Comments on: Curiosity spins its wheels!

By: Casey

Casey — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 00:36:01 +0000

Thanks for explaining the wheel patterns, Chris and George! I had somehow missed this on… wikipedia.

By: Basilisk

Basilisk — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 17:21:44 +0000

The cynic in me is going “Jeez… wonder how long it’s gonna take before someone says ‘Look at the way the shadow is moving! That proves the thing is faked and is being broadcast from a sound stage somewhere!”"

By: MaDeR

MaDeR — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 17:05:52 +0000

They did not expected that much pebbles during skycrane ops.

By: SkyGazer

SkyGazer — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 17:01:39 +0000

oooooohh look at this!
The landing photographs seamlessly stitched together
http://io9.com/5936921/this-is-what-it-feels-like-to-land-on-mars

Awesome!

And Lego is considering a model!!
http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/3431#LGmessage190

By: Ian

Ian — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 10:08:56 +0000

I read elsewhere that one of the two wind sensors has been permanently damaged, perhaps by pebbles kicked up in the landing making contact with cabling. What a pity – I wonder why they didn’t cover up such sensitive areas? I know this would’ve added to payload weight but when it’s already over a ton, what difference would it have made?

By: fos

fos — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 08:09:47 +0000

Sundial? It looks more like a joy stick. I wonder who that is for. Conspiracy?

By: WJM

WJM — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 05:22:43 +0000

Wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle yeah
Wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle yeah
Wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle yeah
Wiggle wiggle yeah yeah

By: George Martin

George Martin — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 05:05:19 +0000

It’s been Too Long! The Army taught me the code in 1967.

J is Di Dah Dah Dah which is what is shown in the picture.

Stupid me!

George

P.S.

Dah Dah Dah dit is used for a character in the Cyrillic alphabet if I remember correctly.

P.P.S I learned the code at Fort Devins, just in case anyone understands that reference; 05H20.

By: George Martin

George Martin — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 04:38:02 +0000

@17 Chris said The wheels actually have JPL in Morse code.

You can see a full picture of this here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Curiosity_wheel_pattern_morse_code.png

Going from bottom to top, left to right in the picture, (the “L” looks a little weird in the picture):

J Dah Dah Dah dit
P Di Dah Dah Dit
L Di Dah Di Dit

George

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 04:14:27 +0000

@12 Casey
The wheels actually have JPL in Morse code. Also when they are driving along they can have some record of how much the rover have moved for the wheel turning.