34 replies to this topic

[Bullet Magnet]

Watching the live feed from NASA is awesome.

Is there going to be video from the rover itself at any point?

[Syclonus]

first pictures with the dust cover on the high resolution camera

[Grafvitnir]

First few images came through from the HazCams, we might be getting some big photos online anytime now.

[Bullet Magnet]

Syclonus, on 05 August 2012 - 09:49 PM, said:

first pictures with the dust cover on the high resolution camera

Those are two of the coolest black and white images ever.

[Adridos]

Bullet Magnet, on 05 August 2012 - 09:47 PM, said:

Is there going to be video from the rover itself at any point?

Maybe, but it's certainly not going to be live, only a melding of all the pictures it has sent home.

[Syclonus]

Bullet Magnet, on 05 August 2012 - 09:47 PM, said:

Watching the live feed from NASA is awesome.

Is there going to be video from the rover itself at any point?

from what I read there was a camera on the bottom that took 4 pictures per second up to the last 2 minutes before touchdown(would have been cool to see it hit the ground!) they will stack those pictures and make a movie out of it, no eta on that but I could imagine a few days.

[Toil3t Duck]

thanks for reminding me!!

[Bullet Magnet]

Adridos, on 05 August 2012 - 09:50 PM, said:

Maybe, but it's certainly not going to be live, only a melding of all the pictures it has sent home.

I figured, it would be so cool to see a feed from the rover, especially during landing.

[Syclonus]

Just wait till its up and running for the videos!!!

Heres some info on the mast cam curiosity is packing

• MastCam: This system provides multiple spectra and true color imaging with two cameras.^[64] The cameras can take true color images at 1600×1200 pixels and up to 10 frames per second hardware-compressed, high-definition video at 720p (1280×720). One camera is the Medium Angle Camera (MAC) that has a 34 mm focal length, a 15-degree field of view, and can yield 22 cm/pixel scale at 1 km. The other camera is the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) which has a 100 mm focal length, a 5.1-degree field of view, and can yield 7.4 cm/pixel scale at 1 km.^[64] Malin also developed a pair of Mastcams with zoom lenses,^[69] but these were not included in the final design because of time required to test the new hardware and the looming November 2011 launch date.^[70] Each camera has 8 GB of flash memory, which is capable of storing over 5,500 raw images, and can apply real time lossless or JPEG compression.^[64] The cameras have an autofocus capability that allows them to focus on objects from 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in) to infinity.^[67] Each camera also has a RGB Bayer pattern filter with 8 filter positions. In comparison to the 1024×1024 black and white panoramic cameras used on the Mars Exploration Rover (MER), the MAC MastCam has 1.25× higher spatial resolution and the NAC MastCam has 3.67× higher spatial resolution.

[william kane]

Have been following it on Nasa's live feed. Amazing achievement and definitely a plus for humanity.

[Syclonus]

Eye in the Sky: MRO's HiRISE camera caught this shot of the curiosity rover during the parachute stage on its way to land at Mars.

[Lightfoot]

Also there is a realtime computer simulation running for Curiosity at Eyes.Nasa.Gov Right now it's night on Mars and the Earth is rising over the horizon. I watched the final 30 minutes of approach and landing on this while listening to JPL doing final checks. Then 14 minutes later learned that the simulation had been accurate and Curiosity was wheels down on Mars. It was great.

Edited by Lightfoot, 06 August 2012 - 10:32 AM.

[Syclonus]

Curiosity's Heat Shield in Detail

This color full-resolution image showing the heat shield of NASA's Curiosity rover was obtained during descent to the surface of Mars on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT). The image was obtained by the Mars Descent Imager instrument known as MARDI and shows the 15-foot (4.5-meter) diameter heat shield when it was about 50 feet (16 meters) from the spacecraft.

This image shows the inside surface of the heat shield, with its protective multi-layered insulation. The bright patches are calibration targets for MARDI. Also seen in this image is the Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrument (MEDLI) hardware attached to the inside surface.

At this range, the image has a spatial scale of 0.4 inches (1 cm) per pixel. It is the 36th MARDI image, obtained about three seconds after heat shield separation and about two and one-half minutes before touchdown. The original image from MARDI has been geometrically corrected to look flat.


Curiosity's New Home

These are the first two full-resolution images of the Martian surface from the Navigation cameras on NASA's Curiosity rover, which are located on the rover's "head" or mast. The rim of Gale Crater can be seen in the distance beyond the pebbly ground.

The topography of the rim is very mountainous due to erosion. The ground seen in the middle shows low-relief scarps and plains. The foreground shows two distinct zones of excavation likely carved out by blasts from the rover's descent stage thrusters.

These are full-resolution images, 1024 by 1024 pixels in size.

Edited by Syclonus, 08 August 2012 - 04:35 PM.

[Syclonus]

Confirmed life on mars!

[JFlash49]

GO NASA!