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Earlier quoted context omitted.
How could you know? SpaceX never landed or sent a craft on a foreign body.
SpaceX hasn't been around as long as NASA. Also, remind me, did NASA develop reusable rockets?
Watching the live feed was a blast. When they said they received the exact landing coordinates I was extremely curious to see it plotted vs their targeted landing zone, but unfortunately they haven't shown it yet. However, I could audibly hear an engineer in the background say "Oof, well, we'll take it!" Anyone seen anything about the precise location yet?
> UNOFFICIAL but it looks like Percy landed right on the edge of the Mafic Floor Unit, with older (probably sedimentary) rocks that were buried by it only a short drive away.
First surface photo is in too! https://i.imgur.com/C2s1job.jpg
N00b question: why is it black & white?
The lower "HazCams" hazard avoidance cameras (which captured those initial photos) are there to detect hazards (rocks, trenches, etc.). They are stereoscopic, lightweight, and high resolution.
My guess is that using color sensors would have either increased the 3D mapping precision or added weight/power/bandwidth requirements, or otherwise been less robust in that environment.
Those cameras were also pre-deployed for the landing phase and likely transmit more quickly due to the lower data information. The other cameras were shielded for the landing phase.
The navigation and other cameras are in color, and I expect we'll be seeing better images shortly.
[1] This comes to mind whenever a question like that is asked: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CWM1zDcmWXs/TroD0VsX4WI/AAAAAAAAAV...
NASA's ability of succeeding at landing things successfully on the first try on foreign bodies since 1969 is mind-blowing. Meanwhile, SpaceX takes half a dozen tries before managing to do the same on a fully known environment on Earth.
NASA's ability of succeeding at landing things successfully on the first try on foreign bodies since 1969 is mind-blowing. Meanwhile, SpaceX takes half a dozen tries before managing to do the same on a fully known environment on Earth.
NASA's ability of succeeding at landing things successfully on the first try on foreign bodies since 1969 is mind-blowing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter > The spacecraft encountered Mars on a trajectory that brought it too close to the planet, and it was either destroyed in the atmosphere or escaped the planet's vicinity and entered an orbit around the sun. An investigation attributed the failure…
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I guess technically it's on an 11 minute delay for the whole planet.
Well yes, but I meant I watched continuously from 06:45 to 07:15 and it was replay of pre-recorded videos of the rover and no indication on screen it had landed.
Seeing the engineers and scientists celebrating the successful landing was one the best things I've seen in a LONG while. Very live affirming and inspiring to me!
Is part of the joy that they now have secure jobs for years to come?
First surface photo is in too! https://i.imgur.com/C2s1job.jpg
N00b question: why is it black & white?
Watching these is always a stressful experience, I can't imagine what it would be like sitting in that room, praying that the object you spend years of work on is able to land by itself 7 light-minutes away. I'm looking forward to what Perseverance will teach us.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
My guess is lower image size, which means image can get transferred faster.
That is most certainly correct. They also mentioned that these are images from engineering cameras, so they are normally responsible for navigation. The real HD footage will come in over the next hours as the bandwidth just is not large enough. Elon Musk needs to provide some Starlink sats for a better connection.
What I could imagine is having Starlink satellites around Mars that allow to route data from rovers anywhere on the planet to a dedicated high-performance communications platform that handles communication with Earth.
