Afgelopen week heeft de Curiosity Rover op Mars foto's gedownlinked waarop de morsecode "JPL" – afkomstig van de 6 rover wielen -in de Mars bodem te zien is. Deze afdrukken zijn zgn. "Odometry markers" waarmee het mogelijk is de afgelegde afstand van de rover nauwkeurig te bepalen.
Inmiddels hebben we de foto's, maar al eerder werd op deze website de morsecode afkomstig van Curiosity aangekondigd:
http://www.pi4raz.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2972&Itemid=43
Originele tekst van de NASA website www.nasa.gov
Curiosity Tracks Its Tracks
This image shows a close-up of track marks left by NASA's Curiosity rover. Holes in the rover's wheels, seen here in this view, leave imprints in the tracks that can be used to help the rover drive more accurately. The imprint is in fact Morse code for JPL, which is short for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., where the rover was built and the mission is managed.
Curiosity's "visual odometry" software measures terrain features — such as rocks, rock shadows and patterns in the rover tracks — to determine the precise distance between drive steps. Knowing how far it has traveled is important for measuring any wheel slippage that may have occurred, for instance due to high slopes or sandy ground. Fine-grained terrains generally lack interesting features, so Curiosity can make its own features using its wheel tracks.
The Morse code, imprinted on all six wheels, is: .— (J), .–. (P), and .-.. (L).
Reading the Rover's Tracks
The straight lines in Curiosity's zigzag track marks are Morse code for JPL, which is short for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., where the rover was built and the mission is managed. The "footprint" is more than an homage to the rover's builders, however. It is an important reference mark that the rover can use to drive more precisely via a system called visual odometry.
The Morse code, imprinted on all six wheels, is: .— (J), .–. (P), and .-.. (L), as indicated in this image.
