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Cassini's Got Pictures And Data
MythMoth writes "To celebrate the anniversary of the Cassini-Huygens probe's orbital insertion, NASA's JPL has a set of fifteen amazing photos from the past year. Meanwhile, the BBC reports that some of the latest science data from the mission reveals that Saturn's ring system has its own (thin) O2 atmosphere, and that the planet's rotation seems to be slowing!"
It was BW. They used the spectral information from the DISR device (think of it as a single pixel of full very accurate color) and then used it to interpolate color for a whole image. Anywho, it's bizarre but the highest quality polished images didn't seem to come from the DISR group (bleech) but instead from amateurs, mere hours after descent no less. One should keep in mind this is all through an 1 byte/sec link from the probe....
- "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
Agreed... but... We would love to produce HD type pics from these missions. It's not a scientific problem, nor is it a technical problem, it's a financial problem! Let's take a look:
The camera. This dude has to work in a radiation environment. You cannot just take your high-def Newegg purchased camera and launch it. These types of things have been tried before (non-flight qualified parts) and they don't last long. No, you have to build this bad boy from scratch with parts (CCDs, etc) that can withstand a severe radiation environment.
BitRate. One of the significant cost issues on any mission is the science bitrate requirements. It costs a lot of money to get data back to Earth. First there is the instruments ability to collect such data (insignificant)... Second there is the spacecrafts ability to transmit this data, a very significant problem.. (with increased bitRate comes increased power requirements, increased mass, etc...) and with that comes a significant increase in the launch costs, to say nothing of the development costs.
Collection... With an increased bitRate comes a greater requirement to collect the data and so a significant increase in cost.. You don't just point your little home dish at the right location and get a signal... (don't get me wrong, that would be great, but the power to generate such a signal would be sadly cost prohibitative). No, you have to collect the data on the big boys and they are not cheap.
In each and every one of these missions the scientists and engineers have to scale back their desires (not because of any technological problems but) because what they would like to do cannot be done given the funding opportunity. So you cut, scale back, cut some more, scale back again, etc... and eventually you arrive at a proposal that might actually be funded. It's not exactly what you would hope for, but given the opportunity available it's your best bet at a viable mission.
"Truth is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations"
The Solar System Exploration Strategic Roadmap lays out NASA's current plans/wishlist for robotic exploration in the next 20+ years. Basically, they foresee one Discovery class (NEAR, Mars Pathfinder, Deep Impact, etc) mission every two years or so; two or three more expensive New Frontiers missions per decade such as the Pluto New Horizons probe or the newly announced Juno Jupiter Polar Obiter; and one or possibly two $1 billion+ "Flagship" missions. The first flagship mission will be the much delayed Europa Geophysical Orbiter. The second Flagship mission, slated for 2013 or therabouts, will most likely be a Titan Explorer, an RTG-powered blimp to cruise around the surface for an extended period.
Keep in mind that this is obviously subject to political whim, but it shows that Titan is a really high priority for future exploration.
Was anyone else struck by how Titan seems very similar to Mars on its surface shot? Lots of small rocks and boulders
Actually, those "rocks" may be ice chunks according to some experts.
Table-ized A.I.