A trip to Mars with the curiosity rover

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey (mehdi@exploresciences.com), July 2016 - RASC Toronto - Recreational Astronomy Night

Who is this little guy anyway ?

Launched November 26 2011
Landed in Gale crater August 6 2012
Must remain operational for at least 687
Earth days (1 martian year) and still doing
science - Id like my car to be built like
that !
Total of 17 cameras !

Length: 10 feet (3 meters)

Width: 9 feet (2.7 meters)
Height: 7 feet (2.2 meters)
Mass: 1,982 pounds (899 kilograms)

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

By NASA/Glenn Benson [Public domain]

Overview of the rover / payload

http://msl-scicorner.jpl.nasa.gov/Instruments/
Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Mission updates : NASA / Reddit

NASA: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/mars-rover-curiosity-mission-updates/
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/curiosityrover/

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Type of data - Raw Images

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Raw images - Engineering Cameras

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Raw images - Science Cameras

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Archived Data - PDS

PDS: Planetary Data System : https://pds.nasa.gov/

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

PDS so easy to get lost ...

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Lets start with the beginning: Mars Descent Imager

EDR: Experiment Data Record

RDR: Reduced Data Record

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Finally there ? not really

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Bookmark time !

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Find the difference !

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Click click click

EXTRAS
RDR
SURFACE
BROWSE
0000

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

A bit lost again ?

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

The quest for the right file never easy

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Making good use of a vacuum cleaner : HTTRACK

https://www.httrack.com/

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

My preferred planetary program : PIPP

https://sites.google.com/site/astropipp/

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Single frame

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

And the final video

https://youtu.be/0NoQEI5Uh6w

~ 1800 frames
Crop option used
20 frames per sec

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

What about a selfie now ?

Raw data can be downloaded manually - MAHLI, sol1228

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Autostitch - (super) easy image stitching software

http://matthewalunbrown.com/autostitch/autostitch.html

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Hello, my name is curiosity

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Autostitch, Hugin, Autopano and others ...

Autostitch

Hugin

Open Source, but there is a (steep) learning curve

SIFT algorithm is available as add-on

Microsoft research Image Composite Editor, PTGui and others

Super easy to use but you just cant do anything you want
SIFT algorithm is the key (University of British Columbia)

Not able to handle difficult datasets very well (or not at all)

Autopano Pro

Commercial version of Autostitch

Clear winner from far (and made in the French Alps)

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Easy panorama :
MASTCAM
Raw pictures, sol 1302
Httrack to download the data, then keep the 1200x1200 images
Autopano for the panorama
Final image: 211MB, 27372x6299 pixels

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Sol1302, full image, 40% resolution

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Previews

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Preview 02

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Preview 03

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Preview 01

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Preview 05

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

References
Blog landing page and presentation (RASC section)
https://bozznet.wordpress.com/
Blog articles with detailed procedure
https://bozznet.wordpress.com/2016/04/02/hugin-panorama-stitcher/
https://bozznet.wordpress.com/2016/04/12/sol1302-panorama/
https://bozznet.wordpress.com/2016/04/06/sol-1284-panorama/
https://bozznet.wordpress.com/2016/03/16/lunch-break-selfie/
Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Thank you !

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

BACKUP

Sol1284 - MASTCAM - raw picture (zoomed), non debayered

Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

MAHLI

http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/images/edgett-1pia16161-full.jpg
Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

MASTCAM

http://msl-scicorner.jpl.nasa.gov/Instruments/Mastcam/
Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com

Robotic arm

http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/images/PIA16096_armextended-full.jpg
Mehdi Bozzo-Rey: mehdi@exploresciences.com