MER Spirt malfunctioning

[gt40]

ROFL.

[cjolley]

I think I should have paid the $32.28 to extend the warrenty too.
Oh well, can't think of everything.
chuck

[cjolley]

On a more serious note.
They say they tested the software for 9 days and it collapsed after 18.
The system designers worst nightmare: Software Barnacles.
Really pretty hard to test for.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/01/26/mars.rovers/index.html

chuck

[MultimediaMan]

9 Days??? Good Lord!

Hindsight is 20/20, but damn, if someone were to release a package to production in after 9 days of testing where I work, they wouldn't have a job on day 10. And we don't send stuff into space, either.

They should have tested it for 120 days in the labs at the LEAST...You validate your work for longer than the expected Mission Time of ~90 Days, especially when you've got a $400 Million Dollar Pricetag

[cjolley]

I'm sure they did test it for more than 9 days.
Just not all at once.
They just assumed that thier memory managment algorithm was good over the long haul.
You know what they say:
When you assume you make an ass out of u & me
chuck

[J1NG]

9 days... I think I've found work then... Are they hiring?

J1NG

[cjolley]

Originally posted by J1NG
9 days... I think I've found work then... Are they hiring?

J1NG

Programmer for NASA
Wouldn't that be a dream job?
My feet wouldn't ever touch the ground.
chuck

[Jon P. Inghram]

Well, now here is a rather interesting looking object next to Opportunity (not edited or anything, taken straight from their raw images pages.)

[cjolley]

Interesting?
It's a leaf.
They blow around this time of year.
So what?
chuck

[Jon P. Inghram]

I was just gonna assume it was the CCD bleeding due to the extra exposure they're using to get more detail of the rather dark material in the crater, but the shadow makes it rather clear that it is actually above the surface. I guess one "ordinary" possibility might be a piece of airbag material snagged on little bit of protruding rock.

[cjolley]

I thought the stereo images were produced by two different cameras.
If so, it kind of eliminates the theory that it's an artifact.
Could be a crystal, but how would that form...?
I like the idea that it's part of an air bag best so far.
chuck

[Jon P. Inghram]

Yep, it uses a left and a right camera to take stereo images, I just used this left image, http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...0P2211L2M1.JPG , and this right one, http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...0P2211R2M1.JPG , to make the anaglyph. And I changed my mind about the airbag fragment, after looking at the panorama it looks like it's not in a bounce mark: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle..._str2-B0R2.jpg

[cjolley]

Where in the panorama is it?
chuck

[Jon P. Inghram]

[update]
After looking at the new color panorama it's actually located directly between the lander and the right end of the outcrop, but oddly enough it doesn't appear in the B/W panorama.
[/update]

Just to be "mundane" I'll assume it's just a funky looking rock being viewed from just the right angle and with just the right lighting to make it look elsewise. I'm watching todays news briefing now and nobody noticed it.

[Jon P. Inghram]

It does have a bit of dark ground around it (as seen in the attached image, denoised a bit and contrast stretched) so I suppose it could be a piece of rock that was kicked up by the landing that then smacked into the ground, but it's still have to be a very strangly shaped rock. Another theory that could account for it's odd appearance: it's a piece of debris from either the heat shield or possibly even that it's a piece of the cruise stage.