MER-B: Backshell or boulder?

I've been looking through the incredible RAW images from the Mars
landers. Opportunity's files now include several images that give a
glimpse over the lip of the depression it landed in. In several of the
images, there is a flat white object resting next to a taller dark
object. The links below will show the objects on the right side, they
look to be (total guess) several hundred meters away.

Could the white/lighter object be the parachutes and the darker object
the backshell/retrorockets? Otherwise, perhaps a boulder and some of
the local bedrock like the outcropping Opp is studying now? it's
pretty wild to be able to look over the gully's lip finally. Wow,
Meridiani is some flat.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...5P1545R0M1.JPG

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...2P1720L0M1.JPG

Enjoy!

josh

Josh Gigantino wrote:

I've been looking through the incredible RAW images from the Mars
landers. Opportunity's files now include several images that give a
glimpse over the lip of the depression it landed in. In several of the
images, there is a flat white object resting next to a taller dark
object. The links below will show the objects on the right side, they
look to be (total guess) several hundred meters away.

Could the white/lighter object be the parachutes and the darker object
the backshell/retrorockets? Otherwise, perhaps a boulder and some of
the local bedrock like the outcropping Opp is studying now? it's
pretty wild to be able to look over the gully's lip finally. Wow,
Meridiani is some flat.

They sure have a knack for finding the most (visually) uninteresting
sites. That's not going to stimulate much public interest - maybe JPL
needs to remember who's paying their bills. Surely there must be some
scientifically interesting sites in the Vallis Marineris complex.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...5P1545R0M1.JPG

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...2P1720L0M1.JPG

Enjoy!

josh

"Josh Gigantino" wrote
In several of the
images, there is a flat white object resting next to a taller dark
object. The links below will show the objects on the right side, they
look to be (total guess) several hundred meters away. ...

Could the white/lighter object be the parachutes and the darker object
the backshell/retrorockets? ...


http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...5P1545R0M1.JPG


http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...2P1720L0M1.JPG

Enjoy!

Thanks Josh--interesting item! I blew it up for those interested:
http://www.copperas.com/astro/oppview.jpg

One factoid to play with is that the pancam resolution is 0.28 mrad/pixel.
The white item is about 15 pixels wide (4.2 mrad) and the black item is
about 7 pixels wide (2.0 mrad). At 1000 meters, say, each mrad is 1 meter.

Is the backshell about 2.6 meters in diameter? If that's what the black
thing is then the range is 1300 meters. The white thing (chute?) would then
be 5.5 meters wide. Hope I got that right! The chute when open is 8.5 meters
in diameter, so 5.5 is pretty close depending on how it's resting. At least
the white area isn't bigger than 8.5 meters.

Joe

In article ,
Dick Morris wrote:
They sure have a knack for finding the most (visually) uninteresting
sites. That's not going to stimulate much public interest - maybe JPL
needs to remember who's paying their bills. Surely there must be some
scientifically interesting sites in the Vallis Marineris complex.

There are, and it was high on the wishlist for the MERs... but a safe
landing there looked quite unlikely. Spacecraft that crash do stimulate a
lot of public interest, but of the wrong kind.

Valles Marineris is going to have to wait until a precision descent and
landing capability is developed.
--
MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer
since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. |

Henry Spencer wrote:

In article ,
Dick Morris wrote:
They sure have a knack for finding the most (visually) uninteresting
sites. That's not going to stimulate much public interest - maybe JPL
needs to remember who's paying their bills. Surely there must be some
scientifically interesting sites in the Vallis Marineris complex.

There are, and it was high on the wishlist for the MERs... but a safe
landing there looked quite unlikely. Spacecraft that crash do stimulate a
lot of public interest, but of the wrong kind.

Would you have a link to the candidate landing sites?

Valles Marineris is going to have to wait until a precision descent and
landing capability is developed.
--
MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer
since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. |

It's even more visible at: (at the left side)
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...5P1546R0M1.JPG


"Josh Gigantino" wrote in message
om...
I've been looking through the incredible RAW images from the Mars
landers. Opportunity's files now include several images that give a
glimpse over the lip of the depression it landed in. In several of the
images, there is a flat white object resting next to a taller dark
object. The links below will show the objects on the right side, they
look to be (total guess) several hundred meters away.

Could the white/lighter object be the parachutes and the darker object
the backshell/retrorockets? Otherwise, perhaps a boulder and some of
the local bedrock like the outcropping Opp is studying now? it's
pretty wild to be able to look over the gully's lip finally. Wow,
Meridiani is some flat.


http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...5P1545R0M1.JPG


http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...2P1720L0M1.JPG

Enjoy!

josh

Dick Morris wrote:

Henry Spencer wrote:

In article ,
Dick Morris wrote:
They sure have a knack for finding the most (visually) uninteresting
sites. That's not going to stimulate much public interest - maybe JPL
needs to remember who's paying their bills. Surely there must be some
scientifically interesting sites in the Vallis Marineris complex.

There are, and it was high on the wishlist for the MERs... but a safe
landing there looked quite unlikely. Spacecraft that crash do stimulate a
lot of public interest, but of the wrong kind.

Would you have a link to the candidate landing sites?

http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landing...opsites/final/

Valles Marineris is going to have to wait until a precision descent and
landing capability is developed.
--
MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer
since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. |

Dick Morris wrote:

Dick Morris wrote:

Would you have a link to the candidate landing sites?


http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landing...opsites/final/

See also http://webgis.wr.usgs.gov/mer/

--


Alex R. Blackwell
University of Hawaii

Dick Morris wrote in message ...
Josh Gigantino wrote:


pretty wild to be able to look over the gully's lip finally. Wow,
Meridiani is some flat.

They sure have a knack for finding the most (visually) uninteresting
sites. That's not going to stimulate much public interest - maybe JPL
needs to remember who's paying their bills. Surely there must be some
scientifically interesting sites in the Vallis Marineris complex.

If someone had $300+ million, I'm sure Cornell could be convinced to
build another Athena/MER rover and drop it into Marineris. Probably
not going to be funded by NASA, from what others are writing here. How
about National Geographic and the Planetary Society? They might be
less risk-averse. Marineris is, IMHO, the most important site on Mars
for both life research and geology.

Umm... Did I spot the 'chutes and backshell first?

Josh


http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...5P1545R0M1.JPG

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...2P1720L0M1.JPG

Enjoy!

josh

(Josh Gigantino) wrote in
om:

I've been looking through the incredible RAW images from the Mars
landers. Opportunity's files now include several images that give a
glimpse over the lip of the depression it landed in. In several of the
images, there is a flat white object resting next to a taller dark
object. The links below will show the objects on the right side, they
look to be (total guess) several hundred meters away.

Could the white/lighter object be the parachutes and the darker object
the backshell/retrorockets? Otherwise, perhaps a boulder and some of
the local bedrock like the outcropping Opp is studying now? it's
pretty wild to be able to look over the gully's lip finally. Wow,
Meridiani is some flat.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...25377EFF0205P1
545R0M1.JPG

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...55793EFF0242P1
720L0M1.JPG

Enjoy!

josh


You hit the nail on the head, dude! This morning's news briefing
confirmed it.