KenMankoff

YAGEL – Multiple Balloons on Mars

I’m releasing Yet Another Google Earth Layer, this one featuring some more KML tricks and hacks pushing Google Earth to do things that Google does not officially support: multiple placemark description balloons visible at once.

Download: Mariner Mars 1971 (MM71) Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS) Data in Google Earth. This is a work in progress as part of a Planetary Data Restoration Project at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and as such the data is not finalized and is subject to change.

The data comes from the Ultraviolet Spectrometer on the Mariner Mars 1971 spacecraft, and had previously been processed for the Albatross software tool back in 2002. Neither Google Earth nor its predecessor KeyHole, nor even KML, existed back in 2002, and the data needs to be accessible in a more modern and accessible visualization tool (Google Earth) in order to remain useful.

The footprints are where the instrument was looking. In each of these regions a spectral range from 2107 to 3497 Ångströms was sampled, and the spectra are visible in both the hacked multi-balloon display, and in the more detailed official Google Earth balloon visible by clicking on the footprint. Each footprint is colored, both in the map view and in the sidebar, by the response at 3049 Å, which is roughly where the ozone signal is. For more information on the data and science see the references listed at the end of this post.

Previously I implemented vertical data “curtains” in KML, useful for oceanographic transects, seismic lines, spacecraft looking down through the atmosphere in profile (as opposed to a 2D surface image), or any other vertical data. Along with vertical data (solved) and subsurface data (no known work-around), another major limitation of Google Earth is that only one description balloon is allowed to be visible at a time. However, Google Earth does support multiple placemarks (by default yellow pushpins in Google Earth, or red pins in Google Maps). The hack to get multiple balloons visible at once is to make custom icons that look like balloons and then use them in place of the default icons. If this technique is used it is advised to implement various other KML features to make the balloons only appear in certain views and therefore avoid overwhelming the viewer. I’ve used both the TimeStamp and the Level of Detail features to limit when the icons appear.

@article{barth1974atmosphere,
  title={{The atmosphere of Mars}},
  author={Barth, C.A.},
  journal={Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences},
  volume={2},
  number={1},
  pages={333--367},
  year={1974},
  publisher={Annual Reviews}
}

@article{barth1971mariner,
  title={{Mariner 6 and 7 ultraviolet spectrometer
                   experiment: Upper atmosphere data}},
  author={Barth, CA and Hord, CW and Pearce, JB and
                 Kelly, KK and Anderson, GP and Stewart, AI},
  journal={J. geophys. Res},
  volume={76},
  year={1971}
}

Mars Geology

Data from the U.S.G.S. PIGWAD site converted to display in Google Mars. View the KML layer or the legend (also available through the layer).

Mars Geology

@conference{skinner2006digital,
  title={{Digital renovation of the atlas of Mars 
         1: 15,000,000-scale global geologic series maps}},
  author={Skinner Jr, JA and Hare, TM and Tanaka, KL},
  booktitle={37th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference},
  volume={37},
  pages={2331},
  year={2006}
}

Mars in Moscow

If you would like to go to Mars, or help others go to Mars, the European Space Agency (ESA) is looking for volunteers to spend 500 days in a simulated spacecraft in Moscow. You will get to travel to Mars, spend 30 days doing surface operations once there, and then return.

I would apply, but having just started graduate school I have other commitments for the next 1.4 years. Also, while it seems I can leave my wife for a few months for Antarctica, I would not want to leave her to spend 1.4 years in Moscow.

For details, read up on the recently completed 105 day mission simulation.

Mars Simulation Isolation Facility. Courtesy ESA

MER-A Hanging On…

Below is a two-part image from The Planetary Society showing clean and dirty solar panels on MER-A (Spirit) on Mars. It is no wonder it is on the edge of survival. With luck, a small tornado will hit the rover and clean off the panels. It has happened before.

Dust cover on MER-A

Mars Landing

An animation of how the next Mars Mission (MSL) will touch down. Note that the Mars Exploration Rovers are still going strong, a few days past their 90 day mission which began in late 2003 / early 2004

(video credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Kim Stanley Robinson

‘First you fall in love with Antarctica, and then it breaks your heart.’ – Kim Stanley Robinson

The day after getting my acceptance letter from ANDRILL I went to Strand (map) and bought Antarctica by Kim Stanly Robinson.

I was excited as Red Mars is one of my favorite books. If you like Red Mars or any of the Mars Trilogy I recommend this. It is a quicker read than any of the Mars books and it is very similar to Red Mars (survival) plus Blue Mars (politics), without the Green (terraforming).

Compare and Contrast: Mars RAT and Antarctica ANDRILL

I used to work for Honeybee Robotics. They design and build drills for Mars and other planets.

The RAT on the MER rovers drills 5mm deep and uses 11 watts of power. Think of 1/10th of a 110W light bulb (and then go change your light bulbs to CFLs).

The ANDRILL drill rig can go 1000m (1km) deep, and uses a 60KW diesel generator.

Mars and Antarctica are quite similar, except one is red and one is white and blue.