Brand new Sojourner Rover model

[billybob884]

Here's a Celestia EXE for Windows with the bizarre workaround for that apparent bug. Now I recall that I've seen other strange behavior from Microsoft's STL sort function . . . I'm going to try a more recent compiler/library and see if that fixes the problem. In the mean time:

http://www.celestiaproject.net/~claurel/celest ... derfix.zip

It's just the EXE, so you'll need copy over the EXE in the most recent prerelease package.

--Chris

"Error! Object not found!" (again)

[ANDREA]

If you could create say a 300m2 3D actual surface model to place under the rover and lander then you may also be able to create an xyz file for the rover so that it moves along it's actual exploration path. .... ?????

Due to my absolute ignorance on graphics probably this is a stupid idea, but may be that 3D fractals could be used for the creation of this little piece of Hi-Res texture, e.g. starting from one of the many close-ups of Mars terrain? I don't know if 3D fractals are possible, so ... I beg your pardon if they aren't.

Andrea

[billybob884]

both models are incredible, but i installed the rover, and it appears to be a little over 10 meters above the surface. maybe a miscalculation?

[JackHiggins]

both models are incredible, but i installed the rover, and it appears to be a little over 10 meters above the surface. maybe a miscalculation?

Firstly- Thanks!

Secondly- Um... that's my fault & i knew it was wrong before I put it up- I just created that ssc quickly so people could see them together asap, but im not really great at positioning stuff with ssc's... Anyone want to have a go at improving the positions?!! Sojourner is 15-20m WSW of pathfinder, (or it was when the signal was lost anyway).

[Ken_g6]

Making a mini-mars landscape is something that I could do- except i'm better at making spacecraft rather than landscape type things... The August 1998 issue of the national geographic has a 3d supplement about the pathfinder mission, so anyone interested in making the landscape could use this for ideas...?!

Back when Pathfinder landed, I was really into VRML. And I distinctly remember that I once found a VRML model of the area around Pathfinder, made using its 3d imaging capabilities. If you can find that, I imagine it should be all you need!

[ElPelado]

i have fopund a 360 pictures that the pathfinder took on mars, here it is:

maybe it helps

[granthutchison]

And I distinctly remember that I once found a VRML model of the area around Pathfinder, made using its 3d imaging capabilities

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/vrml/pathvrml.html

Grant

[JackHiggins]

And I distinctly remember that I once found a VRML model of the area around Pathfinder, made using its 3d imaging capabilities

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/vrml/pathvrml.html

Grant

I went to the page & tried to open a few of the vrml models- none of them seem to work...?! Does IE need some special plugin or something to view vrml? The picture stayed as just a placeholder, and the page wasnt loading or anything...

i have fopund a 360 pictures that the pathfinder took on mars, here it is:

That's the same picture that was in the national geographic! Thanks all the same though!

[selden]

A few of NASA's VRML pages work with Quicktime. Unfortunately, many of the NASA VRML downloads seem to depend on an old VRML player that has been abandoned (cosmoplayer). Its original home (cosmosoftware.com) seems to have evaporated along with the other dot-com burst bubbles.


NASA's VRML information page at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/vrml/primer/primer.html, which has broken links to Cosmosoftware and SGI, doesn't seem to have been updated since 1998.

Perhaps Grant can suggest a modern replacement player?

[jim]

Hi Selden,

Try the Cortona® VRML Client.

http://www.parallelgraphics.com/

I have no problems with this.

Bye Jens

[Guest]

Jens,

It works great!

Thanks.

[granthutchison]

Try the Cortona® VRML Client.

Yep, that's what I've been using, too.

Grant

[Darkmiss]

I have managed to do a temporary fix, for the pathfinder and rover models.

its not the best atempt, but they are pretty close
could use some fine tuning (but i was just lucky to get this)

use this until a better configuration is found.

" " "Sol/Mars"
{
Radius 1
Mesh "empty.3ds"
EllipticalOrbit {
Period 9e200
SemiMajorAxis 1123.446228
AscendingNode 136.005
Inclination 90
MeanAnomaly 90
}

}

"Mars Pathfinder" "Sol/Mars/ "
{
Class "spacecraft"
Mesh "pathfinder.3ds"
Radius 0.00546

EllipticalOrbit {
Period 1.02595675
SemiMajorAxis 3202.682272
MeanLongitude 102.485
}

Orientation [20.18809 1 0 0]
RotationOffset 12.485

Albedo 0.50
}

"Mars Rover" "Sol/Mars/ "
{
Class "spacecraft"
Mesh "marsrover.3ds"
Radius 0.00070463

EllipticalOrbit {
Period 1.02595675
SemiMajorAxis 3202.681072
MeanLongitude 102.4852
}

Orientation [20.18809 1 0 0]
RotationOffset 12.485

Albedo 0.50
}

[JackHiggins]

Thanks! Looks good! One problem- theyre on the wrong side of planet Mars- see http://homepage.eircom.net/~jackhiggins ... finder.htm

The correct ssc should read:

Code: Select all

" " "Sol/Mars"
{
Radius 1
Mesh "empty.3ds"
EllipticalOrbit {
Period 9e200
SemiMajorAxis 1123.446228
AscendingNode 136.005
Inclination 90
MeanAnomaly 90
}

}

"Mars Pathfinder" "Sol/Mars/ "
{
Class "spacecraft"
Mesh "pathfinder.3ds"
Radius 0.00546

EllipticalOrbit {
Period 1.02595675
SemiMajorAxis 3202.682272
MeanLongitude 282.485
}

Orientation [20.18809 1 0 0]
RotationOffset 192.485

Albedo 0.50
}

"Sojourner Rover" "Sol/Mars/ "
{
Class "spacecraft"
Mesh "sojourner.3ds"
Radius 0.00070463

EllipticalOrbit {
Period 1.02595675
SemiMajorAxis 3202.681072
MeanLongitude 282.4852
}

Orientation [20.18809 1 0 0]
RotationOffset 192.485

Albedo 0.50
}

I just changed the MeanLongitude & RotationOffset for pathfinder & sojourner so they're positioned on the opposite side of the planet.

I've changed the marspathfinder.zip on my site as well to include this update.

[granthutchison]

One problem- theyre on the wrong side of planet Mars

I think you must be using an old texture, Jack - one that's rotated by 180 degrees in longitude. They look to be correctly positioned in the default Celestia set-up.

Grant

[granthutchison]

Yes, I think your texture is at fault. You should correct that, rather than the lander positions. Either hunt down a suitable Mars texture with the zero meridian placed centrally, or rotate Mars using

Code: Select all

Orientation [ 180 0 1 0 ]

(The first is the better option, because that means that the Goto Object menu option will take you to the correct coordinates.)
Here's my code for Pathfinder and Sojourner, taking advantage of the "invisible" class of object in 1.3.0.

Code: Select all

" " "Sol/Mars"
{
   Class "invisible"

   EllipticalOrbit {
      Period 9e200
      SemiMajorAxis 1110.295
      AscendingNode 136.005
      Inclination   90
      MeanAnomaly   90
   }
}

"Mars Pathfinder" "Sol/Mars/ "
{
   Class "spacecraft"
   Mesh "pathfinder.3ds"
   Radius 0.00546

   EllipticalOrbit {
      Period        1.02595675
      SemiMajorAxis 3207.257
      MeanLongitude 102.4812
   }

   Orientation    [19.0949 1 0 0]
   RotationOffset 12.4812

   Albedo 0.50
}

"Sojourner Rover" "Sol/Mars/ "
{
   Class "spacecraft"
   Mesh "sojourner.3ds"
   Radius 0.00070463

   EllipticalOrbit {
      Period        1.02595675
      SemiMajorAxis 3207.256
      MeanLongitude 102.4809
   }


   Orientation    [19.0949 1 0 0]
   RotationOffset 12.4809

   Albedo 0.50
}


It places Sojourner 20m from Pathfinder, just a tad north of west, rather than in the correct WSW position - to get it precisely right would need a second invisible placeholder object, which seems like a complication too far, especially given the featurelessness of the current terrain.

Grant

[JackHiggins]

Grant

Thanks for that- i'm using the 4k texture foundry dds, which I thought was the correct version...?!! Which textures are you using?

Thanks for that anyway, i'll update the Pathfinder stuff on my site to go with that!

[selden]

Jack,

Unfortunately, many (if not all) of Fridger's surface textures at the Foundry had 0 of longitude at the edge. Celestia's older maps were a mixture, too. Some had 0 at the edge and some had 0 in the center. Celestia has now been standardized. All of the maps that come with it have 0 of longitude in the center to match the IAU standard. Also, all of the rotation offsets specified in the v1.3.0 solarsys.ssc are defined to be correct when used with maps that have 0 in the center. Grant spent a lot of time making sure they were right.

Fridger had hoped to update the Texture Foundry during this past week, but unfortunately that couldn't happen.

[granthutchison]

Thanks for that- i'm using the 4k texture foundry dds, which I thought was the correct version...?!! Which textures are you using?

I've been using Praesepe's 8k Mars texture. I'm sorry, I don't know if there's a 4k version.

Grant