Curiosity's 1st Year on Mars

[Sapphire]

Well, I dunno about you guys, but since Take On Mars is coming out on August 1, I'm doing this all now! So I finished a chassis design on one of my old rovers, stuck a skycrane onto it, and sent it into orbit.

How much do Americans spend each year on potato chips?

The first numbers found by google are for 2009, http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/63647/description/Potato_chips_A_symptom_of_the_US_R+D_problem , $7.1 billion. Americans are not alone in this so don't feel victimised, it just the figures for the US are the easiest to find.

That's seriously gross.

Edited July 31, 2013 by Sapphire

[FITorion]

I remember playing KSP... then looking at a picture of curiosity and going... OMG that's an RTG on the back. RTGs really look like that !?

[Geschosskopf]

Why is there not a daily article in the news papers about curiosity?

Because it's a huge embarrassment now. There was all this fanfare when it landed, but then word got out that the thing is totally useless due to contamination, from 2 different sources. So since then NASA's been hoping everybody will forget about it. And we would have, except that a couple months ago NASA published a pic taken by Curiosity looking back at its tire tracks, and you could easily say the picture was obscene. So naturally it went viral. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it yet. Yet another embarrassment for Curiosity.

It's just a total fiasco. All it can do is drive around very slowly and take pictures, which we've had far cheaper rovers doing for a decade. The worst part is, folks knew about the contamination issues but said nothing until after it launched.

Teflon contamination issue from drill:

http://news.sciencemag.org/2012/06/nasa-rover-will-contaminate-its-samples-mars

Earth microbe contamination issue from breach of clean room discipline:

http://www.npr.org/2012/09/14/161156787/mars-rover-may-be-contaminated-with-earth-microbes

I shall refrain from posting the obscene tire tracks but you can easily find it for yourself .

[Sapphire]

Because it's a huge embarrassment now. There was all this fanfare when it landed, but then word got out that the thing is totally useless due to contamination, from 2 different sources. So since then NASA's been hoping everybody will forget about it. And we would have, except that a couple months ago NASA published a pic taken by Curiosity looking back at its tire tracks, and you could easily say the picture was obscene. So naturally it went viral. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it yet. Yet another embarrassment for Curiosity.

It's just a total fiasco. All it can do is drive around very slowly and take pictures, which we've had far cheaper rovers doing for a decade. The worst part is, folks knew about the contamination issues but said nothing until after it launched.

Teflon contamination issue from drill:

http://news.sciencemag.org/2012/06/nasa-rover-will-contaminate-its-samples-mars

Earth microbe contamination issue from breach of clean room discipline:

http://www.npr.org/2012/09/14/161156787/mars-rover-may-be-contaminated-with-earth-microbes

I shall refrain from posting the obscene tire tracks but you can easily find it for yourself .

I don't agree with that. That's like saying Hubble was an embarrassment because they dun goofed on the lens. They had a problem, they overcame it, and now it's doing super cool things. And reading the articles here, the Curiosity team is saying that they can overcome the problem.

"But Curiosity team members are guardedly upbeat that they can overcome it, although laboratory analysis of the problem will not be complete until the rover arrives on Mars. Mahaffy says the Teflon appears at concentrations of, at most, parts per million, roughly the same level that organic matter appears in the rocks of Earth. But lab work is showing that those levels do not endanger the operation of the drill or the rest of the sampling and analysis system. And team members can likely minimize the amount of Teflon getting into the analytical system by altering operation of the drill."

So what's the problem?

As to the funny tire track patterns... well, as they say, any publicity is good publicity.

[FITorion]

On the tire tracks. Lighten up. It was funny. Everyone laughed. If you can't laugh at yourself a little and have fun with your work... you're doing it wrong.

It was not a huge embarrassment.

Now the contamination is a bit more serious but they seem to have overcome it. There very much should be at least weekly news stories about it and yet there is not.

[Sapphire]

Okay, successful mission! With one really scary almost-crash.

So, you've already seen the thing in orbit, strapped on one of my light transfer stages. So here's Keriosity doing its inclination burn way out in space.

After about a year of floating around (because the Duna window wasn't open but I really wanted to do this mission tonight), I did my burn, and there she is! That lone little red ball with that stupid jerk Ike, trying to steal all of Duna's friends.

I don't usually do aerobraking over Duna, because I don't usually go there. So here's a really feeble attempt at 40 000m which did nothing to slow me down. Good thing I still have quite a bit in the transfer stage.

Goodbye beautiful! The transfer stage sails off into the inky black. Actually no, it followed me down, and ended up scaring the poop out of me when it went sailing by after popping my parachutes. That wasn't the near-crash, though.

Coming down veeery slowly, and popping my drogues. Oh Duna, you never fail to disappoint me, no reentry flares in sight!

IS THAT THE GROUND ALREADY?! Waaaaaaaaaaah, panic! I totally didn't see this coming so have a shot of me freaking out and the skycrane slewing all over the place right before crashing.

But it's okay. I regained control, so here's a nice shot of it hovering, and about to drop Keriosity.

Keriosity dropped...

And SKYCRANE GOOOOOOO! The little solid boosters I stuck on there ignite, and the crane flies off into the martian skies. Jeb would've liked to be here to see it crash.

And there you have it, Keriosity down on the face of Duna, snacks for everyone!

Edited July 31, 2013 by Sapphire

[Tw1]

An awesome mission!

But people only watch shows with mega, extreme, ultimate in the title.

I tend to be suspicious of anything with those in the title. For reasons like what you said.

Edited August 1, 2013 by Tw1

[Benie]

I got several Rovers on Duna. My first Curiosity-like rover on Duna was skycraned down.

Edited July 31, 2013 by Benie

[ecat]

... except that a couple months ago NASA published a pic taken by Curiosity looking back at its tire tracks

So. I had to go looking for the image myself. The story appears to have originated on Reddit, something about a penis. Have you ever tried searching Reddit with the keyword 'penis'? Highly educational.

The tracks shown in the image were not made by Curiosity. Tracks made by Curiosity have an arrow like or chevron pattern with a repeated stripe that apparently 'spells' the letters JPL in Morse code.

http://aaronparecki.com/articles/2012/08/22/1/tire-tracks-on-mars

Spirit and Opportunity both leave tracks that match the image, take your, I'm double checking my spelling and typing, pick.

As for the contamination, yes, it is a shame that it could spoil some of the mission results. I guess you have to accept compromise when you cut a mission budget to one third the cost of a bag of snacks.

Edited July 31, 2013 by ecat

[DerekL1963]

Why is there not a daily article in the news papers about curiosity? Space in general. Little day to day stories on what was discovered.

Because there really isn't anything happening or being 'discovered' day by day, it's just raw data generally awaiting the accumulation of more days and weeks of raw data followed by weeks and months of analysis. Day by day is (censored) (censored) (censored) BORING for all but .0001% of the already small number of the most hardcore geeks.

Just for reference, here's the daily status report from Hubble - http://www.stsci.edu/hst/scheduling/daily_status. I'm a geek, and they make "gypsy moths are bad this year" look like a Playboy centerfold. Here's the weekly status reports from Gravity Probe B - http://einstein.stanford.edu/highlights/hlindexmain.html. (I got them via email when the probe was active.) They're a little better since coming out weekly they could spend some time writing them up, but most of the text about the probe and it's tech and mission was just cut and pasted from the website (which I'd already read cover to cover.)

[0jam3290]

Here's my Curiosity lander from 0.18.

[Pixel of Life]

I sent 5 rovers at once

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Curiosity is certainly worth celebrating, it was launched just at the time I discovered KSP, it was the first thing I tried to do, well, my first attempt was a massive clunky sky crane and a large manned rover landing on Mun, but that was back in 0.15. Since then parts have got much better and I re did it in 0.19 using the KAS and the freshly added wheels (which turned out to be a problem).

This is my curiosity copycat vid, my aim here was to sink the play back of the vid to the NASA footage of the launch and their animation of its transfer and landing system. The original NASA vid is in the bottom left;

(Hope u don't mind me posting something from 0.19)

Hi katateochi,

i have ssen your Constellation Mission a few days ago and I was blown away, didn't know that you had a Curiosity Mission as well.

You should put that in your Signature too, because it is quite as awesome.

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Okay, successful mission! With one really scary almost-crash.

Thats an unbelieveble detailed spacecraft and Rover. I can build only simple Versions.

One really has to make up his mind for such creativity.

[Sapphire]

Thats an unbelieveble detailed spacecraft and Rover. I can build only simple Versions.

One really has to make up his mind for such creativity.

Awww, thanks! Don't be fooled though, it really wasn't easy. The rover by itself is almost 200 parts.

[Spartwo]

due to a technical hitch Inquisitive landed with the entry shield still attached.

Edited August 4, 2013 by Spartwo

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Every landing you can rove/walk away from, is a good landing

[katateochi]

Hi katateochi,

i have ssen your Constellation Mission a few days ago and I was blown away, didn't know that you had a Curiosity Mission as well.

You should put that in your Signature too, because it is quite as awesome.

Thanks man, I need to redo my sig as it still has 0.20 ribbons, so I will put that link in when i do!

Okay, successful mission! With one really scary almost-crash.

*snips*

Sapphire, that is a really cool looking rover, very nice. Are those legs on the front to be used like crab pincers? what are the aerial parts from? what's that black thing in front of the docking port, and what's all the stuff on the back? have you posted any more close up pics of it anywhere? sorry lots of q's, but that is really cool looking!

[redcoat22]

I guess you have to accept compromise when you cut a mission budget to one third the cost of a bag of snacks.

You buy snacks for billions of dollars? Clearly you have never actually created wealth but merely collect a paycheck to say something so stupid. Government bought innovation is expensive, lacks efficiency, and usually results in long term focus on self survival rather than progress.

[Vespasianus]

Is it one year since Curiosity landed already. Time goes fast...

[Sapphire]

Sapphire, that is a really cool looking rover, very nice. Are those legs on the front to be used like crab pincers? what are the aerial parts from? what's that black thing in front of the docking port, and what's all the stuff on the back? have you posted any more close up pics of it anywhere? sorry lots of q's, but that is really cool looking!

Oh, thank you! I have a few pics. The first one is from the rover megathread, and the second is a quick dissection of the thing.

It uses individual parts from quite a few mods, some of which I personally edited.

B9 Aerospace - The big floodlights, tiny body lights, railings, and the Infodrive.

KW Rocketry - The heavy struts.

Hot Beverage Sensor Module - This was a personal edit. It normally doesn't come with a 0.625m one, so I scaled one down. Basically it's a stackable part that holds the four scientific sensors.

Ion Hybrid Engine Pack - The 0.625m structural fuselage.

Chatterer - Well, for the Chatterer part on the back, the smallest of the antennae.

AIES Aerospace - for the grey batteries, all the RTGs that power it, and all the radio antennae parts.

And a personal edit - Before 0.21, I copied the part file for the 0.625m fuel tank and converted it into a battery, so that's what those are doing on there.

The landing legs on the front bumper are really important for the rover's safety. When driving, I extend those prongs, and they prevent the rover from rolling on turns and stop it from doing front flips on braking, so they're really helpful.

If you're interested, here's a .craft file for the rover. I stripped all the modded parts off it, so it's just a basic chassis here.

http://www./?gpwlo0r1rz3618s

[Motokid600]

You buy snacks for billions of dollars? Clearly you have never actually created wealth but merely collect a paycheck to say something so stupid. Government bought innovation is expensive, lacks efficiency, and usually results in long term focus on self survival rather than progress.

The statistic that was posted earlier stated Americans spend more money on potato chips in one year then it cost to build curiosity. Might wanna step down from that high horse your on bud.

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

The landing legs on the front bumper are really important for the rover's safety. When driving, I extend those prongs, and they prevent the rover from rolling on turns and stop it from doing front flips on braking, so they're really helpful.

I have to try that. Thats what is killing my Rover-Missions all the time.

[ash73]

Love these re-creation threads. Here's my attempt

Take-off:

Approaching Kerbin orbit:

Jettisoning payload fairing:

Burning for Duna:

Duna descent:

Jettisoning final stage:

Parachute deploys:

Sky-crane descent after parachute jettisoned:

Touchdown, sky-crane heads off to crash:

No Kerbals were harmed in the making of these screenshots

[Kidneythump]

I dunno if it's been said already but I got a protip when making skycranes from some forum users the other day, if it's big and heavy (like Curiosity) you need to make sure that the engines STAY BELLOW center mass! otherwise the gimbals go haywire and the thing flips over, oh also, a drouge shoot on top helps with stability on decent