PDS Marsviewer

Getting Started

The following section includes a few video tutorials to help you get started. You can also check out the remaining sections below for more info on how to use Marsviewer, deciphering product listings, and what all those acronyms mean.

Tutorials

• Installation and First Run
• New Finder and EDR Filters
• EDR Options
• RDR Display

Using Marsviewer

When Marsviewer starts up, it asks you to select a File Finder. The easiest way is to use the Presets, which set up the file finder type and the correct server.

Mission and Instruments Supported

There are currently 3 mission/instruments with PDS archive data supported by PDS Marsviewer:

• Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) ECAM
• Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) Spirit and Opportunity
• Phoenix
• Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) MMM - Coming Soon

Categories Of Data

There are two basic categories of data that are available:

• Single-frame products: This includes everything derived from a single image or stereo pair: imagery, XYZ, surface normal, etc.
• Mosaics: More complex data products generated by the MIPL OPGS.

File Finder Presets

The Marsviewer file finder presets that appear when the application opens, allow access to various combinations of the above:

Advanced users can select the 'Advanced' checkbox to view more detailed file finders options. While a greater set of file finder types might be available, only the ones with "PDS_W10N" in the name will work with our servers.

Product Listing

• After you have selected a File Finder, and you get a main screen type a sol number in the Sol box and press Refresh List.
• You should see a list of EDR's on the left panel. Select one to see it.
• The tabs across the top then select the RDR to view, while the tabs on the left allow you to select left vs. right eye and thumbnail vs. full images.
• If you hover over a tab with your mouse, a pop-up tooltip describes what the tab is.

If no EDR's show up, try a different sol; some actually had no imagery. If you still can't see anything, contact the Imaging Node for troubleshooting.

MSL

The following table details some tips to help determine the product type based on the filename prefix. For more information on the products, check out the MSL Camera SIS.

MER

The following table details some tips to help determine the product type based on the filename prefix. For more information on the products, check out the MER Camera SIS.

Phoenix

The following table details some tips to help determine the product type and instrument based on the filename prefix. For more information on the products, check out the Phoenix Camera SIS.

Note that EDRs are grouped; red letters in the filename show what letters are different among members of the group (generally, stereo images along with their thumbnails). The tabs on the left select different members of the group; hovering over the EDR shows the matching products. In particular, if the eye field is a red L, that indicates it is a stereo product.

Product Descriptions

For more details on each of missions and their products produced, check out the Software Interface Specification (SIS) for each:

• MSL Camera SIS
• MER Camera SIS
• Phoenix Camera SIS

Acronyms

FAQs

• On Windows startup, the error log shows "WARNING: Could not open/create prefs root node Software\JavaSoft\Prefs at root 0x80000002. Windows RegCreateKeyEx(...) returned error code 5." How do I resolve this?

  Why does this happen? Unfortunately, this problem is not currently solvable programmatically on the Windows OS. The Windows implementation of Marsviewer preferences uses the Windows registry. When instantiated, that implementation tries to access/create a system-wide entry in the table. If the user does not have Administrative access to the system, the system-wide attempt results in an warning message being printed by the Preferences underlying logger. There are 2 possible workarounds for this problem:

  Easiest Workaround: Run the application as Admin by right-clicking the app icon and selecting 'Run as administrator'. Note: This should only be required for first run of software. Also, see Installation and Getting Started sections above for video tutorials of how to complete installation.

  Other Workaround: Add the entry in the registry explicitly:

  • Go into your Start Menu and type regedit into the search field.
  • Navigate to the following path
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\JavaSoft
  • Right click on the JavaSoft folder and click on New -> Key
  • Name the new key 'Prefs' and everything should work.

• On Mac startup, "Marsviewer" can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.

  

  Why does this happen? MacOSX has new application security that requires an application to belong to the App Store to be run and Marsviewer has yet to be released through the App Store.

  Resolution: As admin user, allow this application to be run:

  • Eject the DMG if you have not already done so:
    
    
  • Open a Terminal window and enter the following commands:
    • % sudo spctl --master-disable
    • % xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /path/to/Marsviewer.dmg
    • % sudo spctl --master-enable
  • Reopen application

• Why can't I see MSL Mastcam data? (or MAHLI, or MARDI)

  Due to the way MSL images from Mastcam, MAHLI, and MARDI are formatted in PDS, Marsviewer is currently unable to read them. We are working on the issue and expect to have it resolved soon.