Sunworshiper wrote in message . ..
On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 20:51:30 -0800, "lane"
lane_nospam@copperaccents_dot_com wrote:


"Loren Coe" wrote in message
. com...
was watching NASA a couple of days ago w/the sound off, it
looked like they were machining the current Mars rover wheels,
out of a _single_ piece of metal.

after turning the sound on, it was a little late to get any verbal
confirmation but it does seem likely. further, the wheel and tred
are part of the single piece, along with the hub.

the rest of the assembly is the "inner-tube", something molded into
the metal housing. is _that_ what i saw? Thanks! --Loren

ps, if yes, talk about _custom_wheels_(!), yowser!!


From: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/spotlight/wheels01.html

"Next Intent, a company in San Luis Obispo, California that specializes in
machining complex shapes, manufactured the wheels. The overall wheel design
allowed them to machine each wheel from one piece (or billet) of aluminum."

There is an interesting video on the wheel design on this page. Look for
"Wheels in the Sky".
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle.../hardware.html


Lane

Thanks, so I had guessed right. Its a shame how they don't cover this
in the newspaper. Last "article" just showed a picture looking back
at the lander and the parachute and that was it , no write up nothing
and on page 20. Two robots on a different planet and no one seems to
care... Loren, did the filters work?


at first, not real well, then when i tried again, i couldn't really
find anything on the NASA site to view. after reading your query
i tried again and, YES(!), they do indeed work.

two things seem important, letting your eyes/brain adapt and rotating
the filters as you view (maybe swapping between eyes). at some point
i believe you find a sweet spot, maybe just minimizing reflection
(i wear spectacles).

however, tonight i viewed images on a Georia Tech site, that could be
part of the difference. the upper left 1/3 of this one is great:

http://bastille.ns.gatech.edu/gallery/album04/aab

there is plenty of 3-d effect, almost too much. i used the first pair
i removed from the bundle, red and aquamarine
with all attempts, just holding the media in front of my eyes/glasses
while viewing the screen. my 19" is running only 1152x??? so
resolution
s/b no issue. i should try to get it going at 1280x..., it could be
better.

anyhoo, fun and games, and a bit of nostalgia. the last 3-d movie
that
i recall seeing was, "Mars" something or other. the "martians" were
hurling rocks with big sticks, they made the audience duck behind the
seats(!). there was a western movie with a similar effect using
arrows.
that western, the name escapes me, is somewhat of a classic now, but
no
metion ever of it's three-dimensional release. now i am wondering if
it
was color....?

Brad, thanks for the media and the reminder. great fun, sending about
1/2 of these to my daughter in Albuquerque. she just got her cable
modem and viewed the NASA site for the first time this week. --Loren

ps.
while searching i found site that offers another way to view 3-d w/o
the filters: (i didn't try this)

http://www.cpcug.org/user/clemenzi/s..._3DViewer.html