[Space] NASA - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

[gpc]

Ora ho troppo sonno per guardarci ma sembra bello. Chi si ricorda Maestro? Era talmente pesante all'epoca che non mi girava sul portatile

[Ukronia]

iscritto al 3d.

ciao

[Octane]

August 24, 2007
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Status Report


Exposed layers in central Valles Marineris.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona


Camera Concern Resolved; More Than 3,000 Images Returned

Diagnostic tests and months of stable, successful operation have resolved concerns raised early this year about long-term prospects for the powerful telescopic camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on the orbiter has now taken more than 3,000 images of Mars, resolving features as small as a desk in targeted areas covering thousands of square miles of the Martian surface. Already, this is the largest Mars data set ever acquired by a single experiment. The camera is one of six instruments on the orbiter.

During the first three months after the orbiter's primary science phase began in November, researchers saw an increase in noise and pixel dropouts in data from seven of the camera's 14 detectors. The effects on image quality were small in all but two detectors, but the trend raised concerns noted in a Feb. 7 news release.

Tests have yielded an explanation for the earlier pattern, and the camera's performance record shows the noise stopped getting worse after about three to four months of the science phase.

Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona, Tucson, principal investigator for the camera, said, "I'm happy to report that there has been no detectable degradation over the past five months."

A team at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo., designer and builder of the instrument, has used an engineering model of the camera's focal-plane system to successfully duplicate the problem. This has helped in understanding causes and in testing a procedure for warming the focal-plane electronics prior to each image. One cause is that an electrical interface lacked extra capability beyond minimum requirements. Another cause is an unexpected change in performance of another electronic component over the course of the first thousand or so large images. With pre-warming, the camera acquires good data from all detectors, though minor noise remains an issue in data from one of two channels of one detector collecting infrared imagery.

McEwen said, "Given the stability we've seen and understanding the nature of the problem, we now expect HiRISE to return high-quality data for years to come."

Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment are online at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, Colo., is the prime contractor and built the spacecraft.

an increase in noise and pixel dropouts in data from seven of the camera's 14 detectors.

HiRISE e' suddiviso in 14 sezioni o che?

[Octane]

l'MRO e' tornato finalmente operativo al 100% e ha ripreso la sua attivita' scientifica.
http://crism.jhuapl.edu/gallery/feat...=2&image_id=95





bello questo spettro di assorbimento..non ho pero' capito bene l'unita nell'asse delle ordinate..

[Octane]

Visto che e' ormai un po' che trascuriamo questo thread butto un po' di aggiornamenti:


Wrinkle Ridges in Hesperia Planum (PSP_006223_1600)
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

interessanti anche i dati sulla risoluzione:

OBSERVATION TOOLBOX			
Acquisition date:	24 November 2007 	Local Mars time:	2.22 PM
Latitude (centered):	-19.9 ° 	Longitude (East):	114.5 °
Range to target site:	257.6 km (161.0 miles)	Original image scale range:	25.8 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~77 cm across are resolved
Map projected scale:	25 cm/pixel and north is up	Map projection:	EQUIRECTANGULAR
Emission angle:	0.2 ° 	Phase angle:	38.6 °
Solar incidence angle:	39 °, with the Sun about 51 ° above the horizon 	Solar longitude:	352.3 °, Northern Winter
For non-map projected products:			
North azimuth:	96 ° 	Sub-solar azimuth:	26.2 °
For map projected products:			
North azimuth:	270°	Sub solar azimuth	200.384°

la risoluzione e' 25cm per pixel!

[demonbl@ck]

Originariamente inviato da Octane

la risoluzione e' 25cm per pixel!

Staminkia!

[Octane]

Cosi' appaiono la Terra e la Luna viste da Marte:



la lo scatto e' stato fatto ad una distanza di 142 milioni di Km (tra terra e marte)

[Dj Ruck]

WOW

[Rand]

Google Earth ora visualizza anche Marte. Siccome ci sono anche le immagini di HiRISE è un buon modo di vederle in modo intuitivo e organico..

[Rand]

Mars Orbiter Glitch Stalls Red Planet Science

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has suffered an apparent glitch that has left the spacecraft in a protective safe mode and stalled science observations as it circles the red planet, the space agency announced late Wednesday.

The malfunction occurred on Monday when the orbiter unexpectedly rebooted its main computer and entered safe mode, an automatic safeguard designed to protect the spacecraft from further damage when it detects a glitch.

NASA engineers are reviewing potential causes for the malfunction aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) in the hopes of resuming its science observations of the red planet.

"We are going to bring the spacecraft back to normal operations, but we are going to do so in a cautious way, treating this national treasure carefully," said MRO project manager Jim Erickson at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "The process will take at least a few days."

The Mars orbiter's malfunction occurred Monday at about 7:25 a.m. EST (1225 GMT), when the spacecraft was flying behind the red planet as seen from Earth. While MRO has suffered glitches that put it in safe mode five times since its 2005 launch, Monday's malfunction does not resemble any of those earlier glitches, NASA officials said.

An initial analysis suggests that the malfunction may have been caused by the detection of a power surge that lasted between 200 nanoseconds and 41 seconds. The power surge may have been real, or it could have been a phantom reading, mission managers said.

One theory is that the MRO spacecraft may have been hit by a cosmic ray, causing an erroneous power surge reading for about nine microseconds, more than enough time to trigger the computer reboot, mission managers said.

MRO flight engineers managed to partially revive the spacecraft late Monday, when they boosted its communication rate from 40 data bits per second to a level some 10,000 times faster. The spacecraft's batteries are charged and its expansive solar wings are generating electricity, mission managers said.

Launched in August 2005, the MRO spacecraft is NASA's youngest orbiter in a fleet of spacecraft circling the red planet. It arrived in orbit around Mars in October 2006 to begin a planned two-year mission. The spacecraft's initial $720 million mission has since been extended by two more years to 2010.

During its time at Mars, MRO has beamed home stunning vistas of the red planet and tracked NASA's twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity as they explore the Martian surface.

The spacecraft has also used its high-resolution camera to scout for future Martian landing sites and spotted NASA's most recent probe - the Phoenix Mars Lander - as it parachuted down to a pinpoint landing on the planet's arctic plains in May 2008.

4chr

[Octane]

'aspita, ancora!

[jumpjack]

M'ero scordato di questo thread...

C'e' una novità interessante, per le immagini GIA' inviate dall'HiRISE a bordo dell'MRO: adesso possono essere consultate con la stessa facilità e rapidità con cui si puo' guardare casa propria su GoogleEarth! Ora infatti GoogleEarth supporta anche Marte, e in modo molto piu' evoluto di quanto faccia la versione online, GoogleMars. E in piu', ovviamente, c'e' il 3d, che è veramente impressionante! peccato solo che non ci sia per TUTTE le immagini.
anche le immagini non ci sono (ancora) tutt, ma credo sia solo perche' ci vorrà un po' a creare i "tiles" per tutto quel po' po' di roba (ogni immagine, a piena risoluzone, occupa circa 300 MB!!!).
In compenso pero' GoogleEarth indica per TUTTE (credo...) le immagini di HiRISE la posizione e l'area coperta, e basta cliccarci sopra per essere rimandati all'immagine.

[Rand]

Interessante studio che compara le mappe di Marte disponibili nel corso degli anni (qui ci sono i link al lavoro vero e proprio).

Qualche esempio:

- 1962:

http://www.planetary.org/image/mars1...tlas-small.jpg

- 1969:

http://www.planetary.org/image/mars1...riner6_far.jpg

- 1971:

http://www.planetary.org/image/mars1971_m9-cylmap2.jpg

[Rand]

Originariamente inviato da jumpjack

M'ero scordato di questo thread...

C'e' una novità interessante, per le immagini GIA' inviate dall'HiRISE a bordo dell'MRO: adesso possono essere consultate con la stessa facilità e rapidità con cui si puo' guardare casa propria su GoogleEarth! Ora infatti GoogleEarth supporta anche Marte, e in modo molto piu' evoluto di quanto faccia la versione online, GoogleMars. E in piu', ovviamente, c'e' il 3d, che è veramente impressionante! peccato solo che non ci sia per TUTTE le immagini.
anche le immagini non ci sono (ancora) tutt, ma credo sia solo perche' ci vorrà un po' a creare i "tiles" per tutto quel po' po' di roba (ogni immagine, a piena risoluzone, occupa circa 300 MB!!!).
In compenso pero' GoogleEarth indica per TUTTE (credo...) le immagini di HiRISE la posizione e l'area coperta, e basta cliccarci sopra per essere rimandati all'immagine.

Lo avevo segnalato sopra (con molte meno spiegazioni però )

Utile anche l'amatoriale Mars Midnight Browser per le immagini dei MER/Phoenix (in Google Earth ci sono solo i panorami principali)

[jumpjack]

Originariamente inviato da Rand

Interessante studio che compara le mappe di Marte disponibili nel corso degli anni (qui ci sono i link al lavoro vero e proprio).

Interessante, ma offtopic...

Pero' e' curioso vedere che effettivamente schiaparelli AVEVA visto DAVVERO i dettagli della superficie, non avava... disegnato la sua retina, come qualcuno ha insinuato!!!

[Rand]

Originariamente inviato da jumpjack

Interessante, ma offtopic...

Ripensandoci hai decisamente ragione

[Rand]

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter è tornato a funzionare normalmente:

Orbiter Resumes Normal Science Operations
03.03.09

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has fully recovered from an unexpected computer re-set last week and resumed its scientific investigation of Mars.

The mission's flight-team engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, sent commands Monday, March 2, to power up the spacecraft's science instruments. Observations by the instruments resumed Tuesday morning after confirmation of instrument health and proper temperatures.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter had rebooted its computer Monday morning, Feb. 23, and put itself temporarily into a limited-activity "safe" mode that is an automated safety response. After analysis of the situation, including ground-based tests simulating the spacecraft events, engineers took the spacecraft out of safe mode on Saturday.

"We have proceeded cautiously, checking the health and performance of the spacecraft at each step as we brought it back to full, normal operations," said JPL's Dan Johnston, mission manager for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The team found that a voltage reading might have triggered the Feb. 23 reboot and that the event could have resulted from a cosmic-ray hit causing an erroneous voltage reading. Ground simulations have confirmed the expected spacecraft behavior due to the erroneous voltage reading. Since the Feb. 23 event, the spacecraft systems have continued to perform as expected.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. For more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mro .

[Octane]

CO2 al disgelo:




http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/gallery...20090325a.html

[Rand]

Nuova iniziativa da parte del team di HiRISE: gli HiFlyers, PDF di dimensione 28x43 cm per stamparsi come poster alcune (parti di) immagini

HiFlyers!
Thursday, 2009 April 2 at 9:56 am MST

New feature on the HiRISE website! HiFlyers made of released images like this one:

These are 11×17 PDFs showing cutouts of new releases, so you can print your own posters. Currently these are available for weekly releases starting 3/25/09 - look for more with each week’s new images!

They’re all available on this page. There are also links to the flyers on the individual image pages such as this one: http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_011425_1775 (Look for the “HiFLYER” link in the lower right hand side.)

Enjoy!

Dal podcast di Marzo di forumastronautico.it: intervista con il dott. Roberto Seu, Team Leader del radar SHARAD, imbarcato a bordo della sonda Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

[Rand]

Malea Patera

Malea Patera isn’t the name of one of the One Hundred and One Dalmatians, but it is the designation of an ancient volcano on Mars located on the outskirts of the Hellas impact basin. This isn’t your typical Martian landscape — just where are the red rocks and soil? — but is reminiscent of the markings on a Dalmatian dog. So what is going on here? This image was taken in early spring for this location in the southern hemisphere and the ground is covered with bright frost except for some dark splotches found in discrete patches. This is where the sunlight has penetrated the frost and initiated defrosting around discrete spots. The HiRISE scientists say that clearly, something is different about the patches, with the defrosting taking place, while the other areas remain frosty. One possibility is that these are (frost covered) dark sand dunes that heat up more easily than the surrounding terrain. However, to find out for sure, HiRISE will need to take a new image in the summer time to really know what is happening here.