NASA spacecraft barrells towards Mars.

[biggles]

Oh yeah? Who told you that

Dan Burich, via Camelot interview. 

Or was that the looking glass tech 

[zorgon]

NASA Lands Car-Size Rover Beside Martian Mountain

[zorgon]

That gravel is all they could afford with the budget cuts, rocks and other large debris are just to costly to move around a sound stage.
Curious if Curiousity has a broom attachment.. to clean up ya know.

Le

NASA Mars Yard has more than Gravel



Rovers in the JPL Mars Yard

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/interactives/marsyard/

[hoss58]

Taking up a collection to send NASA some better camera.

These are only $1.99 but take much better pictures

Yeah , and they are in color also, a real step in the right direction

[ArMaP]

Dave did you see that lame ass picture they were all backslapping each other over ,I stayed up late for that? whatta f$#ging joke!!

Why? Because it was a bad photo?

For what it was needed it was enough.

[ArMaP]

I like the title of the NAZA article "NASA's New Mars Rover Sends Higher-Resolution Image".  Higher-Resolution, umm no?  http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20120806.html

Yes, higher resolution, as in "higher than the first one".

Being a 512 x 512 photo it has twice the resolution of a 256 x 256 images, like the one that was the first to be sent.

[ArMaP]

Yeah , and they are in color also, a real step in the right direction

Curiosity has colour cameras (1600 x 1200 pixels) with 10 frames per second, 1280 x 720 video capabilities, so I guess my discussions with zorgon about "true colour" ar over.

[zorgon]

YIPEEEEE

Now maybe we can see some more of that GREEN FOG

And I can get back to serious rock hunting



And can get some 'Real Color" pictures of all that debris up there

NASA = Cosmic Litterbugs

[zorgon]

NASA's Curiosity rover and its parachute were spotted by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as Curiosity descended to the surface on Sunday.

[COSMO]

They're getting better, here's another one...

The newest robotic resident of Mars, Curiosity, has sent a spectacular image of its main scientific target, Mt. Sharp, a three-mile-high mountain in the center of Gale crater.




Taken with the probe's front Hazard-Avoidance cameras (Hazcams), the high-resolution image also shows the rover's shadow in the foreground and dark bands of dunes. After a flawless descent sequence, Curiosity landed a little less than four miles from the mountain. Within the next few days, the rover will start to move, sampling rocks and soil on its way to Mt. Sharp and slowly traveling up its side over the next two years. No one is quite sure how the mountain formed, though it appears to be the result of sediment layers laid down over time that then partially eroded away.

Curiosity's Hazcams are eight cameras placed in sets of two on the front and back of the rover that point at the ground and help the rover avoid large objects that it might run in to. They have a 1-megapixel resolution and shoot in black and white. This image has been linearized to remove the distorted appearance that results from the camera's fish-eye lens.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/curiositys-mt-sharp/

[biggles]

I know this is a dumb question, but its taking samples up there...it is able to come back down here isn't?

[zorgon]

No it analyses the samples on board and sends the data back to us. Its not coming back

[hoss58]

 :)Ok so when do we see color pictures of the sky ? or does the camera not rotate up that far ? I have a feeling we will never see color pics of the sky . These b/w pics of the place are ok but how about looking up a little ? I am just saying .

[ArMaP]

or does the camera not rotate up that far ?

That camera does not move, as far as I know. It's one of the 8 hazard avoidance cameras, a left and right pair for each corner of the rover.

The cameras are activated in sequence, starting by the hazard avoidance cameras (they were activated as soon as Curiosity landed), then it was the Chemistry Camera. On the following sol they activated the Navigation Cameras and the Mars Hand Lens Imager. Today we have more photos from the Navigation cameras, so I guess that maybe tomorrow or the day after we will get some photos from the Mast Cameras, where the most versatile cameras are.

Edited to add a photo from a navcam.


Is that dust or mist near the mountain?

[Littleenki]

Dust or mist?   or something else? Plasma perhaps, either way doesnt that mean a sustantial atmosphere?
Le