Mars Science Laboratory Rover PLACES Bundle Release Notes Users are encouraged to provide comments to the PDS Imaging Node if errors are found either in data or in documentation in this archive. Please send comments by e-mail or U.S. mail to the Imaging Node: PDS Imaging Node California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, CA 91109 USA Web: https://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/ Email: pds.img@jpl.nasa.gov This document, release_notes.txt, contains release notes and errata concerning the MSL Rover PLACES Bundle. It is updated with each bundle release. Section A of this document contains an entry for each bundle release with general information about the contents of the release, in decreasing release order. Updates to previously released files are reported in these entries, along with any known errata. Section B of this file contains general notes, if any, concerning the archive as a whole. ******** SECTION A ******** ------------------------------------------------------------ Starting with release 37, the PLACES bundle is now in PDS4 format instead of PDS3. The same information is there, but in different places. The format is substantially similar to the Mars 2020 PLACES bundle (mars2020_rover_places). The MSL PLACES SIS still describes the PDS3 format. Until this is updated, the Mars 2020 PLACES SIS should be helpful for understanding the PDS4 layout. https://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/m2020/urn-nasa-pds-mars2020_rover_places/document/Mars2020_Rover_PLACES_PDS_SIS.pdf ---- There are known issues and inconsistencies in the spacecraft clock SCLK table. These are being addressed in operations and will be fixed in future Rover PLACES deliveries. These issues generally manifest as overlapping SCLK ranges, but also include clearly invalid SCLKs such as 0 or 1. Users are advised to ignore any such anomalies. If feasible, please report issues you discover (other than SCLKs of 0 or 1) to the data providers. ---- The browse and collection labels contain a pointer to the instrument context product. In the case of PLACES, there is no specific instrument, so "rover" is use as the instrument. Consideration is being given to including a pointer to the "rover" instrument context product in all labels in future releases. ---- The data_maps collection label has an External_Reference to a page describing the map construction. Consideration is being given to including this reference in the actual map and DEM image labels in future releases. ------------------------------------------------------------ ******** SECTION B ******** Note that PLACES is based on rover motion counter (RMC), not Sol. For a given release, the sol range of data included in the Rover PLACES bundle is greater than the nominal range for the other MSL instruments. For example, the nominal sol range for Release 37 is 4134-4257. On sol 4257, the rover was at Site 108. It was still at Site 108 at the time the Rover PLACES database was snapshotted for this release. Thus, Release 37 covers all data available at the time the release was generated, up to sol 4307. In general, each PLACES delivery will include all data for the nominal sol range, but will go beyond that to some extent (either to the next Site increment or to data current when the database snapshot was taken). ------------------------------------------------------------ Important Documents: PLACES_PDS_SIS.pdf - MSL Position Localization and Attitude Correction Estimate Storage (PLACES) PDS Software Interface Specification. This PDF file contains a description of the rover localization and mechanism position data products present in this bundle. PPPCS_VOL9_MAY_13_2016.pdf - The MSL Pointing, Positioning, Phasing and Coordinate Systems (PPPCS) Document, Volume 9: Surface Remote Sensing and Navigation, in PDF format and its PDS label. This document defines coordinate system, pointing, polarity, and phasing information for The Remote Sensing Mast(RSM)and chassis-mounted science payload instruments, and for the rover mobility system. It also defines and documents coordinate system, phasing, and range-of-motion information for RSM and mobility system actuators and passive articulations. It also includes the locations and orientations of chassis-mounted calibration targets for RSM-mounted instruments, and chassis-mounted and mobility-mounted fiducials.