So, this may have something to do with the fact that we still haven't seen the official location of the rover at RMC 86.0000 after 2 days. 🤔

Worth mentioning that in my out-of-the-loop experience, the #MMGIS people are figuring the location out in no time, or, in about half an hour from the time they get into their office in the morning, once the relevant images have arrived.

But localization by humans isn't helping automate the rover's drives; #MGL does that, and we may see its influence soon

Talking about #NASA, #MMGIS and providing the right technical stuff without even a speckle of slop, here is what the MMGIS team has put in their #Perseverance map javascript, making sure eavesdropping technophiles (a.k.a. #hackers ) wouldn't miss it in a debugging console, if they opened one:

#ASCIIart

By the way, if you hate copying urls by hand, their Github page is https://github.com/NASA-AMMOS/MMGIS (copied/pasted, not typed 😆)

We love them because they love us.

#NASA #opensource

So, #Perseverance has now come back closer to the planned route, after a short deviation to the west, and is about 140m away from Lac De Charmes. It should be there within one sol, if its present location proves to be not of much interest to the team.

Map drawn using #QGIS, #NASA's #MMGIS, #USGS and #HiRISE data

#Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space

Back then, some of us were competing on who will figure out first where the #MarsHelicopter had landed, by using the very first batch of images arriving from Mars to provide solid proof.

Here is one such proof of mine, superimposing one of #Ingenuity's landing images on an #MMGIS map based on #HiRISE images, for #Flight28 :

#Ingenuity #Mars20202 #NASA #Solarocks #Space

Apparently that low area passing through regolith mega-ripples wasn't interesting enough for #Perseverance, and it has now moved further SW to an area with about the same altitude. The altitudes shown on the map are relative to the landing location.

Processed, undistorted, leveled NAVCAM_LEFT mosaic
looking SSW (198°) from RMC 82.5380
Sol 1709, LMST: 15:15:29
One original: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01709/ids/edr/browse/ncam/NLF_1709_0818666294_508ECM_N0825380NCAM03709_07_195J01.png

Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise

#QGIS #MMGIS #USGS #HiRISE #NASA #Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space

As anticipated, #Perseverance has now reached the center of the area of lowest elevation along its route to Lac De Charmes, and has placed a nice flat piece of bedrock at (robotic) arm's length (but not inside its workspace).

Processed, undistorted, leveled, cropped NAVCAM_LEFT mosaic
looking NNW (342°) from RMC 82.3986
Sol 1707, LMST: 13:55:33
Original: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01707/ids/edr/browse/ncam/NLF_1707_0818483817_506ECM_N0823986NCAM03707_01_190J01.png

Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise

#Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space #QGIS #USGS #HiRISE #MMGIS

#Perseverance either drove into a dead end and is now surrounded by heaps of sand, or found something interesting there, which we don't see yet…

Over-processed to show sand patterns, undistorted, leveled, cropped NAVCAM_RIGHT
looking ENE (71°) from RMC 82.2866
Sol 1704, LMST: 12:36:19

Original: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01704/ids/edr/browse/ncam/NRF_1704_0818212608_691ECM_N0822866NCAM02704_01_195J01.png

Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise

#Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space #QGIS #MMGIS #USGS #HiRISE

Two more drives and #Perseverance will reach the lowest point of this area, where satellite imagery shows exposed bedrock thinly covered by regolith ripples (cyan ellipse).

If the geology proves interesting (IANAG), it is possible that the rover will spend the upcoming solar conjunction hiatus there (Jan 9, ± 1 week).

Map drawn in @QGIS using imagery from #HiRISE and #USGS and data from #NASA's #MMGIS

#Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space #SolarConjunction

New sol, new location for #Perseverance, RMC 82.1486, and a view of a megaripple about 60m away.

Processed, undistorted, cropped, leveled NAVCAM_RIGHT mosaic
looking NNW (342°) from RMC 82.1486
Sol 1701, LMST: 14:01:33

One original: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01701/ids/edr/browse/ncam/NRF_1701_0817951539_566ECM_N0821486NCAM03701_10_195J01.png

Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise

#Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space #QGIS #MMGIS #USGS #HiRISE

#Perseverance m̶a̶y̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶s̶e̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶n̶e̶w̶ ̶r̶e̶c̶o̶r̶d̶

EDIT: Nope, mea culpa. I based my calculation on the wrong origin. The new location is about 130m along the planned route.

Processed, undistorted, leveled, cropped NAVCAM_LEFT
looking NE (53°) from RMC 81.4488
Sol 1698, LMST: 14:49:44

Original: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01698/ids/edr/browse/ncam/NLF_1698_0817688186_849ECM_N0814488NCAM13698_01_195J01.png

Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise

#Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space #QGIS #MMGIS #USGS #HiRISE

There.

Processed, undistorted, cropped NAVCAM_LEFT
looking SE (125°) from RMC 81.3608
Sol 1690, LMST: 13:25:16

Original: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01690/ids/edr/browse/ncam/NLF_1690_0816972783_352ECM_N0813608NCAM13690_01_195J01.png

Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise

#Perseverance #Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space #USGS #MMGIS

@PaulHammond51
Apparently #Perseverance has moved again, and it's now at RMC 81.1418:

(the path is a guess)

#Mars2020 #NASA #Solarocks #Space #MMGIS #USGS

OP Lunch Talk #70: "MMGIS in Geospatial Mission Operations"

https://solarsystem.video/w/ibu9tdNmSFokMnvqSKj66k

A paved terrace

New location for #Perseverance, after two intermediate stops, probably to find the right place with the right rocks.

The second image shows the planed route to the south passing through some interesting terrain (see map)

Processed, undistorted NAVCAM_RIGHT, LEFT
RMC 80.2790 Sol 1675, LMST: 14:31:05
RMC 80.2956 Sol 1676, LMST: 11:23:44

Originals:
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01675/ids/edr/browse/ncam/NLF_1675_0815645223_066ECM_N0802790NCAM02675_04_195J01.png
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01676/ids/edr/browse/ncam/NLF_1676_0815721617_475ECM_N0802956NCAM00709_07_095J01.png

Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise

#QGIS #Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space #MMGIS #USGS

New location for #Perseverance, to another outcrop nearby. The new path is a guess.

Using #QGIS #MMGIS #USGS

#Mars2020 #NASA #Solarocks #Space

New location for #Perseverance, a few meters to NW from its previous one: RMC 79.0328, Sol 1622

Map made using #QGIS with data from #NASA's #MMGIS #HiRISE and #USGS

#Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space

Apparently, after trying unsuccessfully twice to reach an outcrop 15 m higher, #Perseverance has called it quits and returned to its planned route to the south.

Its next stop may be some outcrops at 350m and 400m SE from its present location, a distance the rover can cover in just one or two sols, if it doesn't get distracted by something interesting in between.

The maps were drawn using #QGIS with imagery and DTMs from #HiRISE and #USGS and data from #MMGIS

#Mars2020 #NASA #Solarocks #space

@JV_Honza

Apparently #NASA's #MMGIS is now using the new #MSR maps & data created by the #USGS which includes areas west of Jezero. The animation below shows the difference (~3m):

https://mastodon.social/@65dBnoise/114580025835779692

#NASA's #MMGIS has moved (probably some time ago) to a new dataset prepared by the #USGS which includes areas west of Jezero Crater, which may be where the Mars Sample Return mission (#MSR) could land, if the mission ever takes off.

For those interested in Martian maps and #GIS, here is where to find the new data:

Description PDF:
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2025/pdf/1627.pdf
Source (5.1GB, includes raster and DTM):
https://asc-pds-services.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mosaic/Mars/MSR_TRN_HiRISE_soc_003_USGS_release_aug2024/MSR_TRN_HiRISE_soc_003_USGS_release_aug2024_mosaics.zip

#Perseverance ##Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space

#Perseverance appears to be ready for some close examination of the bedrock at its new location at RMC 74.0000.

As with every change of site number, i.e. when drive numbers are reset to 0000 and the x, y, z data zeroed, localizing the rover is more difficult. Here I've done it by manual triangulation, using NAVCAM_RIGHT images whose center lines are seen on the map.

Used #QGIS to draw the map, with data from #NASA's #MMGIS, #HiRISE and #USGS

#Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space