Table of Contents
I'm a novelist and have an interest in space science and physics. I've been a programmer for more than 40 years and I like reviewing new and up-and-coming authors. I have become a committed member of the OpenSimulator community.
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Weather Page Update
Mon Aug 10, 2020
I've made some updates to the Mars Weather page.
- Bugfix to Wind direction chart to correctly show most common wind direction and sample count
- Smoothed the max/min data lines in the Temperature over Time chart so anomolies don't distort the location of the lines
- Added new comments about NASA adjustments to the data so this is more clear
- Improved the description of the data smoothing technique
- Added °C and °F table for max, min, average temp in highest, lowest, range and current values (after smoothing)
Site Statistics
For the last year I've been using a plugin for my site that generates a statistics page, through which I can keep an eye on how well the site is doing. A couple of days ago, it stopped working. After a bit of analysis I discovered the data structures it was creating in memory had consumed too much of said memory and my hosting service had auto-assassinated it.
I decided to process the logs myself, by first downloading the logs, then uploading a page with the stats in it. What I found was surprising.
Hogfather Update 2
The Website will be down for a short period Sun, Aug 2nd 2020 while the site is upgraded
I shall be taking the site down for a while on Sun, Aug 2nd 2020, while i perform the upgrade. Although I have a local copy of the website, I also do a bit of experimentation on it, so the two are not perfectly synchronised, so I'll have to make a backup of the site and download it first. It'll actually take longer to do that than perform the update. It should all be over in less than twenty minutes, then it's back to business as usual. Thank you for your patience.
The website has now been updated to “Hogfather”
Mars Mission Locator
The location of all the missions that have gone to Mars can be confusing when you don't know where they went. Many missions never made it to the surface successfully, or had a malfunction that prevented them from working properly. Some of the landers introduced themselves to the surface with a little too much vigour. Others sailed on past Mars never to be seen again.
The map below details the NASA and ESA missions, including the intended landing sites of the upcoming NASA Mars2020 Perseverance Rover (and the Ingenuity helicopter), and the ESA ExoMars Rover (now slated for launch in 2022). I'll update the map at a later date with something a little less static, and include the USSR/RosCosmos missions, CNSA missions, and any others (such as ISRO, CSA and UAE) that might launch in the future.