[Spacetalk] http://www.nasa.gov

Thu Oct 8 02:30:10 CDT 2015

Hi all,

 The visit to Shadowlawn and Clay Hill Elementary Schools yesterday was so much fun….the kids were great, so affectionate, so full of excitement and it is always amazing to me…both schools went through 6th grade, I’m not sure if that made a difference but it seems it would….I couldn’t tell, it was so much fun…so many things happen which are very touching…during the question and answer period one little girl, I’m thinking around 9, some how got my attention, called me over and said I have something for you…she gave me this very pretty purple prism and a hug…I just hope I somehow thanked her adequately… as the kids were filing out and I was heading to try to beat the busses :-) :-) a boy rushed up to me, also around 9 and said I am going to be just like you when I grow up…I get this in letters but never in person…it is such a huge compliment, not because it is me but because it is what I represent in their eyes and more importantly, they think it is attainable….

...wishing you all a wonderful day...we have to remember to always do our best, enjoy everything we do, live in the present, make each day special, let those we care about most know, smile, and have fun...Gabe

Curiosity Low-Angle Self-Portrait at 'Buckskin' Drilling Site on Mount Sharp
 <http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia19807_flat-horizon-monday.jpg>
This low-angle self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle above the "Buckskin" rock target, where the mission collected its seventh drilled sample. The site is in the "Marias Pass" area of lower Mount Sharp.

The scene combines dozens of images taken by Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on Aug. 5, 2015, during the 1,065th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. The 92 component images are among MAHLI Sol 1065 raw images at http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=1065&camera=MAHLI <http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=1065&camera=MAHLI>. For scale, the rover's wheels are 20 inches (50 centimeters) in diameter and about 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide. 

Curiosity drilled the hole at Buckskin during Sol 1060 (July 30, 2015). Two patches of pale, powdered rock material pulled from Buckskin are visible in this scene, in front of the rover. The patch closer to the rover is where the sample-handling mechanism on Curiosity's robotic arm dumped collected material that did not pass through a sieve in the mechanism. Sieved sample material was delivered to laboratory instruments inside the rover. The patch farther in front of the rover, roughly triangular in shape, shows where fresh tailings spread downhill from the drilling process. The drilled hole, 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter, is at the upper point of the tailings.

The rover is facing northeast, looking out over the plains from the crest of a 20-foot (6-meter) hill that it climbed to reach the Marias Pass area.  The upper levels of Mount Sharp are visible behind the rover, while Gale Crater’s northern rim dominates the horizon on the left and right of the mosaic.

A portion of this selfie cropped tighter around the rover is at    http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19808 <http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19808>.  Another version of the wide view, presented in a projection that shows the horizon as a circle, is at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19806 <http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19806>.

MAHLI is mounted at the end of the rover's robotic arm. For this self-portrait, the rover team positioned the camera lower in relation to the rover body than for any previous full self-portrait of Curiosity. This yielded a view that includes the rover's "belly," as in a partial self-portrait (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16137 <http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16137>) taken about five weeks after Curiosity's August 2012 landing inside Mars' Gale Crater. Before sending Curiosity the arm-positioning commands for this Buckskin belly panorama, the team previewed the low-angle sequence of camera pointings on a test rover in California. A mosaic from that test is at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19810 <http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19810>.

This selfie at Buckskin does not include the rover's robotic arm beyond a portion of the upper arm held nearly vertical from the shoulder joint. Shadows from the rest of the arm and the turret of tools at the end of the arm are visible on the ground. With the wrist motions and turret rotations used in pointing the camera for the component images, the arm was positioned out of the shot in the frames or portions of frames used in this mosaic. This process was used previously in acquiring and assembling Curiosity self-portraits taken at sample-collection sites "Rocknest" (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16468 <http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16468>), "John Klein" (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16937 <http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16937>), "Windjana" (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18390 <http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18390>) and "Mojave" (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19142 <http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19142>).

MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover.

More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl <http://www.nasa.gov/msl> and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ <http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/>.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Last Updated: Aug. 20, 2015
Editor: Tony Greicius
Tags:  Image of the Day <http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/iotd.html>, Jet Propulsion Laboratory <http://www.nasa.gov/centers/jpl/home/index.html>, Journey to Mars <http://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars/index.html>, Mars <http://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars/index.html>, Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity) <http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html>, Solar System <http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/index.html>Read Full Article <>
Fresh Crater Near Sirenum Fossae Region of Mars 
 <http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/esp_040663_1415.jpg>
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this closeup image of a "fresh" (on a geological scale, though quite old on a human scale) impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars on March 30, 2015.

This impact crater appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta. The steep inner slopes are carved by gullies and include possible recurring slope lineae on the equator-facing slopes. Fresh craters often have steep, active slopes, so the HiRISE team is monitoring this crater for changes over time. The bedrock lithology is also diverse. The crater is a little more than 1-kilometer wide.

More information and image products <http://www.uahirise.org/ESP_040663_1415>
The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project and Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Caption: Alfred McEwen

Last Updated: July 30, 2015
Editor: Sarah Loff
Tags:  Image of the Day <http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/iotd.html>, Mars <http://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars/index.html>, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) <http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/main/index.html>, Solar System <http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/index.html>Read Full Article <>

> 
> All Along the Fractures
> 
> http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/all-along-the-fractures <http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/all-along-the-fractures>
> 
> The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter often takes images of Martian sand dunes to study the mobile soils. These images provide information about erosion and movement of surface material, about wind and weather patterns, even about the soil grains and grain sizes. However, looking past the dunes, these images also reveal the nature of the substrate beneath.
> 
> Within the spaces between the dunes, a resistant and highly fractured surface is revealed. The fractured ground is resistant to erosion by the wind, and suggests the material is bedrock that is now shattered by a history of bending stresses or temperature changes, such as cooling, for example.
> 
> Alternately, the surface may be a sedimentary layer that was once wet and shrunk and fractured as it dried, like gigantic mud cracks. In either case, the relative small and indistinct fractures have trapped the dark dune sand marching overhead. Now the fractures have become quite distinct, allowing us to examine the orientation and spacing of the fractures to learn more about the processes that formed them.
> 
> This view is one image product from HiRISE observation ESP_042223_1890 <http://www.uahirise.org/ESP_042223_1890>, taken July 30, 2015, at 2:33 p.m. local Mars time, 8.719 degrees north latitude, 67.347 degrees east longitude.
> 
> HiRISE is one of six instruments on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the orbiter and collaborates with JPL to operate it.
> 
> Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
> Caption: Mike Mellon
> 
> Last Updated: Oct. 7, 2015
> 
> Editor: Sarah Loff
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