[NASA] tests out Curiosity's robot arm as engineers reveal the tiny piece of New Mexico on the red p
40 replies, posted
[quote]Nasa has revealed new pictures of Curiosity 'looking back' at one of its cameras on the martian surface.
It comes as they confirmed the rover has now tested its robotic arm successfully, using a 1909 penny and a piece of rock from New Mexico to calibrate its instruments.
The team admitted even they were surprised by the quality of images being sent back after dust covers were removed from the rover's main cameras.
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'Wow, seeing these images after all the tremendous hard work that has gone into making them possible is a profoundly emotional moment,' said MAHLI Principal Investigator Ken Edgett of Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego.
'It is so exciting to see the camera returning beautiful, sharp images from Mars.'
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity stepped through activities on Sept. 7, 8 and 9 designed to check and characterize precision movements by the rover's robotic arm and use of tools on the arm.
The activities confirmed good health and usefulness of Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI, and used that camera to check arm placement during several positioning activities.
MAHLI took an image with its reclosable dust cover open for the first time on Mars, confirming sharp imaging capability that had been obscured by a thin film of dust on the cover during previous use of the camera.
It took images of cameras at the top of Curiosity's mast, of the underbelly of the rover and of MAHLI's own calibration target, among other pointings.
The camera's calibration target includes a 1909 Lincoln penny that Edgett purchased for this purpose.
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'We're seeing the penny in the foreground and, looking past it, a setting I'm sure the people who minted these coins never imagined,' Edgett said.
The penny is a nod to geologists' tradition of placing a coin or other object of known scale as a size reference in close-up photographs of rocks, and it gives the public a familiar object for perceiving size easily when it will be viewed by MAHLI on Mars.
'The folks who drive the rover's arm and turret have taken a 220-pound arm through some very complex tai chi, to center a penny in an image that's only a few centimeters across,' said MAHLI Deputy Principal Investigator Aileen Yingst of the Tucson-based Planetary Science Institute.
'They make the impossible look easy.'
The arm characterization activities, including more imaging by MAHLI, will continue for a few days before Curiosity resumes driving toward a mid-term science destination area called Glenelg.
In that area, the rover may use its scoop to collect a soil sample, and later its drill to collect a sample of powder from inside a rock.
Curiosity is five weeks into a two-year prime mission on Mars.
It will use 10 science instruments to assess whether the selected study area ever has offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.
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[url]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2201386/Nasa-tests-Curiositys-robot-arm-engineers-reveal-tiny-piece-New-Mexico-red-planet.html?ito=feeds-newsxml[/url]
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It still amazes me, but I can't even imagine how it would feel to be the guy controlling it and then get it stuck
[QUOTE=FlashFireSix;37628745]It still amazes me, but I can't even imagine how it would feel to be the guy controlling it and then get it stuck[/QUOTE]
I'm pretty sure they work extra careful to not get it stuck. Aslong as he doesn't do extreme rock crawling and flips over.
[QUOTE=FlashFireSix;37628745]It still amazes me, but I can't even imagine how it would feel to be the guy controlling it and then get it stuck[/QUOTE]
I doubt any one person has the full authority to maneuver Curiosity. There is probably a full team validating the movement.
I am still hoping for a purple head with dozen eyes and mandibles peeking out from behind a stone on one of the images.
[QUOTE=stuky4ever;37628814]I'm pretty sure they work extra careful to not get it stuck. Aslong as he doesn't do extreme rock crawling and flips over.[/QUOTE]
Spirit got stuck in loose soil hidden below the top soil layer. It does not take much
[url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Free_Spirit.jpg]Pic of the site[/url] it got stuck in (big panorama image so link'd)
Must be tough to control though, since it's at least 7 minutes delay between Curiosity and NASA..
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'NASA begins to invest in Martian lands to help stimulate growth and win the faith of rocks in volatile region.'
They brought the penny to buy Mars if they meet any lifeforms, just about as much as they paid the Indians.
[QUOTE=Alex_grist;37629191]Must be tough to control though, since it's at least 7 minutes delay between Curiosity and NASA..[/QUOTE]
It can do a lot of it on it's own.
[QUOTE=Alex_grist;37629191]Must be tough to control though, since it's at least 7 minutes delay between Curiosity and NASA..[/QUOTE]
They're not controlled with a joystick...
It's given commands through a console. The team looks at the photographs, determines where it's safe to move, and then sends a command to 'move forward 5 feet, turn 70 degrees, move forward 20 ft'
and that's the ghetto way to do it. I'm pretty sure they can just tell it where to go and it will move there on its own. Using the MRO they have satellite images of everything around it from a bird's eye view.
So, Heisenberg is expanding his territory again?
1/f/mars
heres a pic xoxoxo
The control is mostly automated, with an ~8 minute delay no-one is really "controlling" it.
I'd imagine the controls are performed on a simulation first and then broadcast to the rover.
imagine
20 years later we find that penny and rock, when we send another drone
scientific community goes apeshit, 'ALIENZ!!! HOW CAN EARTH COIN AND ROCK BE ON MARS?'
because we forgot we placed them there.
Luckily we won't forget.
[QUOTE=FunnyBunny;37629912] sends a command to 'move forward 5 feet, turn 70 degrees, move forward 20 ft'
[/QUOTE]
I think I remember in primary school we had robots that worked like that. Can't remember what they were called though.
If you throw a penny into a fountain, it means you'll get a chance to return there :smile:
This is a shameful waste of my tax money! Cut NASA funding by 5,000%!!
[QUOTE=Teddybeer;37630074]Even if it gets stuck somehow they start to run simulations on earth to see how they can get it moving again.[/QUOTE]
They ran tons of simulations on getting spirit free and they settled on "swimming" it out of the sand.
Apparently they almost had her out but ran out of time.
[QUOTE=st_nick5;37630889]I think I remember in primary school we had robots that worked like that. Can't remember what they were called though.[/QUOTE]
was it the lego nxt bots?
Wouldn't it be weird if curiosity finds the stuck robot?
[QUOTE=Ol' Pie;37635629]Wouldn't it be weird if curiosity finds the stuck robot?[/QUOTE]
I believe they are rather far apart.
Also, how is the robot powered? Solar Energy?
[QUOTE=Ol' Pie;37635744]Also, how is the robot powered? Solar Energy?[/QUOTE]
Opportunity runs on solar panels.
Curiosity has a Radioisitope Thermoelectric Generator (read: it's nuclear).
[QUOTE=Nikita;37635828]Opportunity runs on solar panels.
Curiosity has a Radioisitope Thermoelectric Generator (read: it's nuclear).[/QUOTE]
so when do they detonate it
They should have landed two robots on Mars so he would have a friend.
[QUOTE=imptastick;37635639]I believe they are rather far apart.[/QUOTE]
they should take pics of it one day
[QUOTE=Badballer;37638281]They should have landed two robots on Mars so he would have a friend.[/QUOTE]
They should have landed him close to the others, Curiosity to the rescue!
[QUOTE=st_nick5;37630889]I think I remember in primary school we had robots that worked like that. Can't remember what they were called though.[/QUOTE]
Roamers? At least, that's what we had.
[IMG]http://puu.sh/14lEI[/IMG]
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