41–50 of 106 posts
A quick take on the project. Software Architect: "Hello sir! As you know, it has taken millions to billions of dollars and years of time to develop your project. We are ready to launch! As you know, it will take a year to actually deploy it in production, during which point a bug or misconfiguration of the software during the transfer, installation, or activation stages would cause it to fail. If a failure happens, w…
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that this piece of metal traveled 350 million miles through space and then landed on Mars.
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It may even be "plebeian" to ask questions about the technical features of a data collection instrument named "Curiosity". I should have been an aristocrat instead of an engineer ; I could marvel at everything wrapped in the bliss of my ignorance. And for the record, I think it is amazing and wonderful to receive these images. I am so thankful for that. But, for a data collection instrument that cost $2.6 billion to…
The $2.6 billion price tag is not just for the rover, it includes R&D for the rover itself, employee salaries, Sky Crane & parachute R&D as well as the rocket to launch it, which cost over $100 million. Also included in the budget is funding needed for all of the science teams to do what they do over the next few years while the rover does experiments.
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When the $100 camera fails in Mars you can't just replace it with another one. You can't take it to the repair shop either. You can't try to "shake it a bit". Hell, you can't even bang it on your knee: http://www.pechorin.com/m/2006/06/13/SONY_Cybershot_E6100_ER...
You know, I didn't claim to understand the reasons behind the technical limitations, but the reactions of some of you are puzzling to me. We can go on and on about familiarity considerations, and planning considerations, and instrumentation considerations, and scientific concerns, etc. It all sounds like excuses after a bit. Let's reformulate the question: Why not keep the same enclosure, the same lens assembly, the…
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See this discussion and article from earlier today: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4360502
Thanks! The reason seems to be: It's the way it was planned 10 years ago and we don't go back on planning on a project like this one.
They use a black and white CMOS to accurately measure the actual light hitting the lens (which may include non visible spectrum. To get a colour image they need to use filters and take multiple photos, where as consumer cameras have a fixed grid (Bayer pattern) of one filter per each pixel. That probably won't give you such an accurate picture. Also when they're using filters they're not interested in reproducing true colour but rather highlighting a difference in materials.
The bandwidth constraints no doubt the reason they didn't change the sensor. Besides, when they combine three different images taken with filters to create one colour image it will essentially be 6MP anyway.
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Several articles have mentioned bandwidth limitations of about 250 megabits per day, which also has to be used to send instrument data. But I haven't seen an explanation why bandwidth is so low -- is it lack of spectrum? Interference issues?
> But I haven't seen an explanation why bandwidth is so low -- is it lack of spectrum? Interference issues? Transmit power.
For comparison, that might be how much your graphics card might be consuming while you are reading this article.
I guess that also means it is going to move very slow.
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Several articles have mentioned bandwidth limitations of about 250 megabits per day, which also has to be used to send instrument data. But I haven't seen an explanation why bandwidth is so low -- is it lack of spectrum? Interference issues?
The bandwidth to the orbiters is up to 2 Mbps, but because they're in low orbit they're only in sight 8 minutes per day. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/communicationwithearth/...
It is Curiosity that is not in sight of the Orbiters, again because of their low orbit.
A quick take on the project. Software Architect: "Hello sir! As you know, it has taken millions to billions of dollars and years of time to develop your project. We are ready to launch! As you know, it will take a year to actually deploy it in production, during which point a bug or misconfiguration of the software during the transfer, installation, or activation stages would cause it to fail. If a failure happens, w…
A quick take on the project. Software Architect: "Hello sir! As you know, it has taken millions to billions of dollars and years of time to develop your project. We are ready to launch! As you know, it will take a year to actually deploy it in production, during which point a bug or misconfiguration of the software during the transfer, installation, or activation stages would cause it to fail. If a failure happens, w…