Spirit: an unfortunate side effect

Yesterday saw the release of one of the most remarkable mars images I
have ever seen (and I've looked at a lot of them). Unfortunately, with
the media focus on the problems with Spirit this image has been largely
overlooked. It's also not in color, something the media has a strong
bias against (unless the image is from a famous photographer who works
in B&W). I played a small part in the development of what is now known
as the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on board the orbiting Mars Global
Surveyor. This camera has the ability to take very high resolution
grayscale images of the surface of mars in long narrow swaths.

Last Monday, the MOC team was able to take an image of the Spirit
landing site. To put things in perspective, a similar attempt was made
to capture Pathfinder. The result, after months of work, was a single
bright pixel that may or may not have represented the lander.

In an odd coincidence, that same day my 5-year-old and I were looking at
an orbiter image of the landing site wondering if Spirit would come
across the parachute or heatshield as she explored her new world.

The image obtained on Monday was stunning: not only did it clearly show
the lander but it has a discernible shape at high magnification! And to
the northwest lies the backshell and parachute, clear as day, still
attached to each other where they fell after safely dropping the lander
from a height of just 23 feet. To the northeast is the heatshield,
where it impacted on the edge of the large nearby crater. All of this
from a distance of over 400km! Such detail was unexpected, even to
those of us who know the camera well.

There is so much detail in this image that I have been able to match
some of the nearby features, seen in the Spirit images. Absolutely
astounding!

The un-annotated image is he
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/rover-images/jan-23-2004/captions/image-13.html

The annotated version can be found he
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/rover-images/jan-23-2004/captions/image-12.html


I'm optimistic that Spirit will be brought back to work. One of the
things that was missed by the press is that they formed an anomaly team
that didn't even get started until last night at midnight PST. The
saturday press conference will occur at the end of their shift.
Hopefully they will have at least better quantified the problem.

Clear skies,
Greg

--
Greg Crinklaw
Astronomical Software Developer
Cloudcroft, New Mexico, USA (33N, 106W, 2700m)

SkyTools Software for the Observer:
http://www.skyhound.com/cs.html

Skyhound Observing Pages:
http://www.skyhound.com/sh/skyhound.html

Esmail Bonakdarian wrote:
Agreed, the images are fantastic.

Do you know what the little squqre represents - it's labled
DIMES "First Bounce" estimate.

Yeah -- I didn't even mention the bounce marks. Bounce marks! Oh my!
I would have laughed at anyone who suggested the bounce marks could be
imaged.

The square represents the estimate of the location of the lander when it
first struck the surface from the IMU inside the lander. Although the
square isn't exactly at the place of first bounce, it is remarkably
close given the uncertainties in the device and in our knowledge of
martian geography.

Clear skies,
Greg


--
Greg Crinklaw
Astronomical Software Developer
Cloudcroft, New Mexico, USA (33N, 106W, 2700m)

SkyTools Software for the Observer:
http://www.skyhound.com/cs.html

Skyhound Observing Pages:
http://www.skyhound.com/sh/skyhound.html

Esmail Bonakdarian wrote:
Agreed, the images are fantastic.

Do you know what the little squqre represents - it's labled
DIMES "First Bounce" estimate.

Yeah -- I didn't even mention the bounce marks. Bounce marks! Oh my!
I would have laughed at anyone who suggested the bounce marks could be
imaged.

The square represents the estimate of the location of the lander when it
first struck the surface from the IMU inside the lander. Although the
square isn't exactly at the place of first bounce, it is remarkably
close given the uncertainties in the device and in our knowledge of
martian geography.

Clear skies,
Greg


--
Greg Crinklaw
Astronomical Software Developer
Cloudcroft, New Mexico, USA (33N, 106W, 2700m)

SkyTools Software for the Observer:
http://www.skyhound.com/cs.html

Skyhound Observing Pages:
http://www.skyhound.com/sh/skyhound.html

Esmail Bonakdarian wrote:
Agreed, the images are fantastic.

Do you know what the little squqre represents - it's labled
DIMES "First Bounce" estimate.

Yeah -- I didn't even mention the bounce marks. Bounce marks! Oh my!
I would have laughed at anyone who suggested the bounce marks could be
imaged.

The square represents the estimate of the location of the lander when it
first struck the surface from the IMU inside the lander. Although the
square isn't exactly at the place of first bounce, it is remarkably
close given the uncertainties in the device and in our knowledge of
martian geography.

Clear skies,
Greg


--
Greg Crinklaw
Astronomical Software Developer
Cloudcroft, New Mexico, USA (33N, 106W, 2700m)

SkyTools Software for the Observer:
http://www.skyhound.com/cs.html

Skyhound Observing Pages:
http://www.skyhound.com/sh/skyhound.html

Greg,

What a spectacular image and eloquent testimony to the resolution of
the MOC! Love the bounce marks. So sad--and so typical--that the
media has missed this amazing image.

Thanks so much for posting the links.

Clear skies,

John Harrington

Greg,

What a spectacular image and eloquent testimony to the resolution of
the MOC! Love the bounce marks. So sad--and so typical--that the
media has missed this amazing image.

Thanks so much for posting the links.

Clear skies,

John Harrington

Greg,

What a spectacular image and eloquent testimony to the resolution of
the MOC! Love the bounce marks. So sad--and so typical--that the
media has missed this amazing image.

Thanks so much for posting the links.

Clear skies,

John Harrington

Could it be deduced from the final position of the parachute in
relation to the line of the bounce marks that it was a windy day on
Mars?

Could it be deduced from the final position of the parachute in
relation to the line of the bounce marks that it was a windy day on
Mars?

Could it be deduced from the final position of the parachute in
relation to the line of the bounce marks that it was a windy day on
Mars?