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First full-resolution images of the Martian surface

nasa.gov

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Re: First full-resolution images of the Martian surface

#131

Post by Achshar »

mtgx wrote: post #18
vladd wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> The bandwidth from Curiosity directly to Earth is about 8 kb/s. Curiosity has a high bandwidth link to the Mars Odyssey Orbiter, a Mars satellite, which has a 256 kb/s link to Earth. The early pictures are from a low resolution camera with a clear dust cover still attached. This camera is used to determine if Curiosity is about to land in a crater. A higher resolution camera will be activated later. (taken from ht…

I'm hoping Larry Page's Planetary Resources will use Google Fiber for transmitting from the asteroids.

You probably meant it as a joke, but fiber networks, as the name suggests, use firer optic wires to transmit data at high speeds.

Re: First full-resolution images of the Martian surface

#132

Post by lerouxb »

yread wrote: post #126
jcarreiro wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> as I understand, if you could cool it down to an > acceptable temperature, you could walk on the surface > with just a breathing apparatus, right? Sadly, probably not. Cooling it down is already a very tall order, and even then, you would need to find a way to remove most of the atmosphere in order to reduce the pressure (~90 atm at the surface). Mars is a much better bet for human habitation in the short term. Che…

> survive the 9 MPa and 450 C on the surface on Venus not even mentioning the sulfur acid rains, lead sulfide snow and lack of magnetic field (cosmic rays penetrating atmosphere if it would be weakened)

Doesn't mars also lack a magnetic field?

Re: First full-resolution images of the Martian surface

#133

Post by nollidge »

raverbashing wrote: post #129
rohitarondekar wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. I'm just going on a hunch here, but maybe getting better photographs of the Mars surface is not a priority anymore? From the wikipedia page of Mars Science Laboratory the goals of the mission are: To contribute to these goals, MSL has six main scientific objectives: * Determine the mineralogical composition of the Martian surface and near-surface geological materials. * Attempt to detect chemical buildin…

How are you supposed to maneuver a 2 ton (or any rover for that matter) rover without cameras? And I guess today they are cheap and easy enough (I mean, cheap as space exploration goes)

> How are you supposed to maneuver a 2 ton (or any rover for that matter) rover without cameras?

It's one ton, and you can't, which is why it has 2 navigation cameras and 4 hazard cameras near the wheels.

Re: First full-resolution images of the Martian surface

#136

Post by zerostar07 »

bialecki wrote: post #63

Random question: Is it silent on Mars? I'm looking at this picture and can't help but wonder what it sounds like. Just curious if Martian weather tends to be windy or calm.

Related: Sound recording from the Huygens probe descending on Titan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36ffV-CI3Mo

Re: First full-resolution images of the Martian surface

#137

Post by H_L »

Two9A wrote: post #128
H_L wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While yes, the full color image I posted was re-compiled from the original red, green, and blue channel images sent from the rover by a non-NASA source, even NASA's B&W images look better back then than they do now. I made an image to illustrate this: http://f.cl.ly/items/0k2w2d1C1O3w3e0t300f/NASAQualityDegreda...

Remember that the images we have from Curiosity so far are from the navigational guidance cameras, though. The heavy equipment hasn't been fired up yet. If I recall, the Mastcam will take a panoramic colour view later today, and that'll take a few days to download. Then we'll have a proper image, for the first time.

Some of the images, and the one I used for my comparison, are from the Mastcam, I believe.

The MAHLI is the only visible light camera that hasn't been used at this point.

Re: First full-resolution images of the Martian surface

#138

Post by desireco42 »

Difwif wrote: post #115
desireco42 wrote: post #110

To sum up sentiment of many here: NASA should have got Canon as a sponsor and give us some decent images. It's ridiculous to travel across the system and not being able to send good images.

Okay I've heard this from a couple people already and I think this needs to be said. For one these are the Navigation camera shots and have no reason to be any higher quality. The craft has only been on the ground for 5 days and hasn't initialized all 17 of its on board cameras yet. The one in particular interest to us is the MastCam which features true-color 1600x1200 stereoscopic CCD's, can shoot 720p video at 10 f…

People who support NASA and it's projects are the reason why you should make room for good cameras. Even scientists are people and would be motivated by good pictures. Having a sense of how it is on Mars is whole point of this and good pictures provide that.

Also arguments about how it would be hard to add good camera, simply is not true. I agree about uplink and understand.

Re: First full-resolution images of the Martian surface

#139

Post by pavel_lishin »

sgt101 wrote: post #119
thechut wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I'm guessing this is in jest. All of these hardening necessary raises a lot of question about the legitimacy of the older photos.

My child. In the past years, while your mother played in the sunlight and your father smiled at girls and drank cool drafts as the evening drew in, before you were even a glimmer or a sunbeam, we had devices called "film cameras". These "film cameras" did not have electronic components. They worked by using levers, springs and wheels. An emulsion that is reactive to light was prepared and pasted onto a plastic film.…

I thought that one of the things that led to the discovery of radiation was an accidental exposure of photographic film by x-rays.

Re: First full-resolution images of the Martian surface

#140

Post by freehunter »

wang2bo2 wrote: post #111
Xcelerate wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I mean if humans were to colonize Mars -- would gravity make that process difficult?

Definitely, with little gravity it could even be impossible for women to bear and give birth to a child

I'm unfamiliar with how gravity factors into pregnancy and birthing. Do you have any further details on that?
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