Sharpshooter Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 This artist's still shows how NASA's Curiosity rover will communicate with Earth during landing. As the rover descends to the surface of Mars, it will send out two different types of data: basic radio-frequency tones that go directly to Earth (pink dashes) and more complex UHF radio data (blue circles) that require relaying by orbiters. NASA's Odyssey orbiter will pick up the UHF signal and relay it immediately back to Earth, while NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will record the UHF data and play it back to Earth at a later time. mage credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Mars Weather Map, Aug. 4 This global map of Mars was acquired on Aug. 4, 2012, by the Mars Color Imager instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. One global map is generated each day to forecast weather conditions for the entry, descent and landing of NASA's Curiosity rover. The atmosphere is clear and seasonal around Gale Crater, in agreement with the computer models used to simulate Curiosity's landing. The dust storm southwest of Gale Crater, first seen on July 31, changed into an inactive dust cloud on Aug. 2, and now has dispersed even further. Dust activity is picking up on the other side of the planet, as shown by the dust clouds marked on the left side of the map. None of these dust clouds will arrive at Gale Crater before Curiosity does. The map is a rectangular projection of Mars (from 90 degrees latitude to minus 90 degrees latitude, and minus 180 degrees longitude to 180 degrees east longitude). The landing site is located on the right side of the map, near 137 degrees east longitude and 4.5 degrees south latitude. The map shows water ice clouds at equatorial latitudes that are typical for late southern winter, when Mars is farther from the sun. Small, short-lived dust storms are common at this time of year on Mars and were taken into account when Curiosity's landing system was designed and tested. Larger and more long-lived dust storms are very rare at this time of year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharpshooter Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 Update about programming available from NASA: Sunday, Aug. 5 NASA Mars Rover Update 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. PDT NASA Science News Conference Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Rover Pre-Landing News Conference - Rover Communication overview Live Feed: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truculence Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 20,000 miles to go. Going about 8700 mph right now. Hope the brakes work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharpshooter Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 So, fyi......try to start watching around 10pm PST, that's when Curiosity should be starting its descent preparations through the Mars upper atmosphere. There's a 14 minute time delay between Earth and Mars, so Curiosity should be on the ground just after 10pm, and we should expect the first pictures around 10:31pm. I'm sure it'll be explained better once we begin watching the NASA link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharpshooter Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 20,000 miles to go. Going about 8700 mph right now. Hope the brakes work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buddhas Hand Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 20,000 miles to go. Going about 8700 mph right now. Hope the brakes work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truculence Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 I've got NASA's "Eyes on the Solar System" thing running in a separate window: http://eyes.nasa.gov/ It's got a visual simulation with all the running stats. You can swing the perspective around and watch Mars getting bigger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buddhas Hand Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 I've got NASA's "Eyes on the Solar System" thing running in a separate window: http://eyes.nasa.gov/ It's got a visual simulation with all the running stats. You can swing the perspective around and watch Mars getting bigger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truculence Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 It takes awhile to load, and might require Flash. It's pretty cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upshall18 Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Which stream are you guys watching? http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html or http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SterlingArcher Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Live stream on xbox Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharpshooter Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 Which stream are you guys watching? http://www.nasa.gov/...satv/index.html or http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharpshooter Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 I've got NASA's "Eyes on the Solar System" thing running in a separate window: http://eyes.nasa.gov/ It's got a visual simulation with all the running stats. You can swing the perspective around and watch Mars getting bigger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnLocke Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 I'm on xbox live. When should I tune in to watch the landing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buddhas Hand Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 That's so cool. Thanks. You'll need to run a program called Java. I think the Mrs. is going to have to help you with this one. I think it'll prompt you at the top of the page when you go there to 'run' or 'don't run'......select 'run'. If it doesn't work....then you can ask Truculence, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?". I'm sure he won't mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostsof1915 Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 I was 2 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. My earliest memories are of lunar landings. For some reason Apollo 16 stuck with me. Maybe because John Young was so cool. Carl Sagan was so happy with the Viking landings on Mars. I imagine he'd be real happy with more rovers on Mars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharpshooter Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 So Curiosity is on her own now.......all directions from NASA are now cut......they'll only be receiving data now. It's all up to her now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharpshooter Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 Up to 9,700 mph now.. 45 minutes to entry, 52 minutes to touchdown.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Goose- Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Wow, 8 kilobits from the rover. I'm guessing the oribters have a higher bandwidth, cause that's just piss poor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buddhas Hand Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 these statistics are mindblowing ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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