further examination of possible cross-beds, etc
but the panelists clearly stated that the sulfate/chlorine/bromine salt concentrations of up to 40% required water, and the compositional features like spherules and vugs fit a precipitation/dissolution regime that water produces while eliminating some of the purely volcanic origin hypotheses
part of the overall Mars plan for some time has been expressed as "Follow the Water"
Unambiguous evidence that "long interaction with water" formed some of the Meridiani rocks is huge
Gusev was the place everybody was describing as an ancient lake in an old crater.
Only when Spirit gets to Bonneville crater to inspect stratigraphy will more evidence of water likely surface, but Steve noted that most of the rocks found there have been purely volcanic (solid basalt, not layered sulfur bearing spherules and vacules suggestive of water action)
as for your question about the 'white marks' in Spirit's trench and tracks images,
Unless I'm mistaken, this is solely a change in brightness, no spectral shift was observed
IIRC, the leading explanation is that surface compaction of the soil by the patterned wheels causes a change in reflectivity in some places more than others, and that the sun angle of these images is such that you're getting more glare in place where the wheels left a compacted soil patch than at areas where the treads disturbed the mini-mirror, than at areas untouched by the rover where natural diffusion rules.
anthropomorphizing, zoomorphizing, or pastamorphizing ?
people see elvis or saintly or bigfoot in everything from abalone soup to zebra stripes
not sure how to respond to "noodle-like object", but after hearing 'blueberries in the muffin' analogies, at least I can sympathize with the occasional homer moment... mmm muffins
Originally posted by curiousuburb
Evidence the rocks (in the landing site that wasn't a suspected lake basin) have been "drenched in water" isn't impressive enough for you?
Well, it doesn't really fascinate me at all, and it usually takes a lot to impress me. So whether it was impressive or not really depends on the person.
as for your question about the 'white marks' in Spirit's trench and tracks images,
Unless I'm mistaken, this is solely a change in brightness, no spectral shift was observed
IIRC, the leading explanation is that surface compaction of the soil by the patterned wheels causes a change in reflectivity in some places more than others, and that the sun angle of these images is such that you're getting more glare in place where the wheels left a compacted soil patch than at areas where the treads disturbed the mini-mirror, than at areas untouched by the rover where natural diffusion rules.
I'm fine with this. It seems to be an amazing amount of reflectivity though.
not sure how to respond to "noodle-like object", but after hearing 'blueberries in the muffin' analogies, at least I can sympathize with the occasional homer moment... mmm muffins
hehe...
Originally posted by a_greer
there is an option that was excluded, STOPWAISTING BILLIONS OF TAX $$$$$$$
While I agree Bush' push to "put a man on Mars" is 100% election year grandstanding (because he never said anything about Mars until the two rovers landed successfully, had they not he would've remained silent on the matter), but I think the whole attitude of "space exploration is a waste of money" is ignorant.
Yes, there are plenty of problems right here on earth that could use more funding, but that doesn't mean you gain nothing from studying Mars. For one thing, if you had looked into it at all, you'd know that undertanding Mars and how it was / came to be like it is, is a good way to understand some of the earth's own geological and historical processes.
Furthermore, you cannot assume that all of this planet will be habitable in 100 years. The moon or Mars or the moons of Mars might be "the next place some of us live", so it IS important that we understand the place and its potential as a possible human outpost (if even a temporary one). With your attitude, we would've never continued the Space Program at all, after "the race" was over. No Space Shuttles putting satellites in orbit and doing scientific research, no Hubble Telescope, none of it.
Waste of money my ass.
(NASA represents about 1% of US Gov't expenditures... the MER Rovers cost $800 Million.
Iraq war spending was $87 Billion (as in 1000 Million) in one lumpsum alone.)
but decided not to beat a dead horse with bang for the buck comparisons...
as for where the smart money is... and isn't anymore...
March 3
Bookies Stop Taking Bets on Life on Mars
LONDON (AP) -- The information coming in from the Mars rovers is exciting for NASA, but it's ending some of the action for bookies in Britain.
The bookmaking firm Ladbrokes announced it's stopped taking bets on the question of whether there was ever life on Mars.
NASA scientists said yesterday that the rover Opportunity found strong evidence to suggest at least part of the Red Planet once had a wet enough environment to sustain life.
A Ladbrokes spokesman says the latest odds in favor of past life on Mars were 16-1.
Back in the '70s, when the first bets were placed, the odds were 1,000-1.
He says he expects that scientists will find evidence of past life on Mars within the coming years.
find me some suckers who'll still bet there wasn't past life on Mars
Also discussed were the magnets mounted on the rover and preliminary dust collection data.
C-SPAN seems to archive a 128Kbps RealPlayer8 version of the briefing for those who crave info now and/or don't want to wait for the scheduled replay on JPL's 350Kbps RP9 stream.
Meanwhile, in response to email questions from the tinfoil hat brigade,
NASA Mars team members have "Tracked the Bunny"
This movie of the "bunny ears," compiled from three panoramic camera images taken about two minutes apart, indicates that the object can move in a light wind.
Conclusions and more images are at the link above... I won't spoil the surprise.
Also released was this spiffy new panorama from higher on the rim at Meridiani.
At the left edge of the third image from the left, you can clearly see the heatshield sitting next to its divot.
The center of the panorama (brighter sky start) includes a dark rock next to the crater rim, inside one of the visible bounce marks. Although it is possible this is a piece of the airbag, it might just be that "not only did the rover score a hole in one to land in this crater, we hit the only rock around on the way in" (paraphrased from today's briefing).
Overhead view of the same location shows crater rim and features.
The panorama above is roughly centered on the angle of the arrow.
as usual, more info @ http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html
this post has a bit of catch up to do.
Spirit's view home was posted in another thread, but it's worth two views.
This is the first image ever taken of Earth from the surface of a planet beyond the Moon. It was taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit one hour before sunrise on the 63rd martian day, or sol, of its mission. The image is a mosaic of images taken by the rover's navigation camera showing a broad view of the sky, and an image taken by the rover's panoramic camera of Earth. The contrast in the panoramic camera image was increased two times to make Earth easier to see.
The inset shows a combination of four panoramic camera images zoomed in on Earth. The arrow points to Earth. Earth was too faint to be detected in images taken with the panoramic camera's color filters.
better yet are the photos of the first transits (of Phobos and Diemos) from the surface of another planet
This panel combines the first photographs of solar eclipses by Mars' two moons. The panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity captured the images as the first in a planned series of eclipse observations by Opportunity and Spirit.
The Deimos image was taken at 03:04 Universal Time on March 4, 2004. This irregularly shaped moon is only 15 kilometers (9 miles) across in its longest dimension. It appears as just a speck in front of the disc of the Sun. The Phobos image was taken as that moon grazed the edge of the solar disc at 02:46 Universal Time on March 7, 2004. Phobos is 27 kilometers (17 miles) in its longest dimension. Its apparent size relative to Deimos is even greater because it orbits much closer to Mars' surface than Deimos does.
Today's news:
Opportunity confirms the "blueberries" are Hematite. more evidence of water.
captions to come later @ http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...20040318a.html
Spirit is probably NOT going into Bonneville crater, but will circle the south side (right in this pic)
What some suggested was "a dude with a mirror, signalling us" near the centre of the far crater rim can clearly be seen in this image (and even more in the 26.4 Mb version of this image. click on the pic below for the 1 Mb 'medium res' to easily pick out both the heatshield and to the left of it the dark smudge of its impact crater.
This is "near true-colour" so the heatshield's bluish tint is infrared not visible.
Near the center right of Bonneville crater in the sandy soil part of the floor, you can see a minicrater which must have come down more recently. Also visible are distinct windblown dunes and apparent material changes, suggesting lots of erosion here since either impact.
This would make me want to examine the heatshield impact crater, since we know it's fresh, but the planned traverse is going around the other side and then off to the hills
some other curious material boundary zones (called neapolitan for its tri-band appearance) are visible in Opportunit's latest Hazcam images, but the colour pancam shots that might provide better compositional clues depending on the spectral filters shot with were just being downlinked as of the briefing.
captions later from Mar 18 Spirit press images or Mar 15
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/0...eut/index.html
This caught my eye though...
Mission manager Mark Adler said an upgrade in software planned for both rovers at the end of March will conserve the vehicles' dwindling energy and make them faster drivers by turning off their hazard avoidance systems.
So basically they're becoming Mars' first elderly drivers.
I don't know....I was thinking something more like Thelma and Louise!
Who could have imagined that we'd be talking about "blueberries" a month or so back? This has been a great mission. Letting the rovers go on a final road trip is fantastic.
March 25
Mars Finding: Good News Seafood Fans!
The finding by the Opportunity Mars rover of a body of gently flowing saltwater translates to shrimp for all.
In January the Long John Silver's, Inc. restaurant chain offered to give America free "Giant Shrimp" if NASA found conclusive evidence of an ocean on Mars. Now that one of the rover?s has coughed up the scientific goods, the company is making good on its promise: Giving America free Giant Shrimp on Monday, May 10.
Between the hours of 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. on May 10, customers can stop by any participating Long John Silver's restaurant and enjoy a free Giant Shrimp (one piece per customer).
In a letter to NASA chief, Sean O?Keefe, Long John Silver's President Steve Davis noted:
"This is one small step for man, and one giant leap for Giant Shrimp."
He expressed interest in Long John Silver's becoming the first seafood restaurant on Mars.
- Added: Deep Sleep Mode for overnight power conservation
- Updated: Auto-Nav/Hazard Avoidance software
- Updated: Mobility Software (technically separate from the above subsystems)
Press conference now on NASA TV with details
Scheduled replay later today for those who miss the current webcast
some awesome new animations from Opportunity's "Lion King" panorama on the edge of its landing crater
and a few updated spectral maps and compositional minerology from Mössbauer and APXS results.
images and caption links to come