MARS: CURIOSITY u krateru GALE Vol II.

Sols 1446-1447: Back on the road

29 August 2016
The MSL activities planned for last weekend went well, and the rover's batteries have enough energy to proceed with another drive on Sol 1446.  We started the day looking at the beautiful new Mastcam images of the nearby buttes, then got down to planning the details of the 2-sol plan.  On Sol 1446, Mastcam will extend coverage of previously-planned mosaics, and ChemCam will use its laser to measure the chemistry of "Muchinda" on a large outcrop block.  After the drive, ChemCam will autonomously make another observation using the AEGIS software.  Overnight, CheMin will prepare and analyze an empty sample cell in anticipation of a new drill sample.  Early on Sol 1447, Mastcam and Navcam will measure the dust in the atmosphere and search for clouds.  Most of these observations will be repeated just before local noon and late in the afternoon to look for short-term changes. 

by Ken Herkenhoff

sol 1446....novih 75 minuta vožnje. pred kraj vožnje je napravljeno  ovih par fotografija, ostalo će tek stići.

sol 1446... (Damia, UMSF)

Južna vrata Murray Buttes odkrivaju  u pozadini dio Aeolis Mons aka Mt Sharp,  projektirani konačni cilj misije Curriosity. 
No, na Marsu se nikad ne zna koliko dugo će vozilo uopće trajati; nepredvidljive (sjetimo se vozila Spirit!)zamke na terenu, izloženost strahovitim utjecajima temperaturnih razlika, fizička istrošenost-kao na primjer kotača itd, izloženost osjetljivih instrumenata jakom sunčevom zračenju...

Bit će zanimljivo saznati stručno mišljenje što odista predstavljaju ove konkrecije,
posijane po kamenju. Čiji su proizvod, mikroorganizama ili sedimentnih(kemijskih) procesa oko nekog kristala? 

Sols 1448-1449: No touch, just go

Wed, 31 Aug 2016

MSL roved 53 meters on Sol 1446, and ended up in an area with nice exposures of bedrock.  We were interested in taking MAHLI close-up images of the bedrock but were concerned that they would not be very useful if the surface as dusty as it typically is.  We therefore considered using the ChemCam laser to clean off some of the dust and get chemical information before deploying the arm, but recognized that the MAHLI targets would be partly shadowed by the arm turret, which would make the MAHLI images more difficult to interpret.  Adding the arm activities would also leave less time for driving, so we had a lot of trade-offs to consider and it was a busy day for me as SOWG Chair!  We finally decided not to include the MAHLI images in the plan, and focus instead on Mastcam imaging of the nearby buttes and maximizing the drive distance.  We were also able to fit ChemCam and Mastcam observations of the "Luxilo" bedrock target into the plan, along with Right Mastcam images of the "Caxito" laminated exposure and the Sol 1446 AEGIS target.  After the drive and usual post-drive imaging, SAM will clean its scrubber overnight.  On Sol 1449, Mastcam will again measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere and ChemCam will autonomously perform another AEGIS activity. 

by Ken Herkenhoff

S astronautom kao mjerilom...

Ovo su tipična oštećenja za tkzv. "proboj" plošče, zbog kojih se možda i neće stići do Mt Sharp, kako je predviđeno.
Greška do greške...kostrukcijska, pa očigledno i računska.
Svaki put me žalosti kad ih vidim, jer znam da je razlog isključivo u neiskustvu mladog konstruktora.
Dobro je biti pametan, ali svejedno daj starijem da revidira.... Bez hvalisanja, ovako nešto se meni ne bi moglo dogoditi.

sol 1448...moja procjena, dok ne dođu službeni rezultati.