The Curiosity On Mars Thread.

shedweller

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-091

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity continues to move forward with assessment and recovery from a memory glitch that affected the rover's A-side computer. Curiosity has two computers that are redundant of one another. The rover is currently operating using the B-side computer, which is operating as expected.

Over the weekend, Curiosity's mission operations team continued testing and assessing the A-side computer's memory.

"These tests have provided us with a great deal of information about the rover's A-side memory," said Jim Erickson, deputy project manager for the Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We have been able to store new data in many of the memory locations previously affected and believe more runs will demonstrate more memory is available."

Two software patches, targeting onboard memory allocation and vehicle safing procedures, are likely to be uplinked later this week. After the software patches are installed, the mission team will reassess when to resume full mission operations.

Things are looking up then! Could they not put the rover into gear and get it moving while they reassess??:) Times a wastin'

(i know i know, i'm just impatient)

Capt'n Midnight

Windows can ignore memory above a certain point but pretty much a sledge hammer to crack a nut if the fault is at a lower address.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff542290%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

Linux is not a real time OS , but it has a BadRAM patch so it can just skip past a list of defects.

Curiousity uses this OS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VxWorks so a workaround may take longer

expectationlost

NASA Rover Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-092#4

how long ago?

Bohrio

expectationlost wrote: »

NASA Rover Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-092#4

how long ago

Yeah I was about to post this too... I read somewhere this would have happened around 3000 million years ago...

littlemac1980

expectationlost wrote: »

NASA Rover Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-092#4

how long ago?

Its hard to believe its been there for seven months already.

shedweller

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-093

The team in charge of successfully landing NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., will receive the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's 2013 Trophy for Current Achievement. The award will be presented on April 24 at a black-tie dinner in Washington, D.C.

Well done to all involved. It was a pinpoint landing if i remember correctly.:)
Well, within a few km?? 4 by 12 miles ellipse was the estimate but i haven't heard or read anything definite.

TheUsual

shedweller wrote: »

Well done to all involved. It was a pinpoint landing if i remember correctly.:)
Well, within a few km?? 4 by 12 miles ellipse was the estimate but i haven't heard or read anything definite.

Most accurate (can't find the image at the moment, was on Nasa somewhere) and also the softest landing ever too.
The way to do any Planet/Moon landings in the future, including restocking human settlements. I'm sure Japan, Europe, China and Russia were taking notes.

shedweller

Found it. http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/space-images/mars/curiosity-landing-predicted-actual.html


Say, 250m?

Not bad eh?!

shedweller

Just found this too. It's a little out of date but given that Curiosity hasn't done anything since the anomaly i think it still has value. It's an hour long but is interesting. Grab a cuppa and sit back!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wYcWkJF6ek

shanered

Is there any night pictures?

shedweller

The only one i know of is this one, taken with MAHLI:

It's not the kind we're looking for in terms of "wow!" though!

shedweller

New picture released. It may have been made up a while back but is cool nonetheless.

Here's one adjusted to replicate how it would look if you took it with a regular camera. We can only dream eh?


No news on the rovers comeback yet. I just hope they put the boot down! Although having watched the video i posted above i understand there is a LOT of science to be had right where the rover is.

Patience young padawan!:D

Oh, that's Mt. Sharp, in case you were thinking...

shedweller

Variation in Water Content in Martian Subsurface Along Curiosity's TraverseThis set of graphs shows variation in the amount and the depth of water detected beneath NASA's Mars rover Curiosity by use of the rover's Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument at different points along the distance the rover has driven, in meters.

DAN detects even very small amounts of water in the ground beneath the rover, primarily water bound into the crystal structure of hydrated minerals. The bottom graph indicates that the water content of the top 2 feet (60 centimeters) of the ground at points in the "Yellowknife Bay" area where DAN has taken measurements is estimated at about 3 percent.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Russian Space Research Institute

---

Variation in Subsurface Water In 'Yellowknife Bay'

The image, at lower left, is annotated to show where the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took measurement on a rock outcrop (Spot 39) and on loose soil (Spot 40) within the "Yellowknife Bay' area of Mars' Gale Crater.

The graph, at upper right, and the table, at lower right, show that the DAN measurements indicated more water in the subsurface at the loose-soil spot than at the rock outcrop. DAN detects even very small amounts of water in the ground beneath the rover, primarily water bound into the crystal structure of hydrated minerals.

The image at lower left was taken by the rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam).

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16810.html

Hydration Map, Based on Mastcam Spectra, for 'Knorr' Rock Target

On this image of the rock target "Knorr," color coding maps the amount of mineral hydration indicated by a ratio of near-infrared reflectance intensities measured by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity. The color scale on the right shows the assignment of colors for relative strength of the calculated signal for hydration. The map shows that the stronger signals for hydration are associated with pale veins and light-toned nodules in the rock. This image and the data for assessing hydration come from a Mastcam observation of Knorr during the 133rd Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (Dec. 20, 2012). The width of the area shown in the image is about 10 inches (25 centimeters).

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/ASU


MSL crew have been very busy! Look at all this data!!!:D


Look at all this "water" data, more like!

Squeaky the Squirrel

New Bug

The latest issue has to do with some of the rover's files that were scheduled for deletion. One of those files was connected to a file still in use by the spacecraft, so the deletion process prompted an error that sent the rover into safe mode again, preventing the rover from resuming science as planned. URL="http://www.space.com/18027-mars-rover-curiosity-amazing-photos-red-planet.html"]Curiosity Rover's Latest Amazing Mars Photos[/URL

"If not for the latest safing, we would have been back in action today," Grotzinger said. "The expectation is, it's going to take a couple of sols [Martian days] to resolve this one."

Is it running windows?:pac:

shedweller

Ah no, here we go again!

shedweller

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20130319.html

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has returned to active status and is on track to resume science investigations, following two days in a precautionary standby status, "safe mode."
Next steps will include checking the rover's active computer, the B-side computer, by commanding a preliminary free-space move of the arm. The B-side computer was provided information last week about the position of the robotic arm, which was last moved by the redundant A-side computer.
The rover was switched from the A-side to the B-side by engineers on Feb. 28 in response to a memory glitch on the A-side. The A-side now is available as a back-up if needed.

shedweller

Curiosity is back online!




Looks like a whole lot of re-homing the arm is going on! Now they need to find the drive button!:)

shedweller

http://www.360cities.net/image/mars-gigapixel-panorama-curiosity-solar-days-136-149#-4.54,3.24,42.5

It's a biggie!

Squeaky the Squirrel

^^what do ya think it is?

shedweller

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That would be the backshell and parachute. Wind has blown the parachute and covered the newly exposed dust to some degree.
Cool pic!

Muppet Man

Shedweller, that pic above is absolutely amazing.... I opened it on the iPad and the image rotates and tilts with the iPads movements... It's truly awesome. Thanks for posting.

shedweller

You're welcome!

Things are quiet lately with mars being on the opposite of the sun. They say it will be a few weeks before signal strength will improve. I hope they got the rover sorted before comms breakup.

ronan45

I know you can get dust devils and there is wind on mars at times, but on a quiet day with low atmospheric activity would it just be PURE scilence?

shedweller

ronan45 wrote: »

I know you can get dust devils and there is wind on mars at times, but on a quiet day with low atmospheric activity would it just be PURE scilence?

For all intents and purposes, yes. Although looking at the pictures sent back i find it hard to come to terms with that!

ronan45

shedweller wrote: »

For all intents and purposes, yes. Although looking at the pictures sent back i find it hard to come to terms with that!

It would be so EERIE !!!!

shedweller

Every time i see a colour picture from mars i cannot help thinking i could wals out there in jeans and t-shirt!
Obviously if i were trying to get a place on a manned mission to mars i would keep that to myself!!:pac:

shedweller

As the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite of instruments on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover heats a sample, gases are released (or "evolved") from the sample and can be identified using SAM's quadrupole mass spectrometer. This graphic shows the principal gases evolved from the fourth portion of powder delivered to SAM from the sample material collected when Curiosity first drilled into the "John Klein" target rock in the "Yellowknife Bay" area of Mars' Gale Crater.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16817.html
Major volatiles they say!

shedweller

Accurate pointing by Curiosity

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover targeted the laser of the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument with remarkable accuracy for assessing the composition of the wall of a drilled hole and tailings that resulted from the drilling. This graphic diagrams the pointing and shows the resulting pits created by the laser shots.

On the 180th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (Feb. 6, 2013), the rover performed a "mini drill test," followed on Sol 182 (Feb. 8, 2013) by the actual drilling to collect a sample from the interior of the rock. Both holes in the target rock "John Klein" are visible in the image at upper left, taken on Sol 182 by the rover's Navigation Camera (Navcam). Both the Navcam and the ChemCam are at the top of the Curiosity's remote-sensing mast.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16922.html

shedweller

Maximum (near as dammit!) Solar Conjunction today. Which means Mars is virtually opposite us, with the sun in the middle.

This year, the apparent angle between Mars and the sun (if you could see Mars against the glare of the sun--but don't try, because it's dangerous to the eyes) will slim to 0.4 degree on April 17. The sun is in a more active period of solar flares for its current cycle, compared to the 2011 conjunction, but this cycle has been relatively mild.
"The biggest difference for this 2013 conjunction is having Curiosity on Mars," Potts said. Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter relay almost all data coming from Curiosity and the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, as well as conducting the orbiters' own science observations.
Transmissions from Earth to the orbiters will be suspended while Mars and the sun are two degrees or less apart in the sky, from April 9 to 26, with restricted commanding during additional days before and after. Both orbiters will continue science observations on a reduced basis compared to usual operations. Both will receive and record data from the rovers. Odyssey will continue transmissions Earthward throughout April, although engineers anticipate some data dropouts, and the recorded data will be retransmitted later.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1449

So if we ever send a manned mission to mars we better figure out a way to avoid this kind of thing. Like bounce the signal off a relay satellite halfway?
In fairness, it is once every 26 months so we could time it to happen between conjunctions. But the planets positions might be far from ideal for launch and subsequent travel time.

Hmm, this is a whole lot more than planning a camping trip abroad i tells ya!:D

TheUsual

A manned mission would be more able to work on their own and get all the data they need to before losing contact. Buffer loads of stuff they need in advance.

Curiosity is basically remote controlled so it doesn't go wandering off and get stuck in soft sand somewhere.
This would be the perfect time for Martians to sneak out and put a sticker saying "Kick Me" on the back of Curiosity.