This chat was from the students who are registered for credit.

- It has been edited and some answers to some questions about the class have been inserted -

[13:59:59] NASAModerator: We've begun!

[14:01:59] MattJohnston: hi all

[14:11:44] DanielPoynter: yep ;)

[14:12:23] MariaBibbs: Question if the pathfinder turns over how would it get back up?

[14:14:43] EricH: wut slide r we on?

[14:15:42] RHSChrisZweigle: 5

[14:16:02] PernosDetunaCTJIII: Question 1: How do the solar panels contibute to the power of the rover?

[14:16:13] NASAModerator: Slide 5

[14:16:24] PernosDetunaCTJIII: Question 2: How heavy is the pathfinder?

[14:18:24] Frankie: Question1: Was there ever a point where the pathfinder did not work?

[14:19:49] JacquelineMehlberg: How long did the mission last as opposed to how long it was supposed to last?

[14:20:02] PernosDetunaCTJIII: Question 4: What will we do with the pathfinder when humans go to mars?

[14:20:43] Frankie: Question 2: How accurate and precise were all the images that was taken from pathfinder? Which type of camera worked the best?

[14:20:59] LiYang: Question 1: is it possible to use some kinds of lights for sending images?

[14:21:53] DanielPoynter: ***QUESTION: If a panoramic view takes more bandwidth to send than the maximum allowed in one day, what are some specific tricks that your team used to squeeze more data through the connection?

[14:22:06] DanielPoynter: ***QUESTION: Why is the bandwidth so limited? And wouldn't the value of an already expensive rover increase exponetially if the bandwidth could be increased a lot?

[14:22:52] PernosDetunaCTJIII: slide no. 7 acctually

[14:23:00] BradGates: Q1: What was the size of images sent back by pathfinder?

[14:23:22] JennyGimian: What if anything can the rover do autonomously?

[14:23:57] EricH: Why didn't you equip Pathfinder with a better bandwith?

[14:24:03] EricH: that was Q1

[14:24:23] JacquelineMehlberg: Is any work being done involving the application of A.I. to robotic navigation systems?

[14:27:53] BradGates: Q2: How much computing power was available on pathfinder?

[14:28:05] DanielPoynter: ***QUESTION: What are some opportunities for a person with a PhD after college in the field of robotics?

[14:28:12] MattJohnston: Q1: How much did the pathfinder and its computers cost

[14:28:15] MariaBibbs: Question When the feedback comes does it come back in pieces or all at one time

[14:28:35] JennyGimian: How large of an area did the pathfinder rover cover during the mission?

[14:29:09] LiYang: Question 2: is there any next generation of pathfinder?

[14:29:37] PernosDetunaCTJIII: Question 5: Are all the materials availible now to make a pathfinder at home?

[14:30:05] DanielPoynter: ***QUESTION: Is all information regarding anything NASA researches available to the public, or do they sell certain information (like the Human Genome project, how you can get it for free, but another company wanted to sell it)?

[14:30:49] DanielPoynter: Yes! a looong Q&A session!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[14:30:51] RHSChrisZweigle: How heavy was the rover?

[14:32:35] EricH: ::Question 2:: did Pathfinder's position on Mars in relation to Earth effect the time delay and/or bandwith capacity

[14:33:59] BrianWoodworth: What were the dimentions of the Rover? (q1)

[14:34:13] DanielPoynter: QUESTION: If the Deep Space network was equiped to handle a lot more information, wouldn't it drastically increase the value of all projects?

[14:34:38] MariaBibbs: Question 3 Are there any plans to send rover to another plant or to mars again

[14:34:48] BrianWoodworth: Would there have been advantages or disadvantages in using different materials for the construction of the Rover?

[14:34:55] RHSstudents: how much access to the information found on Mars will the public eventually have? (Lauren Delgado)

[14:35:14] MattJohnston: who was the pathfinders creator

[14:35:57] RHSstudents: Will the public ever have access to the high quality models(Riley Gorder)

[14:36:01] RHSChrisZweigle: Why were the images in only in black in white? doesn't that severely limit the data that can be recovered?

[14:37:01] RHSChrisZweigle: And what IS the resolution of the images?

[14:37:03] JacquelineMehlberg: lol, multitasking

[14:37:25] RHSChrisZweigle: is the image compression lossy or lossless?

[14:37:44] MattJohnston: Q3 why was the pathfinder so small?

[14:39:25] JacquelineMehlberg: Why was so much in the rover devoted to imaging as opposed to sampling audio, etc?

[14:39:38] DrCummings1: Do you envision students having oppotunities to control future rovers' movements or cameras?

[14:42:09] RHSstudents: q1 Was there any sort of autonomy in the pathfinder? crash detection?(Nik Krumm)

[14:42:18] MattJohnston: Q4 when do you think we will develop faster-than-light com

[14:42:22] RossBowman: Q1: Did the pathfinder do any drilling into rocks or the ground?

[14:43:22] JohnPutrino: Q1: If you could have added an additional technology to the pathfinder, what would it have been?

[14:44:35] MattJohnston: *communications

[14:45:25] JohnPutrino: It's going to be a LONG time before we can acheive faster than light communication, Matt

[14:45:42] DanielPoynter: ***QUESTION: What kind of safeguards are there to mess ups in the programming of robots and all of the programs in them?

[14:46:29] DanielPoynter: Like the conversion mess ups in that one mars observer (maybe that one)?

[14:46:37] DanielPoynter: metric vrs. english

[14:48:09] DanielPoynter: I think he was referring to the ability of electrons to 'know' the spin of their counterparts instantiously even if the parter electron's spin is detected miles away, it seems to allow information to travel faster than light, instantaniously

[14:48:21] DanielPoynter: I want this to go on all day, Q&A : )

[14:48:59] JacquelineMehlberg: Action at a distance, Dan?

[14:49:02] JohnPutrino: Q2: What is the most important lesson you learned on the Pathfinder Mission that will help you in further explorations of Mars?

[14:49:27] RHSChrisZweigle: i just want to be able to transport food to me at faster than light :P

[14:49:55] JohnPutrino: Yeah Dan, I've looked at that stuff, and it's very possible if we could get someone far away enough to set up the other end

[14:50:50] RHSstudents: q2: Is there any interest in setting up an orbiting sattelite network around mars to facilitate faster/more reliable communication? (Nik Krumm)

[14:51:19] DanielPoynter: ***QUESTION: What is your rebuttle to the common thought that we as a country shouldn't be worrying about space when so many people are starving on this planet? It gets asked to me all the time.

[14:51:53] RHSstudents: Has there been any thought of landing something on Mar's moons?

[14:52:00] RHSstudents: Riley Gorder

[14:57:13] PernosDetunaCTJIII: ::imagines what kind of jobs you would have in a mars colony:: Duster

[15:00:09] RHSChrisZweigle: the time delay was 4 mins right?

[15:00:49] PernosDetunaCTJIII: 40 I think...

[15:01:03] ChristianGabis: How long did it take to build pathfinder?

[15:01:18] ChristianGabis: Q1

[15:02:15] AlexThompson: Question 1: Is the work you're doing on this project similar to what is being done with robonaut...

[15:02:37] PernosDetunaCTJIII: twenty there, twenty back

[15:02:47] AlexThompson: Question 2: Have gotten any help fro other teams working on similar projects

[15:03:37] RHSstudents: jumping mechanism

[15:03:38] PernosDetunaCTJIII: ROCKET BOOSTERS!!

[15:03:53] JohnPutrino: windshield wipers for the cameras, lol

[15:03:54] MattJohnston: F-T-L communications

[15:04:50] ChristianGabis: Q2 What do you feel was the most valuble piece of information gained through the Pathfinder mission?

[15:04:59] PernosDetunaCTJIII: The ability to gather samples, and return to earth

[15:05:27] DanielPoynter: Disco blaring so we can show the aliens our b est music lol

[15:06:07] RossBowman: A small plane that could fly around and take picutes then return to the pathfinder and relay those pictures to Earth. - added thing

[15:07:33] DrCummings1: Students logging in late, pls view/read/ or listen to the transcript later, and send me topic-related questions along with your quiz answers. Thx!

[15:08:37] AlexThompson: How exactly would a plane fly in a place with no atmosphere?

[15:09:20] AlexThompson: Pathfinder needs to use the DNA chips

[15:09:22] JohnPutrino: and all that dust

[15:09:44] MattJohnston: faster than light

[15:11:29] MattJohnston: that's right!

[15:14:12] AlexThompson: Same with robots... we could send a robot into space and set it so it doesnt turn on for like 50 years.... then it starts sending us data

[15:15:07] DanielPoynter: ***QUESTION: You talked about how hard it was for roboticists to assemble all of the research on various subsystems, what are some of your thoughts on getting robot makers time more efficient by getting them the info they need when they need? Is there any set idea out there that helps scientist share information effieciently, if the answer is the internet, how so?

[15:20:35] DanielPoynter: ***QUESTION: Do you know of any specific communities out there doing just that, pushing standardization and more efficeint sharing among roboticists?

[15:22:20] MattJohnston: thanks theodore, moderator, and meri

[15:22:29] PernosDetunaCTJIII: Thanks Dr. Blackmon

[15:22:31] JohnPutrino: Thank you

[15:22:32] DanielPoynter: Thank you!

[15:22:36] DrCummings1: Thank you for sharing your expertise and point of view with us, Dr. Blackmon!

[15:22:36] PernosDetunaCTJIII: THanks Moderator

[15:22:37] DanielPoynter: : D

[15:22:39] PernosDetunaCTJIII: Thanks Dr. Cummings

[15:22:43] MattJohnston: bye bye

[15:22:52] JacquelineMehlberg: Thank you.

[15:23:03] JennyGimian: Thanks

[15:23:13] RossBowman: thanks...