Thread: Mars Exploration Rovers

MER Opportunity has been sitting at the base of Burn Cliff for some days. I took a bunch of the raw images made by the pancam and combined them into a panorama of the upper part:

http://paranoid.dechengst.nl/mars/Burnscliff.jpg

Thats amazing, thanks for putting it all together, looks for all the world like a beach scene you might find down here on Earth lacking only the water.

Nice, very nice. I still love the rovers, makes me just want to say "Cool" everytime I think about where they are.

Opportunity is finishing up at the cliff and soon will leave Endurance crater. Her first visit after that will be the heat shield. Pictures of the cliff are still arriving, so expect to see a full color panaroma that will blow you away in a few weeks.

Originally Posted by DEChengst

Opportunity is finishing up at the cliff and soon will leave Endurance crater. Her first visit after that will be the heat shield. Pictures of the cliff are still arriving, so expect to see a full color panaroma that will blow you away in a few weeks.

Keep us up to date if you would, love to see more photos when they come out. Very cool stuff.

Here's a half res color panorama made by Daniel Crotty:

http://www.lyle.org/~markoff/collect...8-294_L257.jpg

The image isn't color callibrated so it isn't true color. Wait for a bit longer for NASA to provide a callibrated image as they have the data to do so

Originally Posted by DEChengst

Here's a half res color panorama made by Daniel Crotty:

http://www.lyle.org/~markoff/collect...8-294_L257.jpg

The image isn't color callibrated so it isn't true color. Wait for a bit longer for NASA to provide a callibrated image as they have the data to do so

What would be cool is some kind of a scale to judge size and or distance. Still pretty cool photos.

Originally Posted by (In)Sanity

What would be cool is some kind of a scale to judge size and or distance.

Image of someone holding the sundial:

Originally Posted by DEChengst

Originally Posted by (In)Sanity

What would be cool is some kind of a scale to judge size and or distance.

Image of someone holding the sundial:

Believe it or not this actually does help me out, I had that thing as just a little bit bigger.

Thanks

Although it's taking a year and a day to load, that's a great picture. I wouldn't know it was Mars if it weren't presented as such. My question is, what caused the ripples/scratches/ridges on some of those rocks on the right and in the middle? To me, the rights side looks like an area where there used to be water, but now the water is all gone and only the rocks remain. And the left side looks like desert. I wonder what made the rocks in the first place.

It seems Opportunity has left Endurance crater:





Time to visit the heat shield

Originally Posted by 2112

Although it's taking a year and a day to load, that's a great picture. I wouldn't know it was Mars if it weren't presented as such. My question is, what caused the ripples/scratches/ridges on some of those rocks on the right and in the middle? To me, the rights side looks like an area where there used to be water, but now the water is all gone and only the rocks remain. And the left side looks like desert. I wonder what made the rocks in the first place.

Solar winds and impacts can cause those ripples.

A day after Opportunity has left Endurance Crater NASA has released a full-res near true color image of the Burns Cliff panorama:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...57T-B313R1.jpg

Warning large file (38.5 MB) !

Opportunity also made a nice "cirrus like" cloud shot:

On the other side of the planet Spirit has found Goethite, a water bearing iron mineral, in a rock called Clovis. This is more proof for water activity in Gusev Crater:

Opportunity is getting closer to the heatshield:

Now that is pretty cool.

Originally Posted by DEChengst

Opportunity has driven right up to the piece of debris on the right and made several images of it that I combined into a mosaic:

It may be safe to say the this mission may be one of the most successful ones in NASA history and probably the most successful since the Apollo missions.

The heatshield fragment in color:

The heatshield mainpart in color:

NASA released two amazing self portraits:

Spirit:



Opportunity:



Highres version for those with a broadband connection:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...Pan-A402R1.jpg

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...Pan-B381R1.jpg

would be soo cool if they could put a video-camera on the rovers, that would really give you the feeling of 'being there'. But these pictures are really cool too. I've heard about ESA plans to do the same on Venus, would be a nice show as well

Originally Posted by Pendragon

Would be soo cool if they could put a video-camera on the rovers, that would really give you the feeling of 'being there'.

The MastCam on the 2009 Mars Science Lab rover will be capable of 1280x720 pixel video at 10 fps. The decent imager will do the same but at only 5 fps.

I've heard about ESA plans to do the same on Venus, would be a nice show as well

ESA is going to launch Venus Express in October this year. This will be an orbitor only:

http://www.esa.int/export/esaSC/120388_index_0_m.html

ESA is also working on Venera D with the Russians. This should launch in 2013 and is planned to include a lander. My guess is that it will be a stationary lander only:

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ESA_Perm...LFW4QWD_0.html

I was going over back threads when I stumbled into this one. Dang fine work with the photos there, DEChengst.

The rock outcrop Spirit is working on at the moment:

http://paranoid.dechengst.nl/mars/Jibsheet.jpg

Same outcrop from a little further away. Taken on sol 477:

http://paranoid.dechengst.nl/mars/Jibsheet2.jpg

And another one:

http://paranoid.dechengst.nl/mars/sol485.jpg

Larry's Lookout at sol 489:

http://paranoid.dechengst.nl/mars/Larry%20Lookout.jpg

Happy birthsol Spirit!

Spirit completed an entire Martian year on Mars:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/spotl.../20051121.html

The latest panorama I did. Opportunity at Beagle Crater. Stitching almost melted my PC

http://paranoid.dechengst.nl/mars/Be...or%20final.jpg (9.0 MB)

One question: what is that heatshield?

I don't understand your question. The heatshield is the heatshield from the rover. The heatshield that protected the rover during its descent to the Martian surface.

OK, thanks. Is it normal that it is damaged like that?

I would have thought so. Remember that this is the first occasion when we have been able to examine a heat shield close up after a landing on Mars. So, we don't really have any kind of database of heatshield conditions to compare this one with.

If I remember the mission profile correctly the heat shield would have been detached from the lander just before, or as part of, the parachute deployment. It would therefore have fallen some kilometres and hit pretty hard. The sort of damage we see seems appropriate for that experience.

Yes, I agree. Actually, it looks in pretty good shape after falling several kilometers. :-D