MARS: CURIOSITY u krateru GALE

Kako slike stižu s Marsa tako se automatski poslože. Autor Joe Knapp. 
Tako znamo o čemu se radi, a i onima koji koji prave konačni panoramski snimak 
je olakšan posao. Piksle poveže i to je to.

Sol 1283: Driving over Stimson bedrock

15 March 2016
The 26-meter drive planned for sol 1282 completed successfully, giving the rover nice views of interesting features in the Stimson unit.  Some of these features appear to be the result of erosion by windblown sand and are the subject of a Right Mastcam 7x2 mosaic planned for Sol 1283.  ChemCam will measure elemental chemistry at the edge of one of the bedrock blocks and Mastcam will acquire another mosaic of a fracture named "Welwitschia Wash" before the rover drives away.  The view from the intended location, about 40 meters toward the west, is expected to be excellent because much of the Gale crater rim and Mt. Sharp will be visible, and the atmosphere is not as dusty as usual.  Other post-drive observations include ChemCam RMI and Right Mastcam mosaics of features on Mt. Sharp that are so far away that they can be targeted accurately using available image data.  Also, the Left Navcam will be used to search for clouds and dust devils.

It was an easy day for me as MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead, as I only had to plan the usual MARDI twilight image after the drive.  But, as usual, it was fun and interesting to be involved in tactical operations.

by Ken Herkenhoff

sol 1183...približna lokacija po mojoj ocjeni.

Sol 1284: Driving Across the Plateau

16 March 2016
MSL drove almost 40 meters over the rough terrain on the Naukluft plateau, as planned, and again there are many interesting features near the rover.  Many of the rocks appear to have been abraded by windblown sand, resulting in some bizarre shapes in places.  The chemical and morphological diversity of these nearby rocks will be sampled before the rover drives toward the west on Sol 1284:  ChemCam and Mastcam will observe outcrop targets named "Rooirand," "Grootberg," and "Gratzplatz."  The Left Mastcam will also acquire mosaics of the outcrop around Rooirand and sedimentary structures to the south of the rover.  After the drive, the usual post-drive imaging is planned, including a MARDI twilight image (my only responsibility today).

by Ken Herkenhoff

Sol 1285: Still driving across the Naukluft Plateau

17 March 2016
 

Curiosity is still working her way across the Naukluft Plateau.  On Sol 1284 Curiosity drove ~27 m, which brings our total traverse distance to ~12,549 m.  Today’s plan is fairly straightforward.  In the morning, Curiosity will acquire Mastcam and ChemCam on targets named “Mulden” and “Koigab” to characterize the bedrock that we’ve been driving over.  We’ll also take a Mastcam mosaic to investigate the local stratigraphy.  Then Curiosity will continue driving towards the northwest, and will take post-drive imaging to prepare for contact science over the weekend.  Early the next morning, Curiosity will take several Navcam, Mastcam, and ChemCam observations to monitor the atmospheric composition and opacity and search for clouds.  I’ll be on duty tomorrow as GSTL, so I’m looking forward to planning some contact science! 

By Lauren Edgar

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

Sols 1286-1288: Blame it on the leprechauns

18 March 2016

 
St. Patrick’s Day on Mars didn’t quite go as planned.  Yesterday we planned a ~15 m drive to a nearby ridge, but we came in this morning to find that the drive didn’t occur (blame it on the leprechauns?).  In reality, we can blame it on a short in the RTG, which precluded the drive.  This fault has occurred several times previously. Because the fault is understood, we were able to proceed with the weekend plan from our current location.
The first sol of the weekend plan is devoted to targeted remote sensing.  We’ll start with some environmental monitoring observations to assess atmospheric opacity and composition.  Then we’ll acquire ChemCam and Mastcam observations on the targets “Sesriem Canyon,” “Omaheke,” and “Varianto” to assess variations in composition and sedimentary structures in the local bedrock.  In the afternoon, we’ll acquire a large Mastcam mosaic of Mt. Sharp, to take advantage of the low atmospheric opacity right now (which means that the conditions are great for imaging).  The second sol is focused on contact science.  We’ll use MAHLI and APXS to investigate two targets: “Sesrium Canyon” and ldquo;Rossing.”  The first target exposes some nice bedding in the Stimson formation, and the second includes some interesting bright material for comparison.  Then on the third sol, we’ll again try to drive towards the ridge to the northwest and acquire post-drive imaging for targeting.  I hear the pot of gold lies just beyond…
By Lauren Edgar
--Lauren is a Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and a member of MSL science team.

...nešto kao "Vjerovali ili ne".

Details

• Title Comet on 15 March 2016 – NavCam
  
• Released 18/03/2016 5:00 pm
  
• Copyright ESA/Rosetta/NavCam – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
  
  
• Description
  Single frame enhanced NavCam image taken on 15 March 2016, when Rosetta was about 13 km from the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The average scale is 1.1 m/pixel and the image measures about 1.1 km across.
  
  The original image and more information is available on the blog: CometWatch 15 March