Mention on the Planetary Society Weblog

MMB gets a mention on the Planetary Society Weblog by Emily Lakdawalla. Cool stuff! Check it out.

Version 1.2.6

Version 1.2.6 adds some better error reporting and fixes an issue where people upgrading from earlier versions would have to update metadata before it would be available again. This should be the last new version for few weeks (at least I hope there aren't any other issues that will require fixing).

Download the latest version of Midnight Mars Browser

Exploratorium is Back Up

Woo hoo!!

Spirit Sol 573-574 - Approaching the Summit

Version 1.2.5

Version 1.2.4 had a couple "problems", such as the panoramas not showing up in the panorama dialog for new users, and the home directory selection option not working. Version 1.2.5 should fix all of that. If you downloaded version 1.2.4, please upgrade to version 1.2.5 right away. Now let us never speak of it again.

Here, again, is what changed for Version 1.2.4:

- Midnight Mars Browser home directory is now configurable in Preferences. Preferences are now stored in the MidnightMarsBrowser.properties file in the user directory, or in {user directory}/Library/Preferences on Mac OS X.

- Status displayed in title bar while panoramas are loading.

- Faster updates: eliminated unneccesary file checks, particularly for metadata.

- Fast reloading of panorama list when panorama criteria is changed.

- Panorama Screenshot feature (under File -> Advanced).

- Must enter Panorama Edit Mode (under File -> Advanced) before allowed to edit panoramas.

- Panorama full resolution mode loads navcam images first at full 1024x1024 resolution, then pancam images, until out of memory.

- Donation, software update reminder dialogs.

- Increased maximum memory allocation for the JVM from 128M to 192M.

- Changed "Check for New Images" button in main window to "Update Now"; now does an update same as Auto Update.

Download the latest version of Midnight Mars Browser

Version 1.2.4 Offline

Version 1.2.4 has been taken offline, as there are a couple bugs with it. Version 1.2.5 will be posted shortly.

Opportunity Sol 553 Pancams

Opportunity Sol 550-552

Want to have a pretty picture at the top of the site, but be sure to scroll down for the news about the latest version, 1.2.4.

Version 1.2.4

Midnight Mars Browser version 1.2.4 is now available. Here's what's changed:

- Midnight Mars Browser home directory is now configurable in Preferences. Preferences are now stored in the MidnightMarsBrowser.properties file in the user directory, or in {user directory}/Library/Preferences on Mac OS X.

- Status displayed in title bar while panoramas are loading.

- Faster updates: eliminated unneccesary file checks, particularly for metadata.

- Fast reloading of panorama list when panorama criteria is changed.

- Panorama Screenshot feature (under File -> Advanced).

- Must enter Panorama Edit Mode (under File -> Advanced) before allowed to edit panoramas.

- Panorama full resolution mode loads navcam images first at full 1024x1024 resolution, then pancam images, until out of memory.

- Donation, software update reminder dialogs.

- Increased maximum memory allocation for the JVM from 128M to 192M.

- Changed "Check for New Images" button in main window to "Update Now"; now does an update same as Auto Update.

With this version MMB officially becomes "Shareware" instead of "Freeware". Nothing is disabled; there is only a reminder dialog asking you to donate if you use the software regularly. (Thanks to oheresy for reminding me to mention that.) A big Thank You to those who have already donated; you may simply press the "I donated" button when the reminder dialog appears. MMB will continue to be freely available; my mission with it is to help promote the remarkable MER missions and NASA/JPL's outstanding public availability of raw images.

Download the latest version of Midnight Mars Browser

Opportunity Sol 550 (Rear View)

Opportunity Sol 550

Checking out the cobble.

Spirit Sol 569 Sunset

Holy Smokes! Spirit Sol 568

The biggest dust devils yet were seen by Spirit on Sol 568. Fortunately I can just link to the site of Dr. Mark T. Lemmon rather than put together a movie myself at this hour:

http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~lemmon/mer_dd/dd_enhanced_568a.gif

Opportunity Sol 549

Done at the RAT hole, apparantly. On the way to check out the dark "cobble", most likely (see the August 7 Steve Squyres update).

Spirit Sol 565-567

The view straight forward and down about 40 degrees.


Close-up.


Close-up.


Close-up.


View toward the rear.


Close-up.

Sol 544 Microscopic Images

First Microscopic Imager image of the exposed bedrock has come down (well, partly)... There are still blueberries. Looks just like the Eagle Crater outcrop to me, although maybe the berries tend to be a little more irregular here?

On an administrative note, I've disabled comments on this site for now. We were starting to get spam, or at least clueless postings, and anyway there are better forums for making non-frivolous comments.

Back to Spirit Sol 490

Since we seem to be between raw image updates this weekend, I'm going back and filling in the mmbpans for Spirit, working on the navcam panoramas first. Made it back to Sol 490 so far...

Metadata update

Oh, and by the way, there is a new Mission Update by Steve Squyres. I really recommend reading these, there is no better source of information as to what's going on for those of us outside the MER project.

Also, I would probably be remiss if I didn't point out that Steve Squyres' new book, Roving Mars, is now out. I read it this weekend.

Opportunity Sol 545

Opportunity is drilling a hole in the exposed rock. This will be the first rock she's RATed after travelling a considerable distance, so any differences in the composition will no doubt be interesting.

On the Pavement

Back on "solid land" for the moment. Feels good.

Opportunity Sol 543