Was I right or what? Those guys are drinking champagne! The champagne of champagnes....scientist press conferences may not be as dramatic as celebrity press events...but there's a lot more energy in the room!!
Edit: The press conference (around 11:45-ish EST) is tremendously rewarding, so nice to see the boys and girls had a Good Night. I'm still holding out hope for Beagle2, it would be so great to have that critter spin up. If Opportunity works as well then I'm going to see if the noises about a manned return to the moon resurface....that would be sweet.
Okay, so they're about to do the 11pm press conference (2am EST where I am). It's funny to watch NASA's talking heads because they don't have a broadcast-quality control room & director, so it's not too smooth....a college TV station might be smoother.
Something just happened in the control room!!!
The pass with Odyssey has just worked...meaning the critical deployment worked as they hoped it would. There'll be a playback of information in the next 10 minutes....
PoL? No idea, but they JUST downloaded the first pictures and they're AMAZING!!!!!
There's a big rock right off the bow of the rover....that lil geologist is ready to go to work!
They're assembling the mosaic now.....
Edit: the photomosaic is AWESOME! They say that the rover's landing site almost flat (2% tilt) that everything is nominal! The polar view of the area directly around the rover shows that the area is clear of debris. Everything is going SO great for the project so far.
Now we have to wait over a week until the rover starts... roving. Very cool though that everything so far has gone without a hitch. Way to go JPL geeks!
The Panoramic photo will be released in color later today. 3D pictures are also coming.
Interestingly, the Rover will not be looking for current life. It cannont detect water either. It's looking for evidence that water was on or near the surface as well as possibly photographing a fossil (lot's of luck on that one). Sediment samples will reveal an enormous amount of info. Great job all around so far.
The last press conference was interesting because they've essentially figured out the area that the lander is in, they just needed to refine their data before announcing. Also, the area they're in is typically covered in afternoon dust-devils, one of the things they suggested was "what if we took photos every 30 seconds and made a movie of a Martian dust-devil in action?!". That would be fantastic.
I haven't read anywhere where they might've had an onboard mpeg recorder - couldn't this have been done entirely solid-state (lens assembly excluded)? Motion pictures from the lander wouldn't necessarily be oppressively large and would be AMAZING to see.
At the newsconference they reiterated that a spectacular Panoramic color photo will be released that will have 3 1/2 times more resolution then the current black and white one.
Comments
Edit: The press conference (around 11:45-ish EST) is tremendously rewarding, so nice to see the boys and girls had a Good Night. I'm still holding out hope for Beagle2, it would be so great to have that critter spin up. If Opportunity works as well then I'm going to see if the noises about a manned return to the moon resurface....that would be sweet.
This was a lot better than a superbowl for ME....
Something just happened in the control room!!!
The pass with Odyssey has just worked...meaning the critical deployment worked as they hoped it would. There'll be a playback of information in the next 10 minutes....
Who thinks they'll find water this time out? Or even proof of past or present life?
Originally posted by chu_bakka
Or even proof of past or present life?
Or even evidence for an ancient (primitive) Martian ecosystem? That would be...just...*wets pants and runs away*
There's a big rock right off the bow of the rover....that lil geologist is ready to go to work!
They're assembling the mosaic now.....
Edit: the photomosaic is AWESOME! They say that the rover's landing site almost flat (2% tilt) that everything is nominal! The polar view of the area directly around the rover shows that the area is clear of debris. Everything is going SO great for the project so far.
Hee.
here's a link you might also try:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...20040104a.html
One of first images. Later ones will be in color. Hi Rez too. More images here.
Originally posted by MacsRGood4U
http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/01/04/science/Mars7650.jpg
One of first images
And why they cropped it...
Originally posted by Scott
Can you imagine if one of these landed on earth?
Good point. How would we react?
Originally posted by Eugene
And why they cropped it...
He's giving us the finger! I say we go get the mother****er!
Interestingly, the Rover will not be looking for current life. It cannont detect water either. It's looking for evidence that water was on or near the surface as well as possibly photographing a fossil (lot's of luck on that one). Sediment samples will reveal an enormous amount of info. Great job all around so far.
I haven't read anywhere where they might've had an onboard mpeg recorder - couldn't this have been done entirely solid-state (lens assembly excluded)? Motion pictures from the lander wouldn't necessarily be oppressively large and would be AMAZING to see.
If not this time then next time DEFINITELY.
apparently they hit within 10km of target...
of a moving planet, from another moving planet... daaaamn!