MARS: CURIOSITY u krateru GALE Vol II.

Sjeverni rub rub kratera u u oblaku prašine. 

Foto je pristizao u dva dijela, tako da konačnu poziciju procjenjujem kao ispod.

Vožnja rijetko 1,5 h, češće manje od 1h, a ovaj put je trajala 3h i 14 min, na dužin prevoženog  puta 87,12 m.

Nema još fotografija veće rezolucije. 
Ovo dolje sam izdvojio jer je mi je zapelo za oko.
Fotografije "end of drive" očekujem tek oko 2h i 40' poslije ponoći.

Stereo djelomična panorama-pogled kroz južna vrata Murray Buttes.
Fantastičan pogled, još malo pa se stiže na "pogledaču"....

(Trebaju vam ona smiješna crveno-plava očala)

Sols 1450-1453: Communication challenges

2 September 2016




Curiosity had a nice ~78 m drive on Sol 1448, which set us up for a lot of great science over the long (4-sol) weekend.  Unfortunately a problem with the Deep Space Network caused an entire Odyssey pass to be lost, so we didn’t receive the workspace images that we would have needed to do contact science.  Without those images we didn’t feel safe moving the arm. But the team did a great job putting together a full weekend plan.

The first sol starts with several Navcam observations to search for dust devils and monitor the atmosphere.  Then we’ll acquire a Mastcam mosaic to document the beautiful buttes that we’ve been driving through, followed by ChemCam observations of the targets “Benguela” and “Gabela” to assess the composition of the local bedrock.  Later in the afternoon we’ll take two more Mastcam mosaics of the buttes under better lighting conditions.  Overnight, Curiosity will carry out a SAM methane experiment.  On the second sol we’ll take a 360-degree Mastcam mosaic to document the geology as we drive through the Murray Buttes.  On the third sol we’ll drive, followed by standard post-drive imaging for targeting and context.  After a busy weekend, the fourth sol is devoted entirely to REMS observations. 

While the buttes are beautiful, they pose a challenge to communications, because they are partially occluding communications between the rover and the satellites we use to relay data (MRO and ODY), so sometimes the data volume that we can relay is pretty low.  But it’s a small price to pay for the great stratigraphic exposures and gorgeous view!

By Lauren Edgar

--Lauren is a Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of the MSL science team.

Jedno pojašnjenje.
Sve dok se vozilo CURIOSITY bude nalazilo okruženo uzvišenjima unutar MURRAY BUTTES bit će otežano primanje snimljenog materijala izravno s vozila na jedno od tri mjesta na Zemlji, sa antenama DSN (DEEP SPACE NETWORK). Trenutno to ide preko orbitera ODYSSEY, koji prelijeće vozilo nekoliko puta na dan, a onda te podatke predaje orbiteru MRO (MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER), koji onda to "daunlinka" kad je u prilici. Otuda onda ovo zakašnjelo primanje snimljenog materijala.

Sjeverni rub kratera prije 140 sol-ova (danas) - lijevo, i danas-desno.
Sezona je širenja marsovih oblaka  prašine po cijelom Marsu...od sjevernog pola prema jugu.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7787/29085129210_04dd00e797_o.jpg

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Snimljeno na samo zalasku sunca...

Već pristižu foto od letjelice Juno: Južni pol Jupitera! ( Doduše niske rezolucije, pa ipak...)

Ovo je već prolazak kroz "Južna vrata", što će reći definitivno napuštanje kompleksa MURRAY BUTTES.