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Marsoweb

Posted by michael on from the marzipan dept.

EyesWideOpen writes "Scientists preparing for Nasa's next Mars mission have created a website to help them choose potential landing sites on Mars. Marsoweb enables scientists to view more than 44,000 high-resolution images of the red planet; the images combine all the available data about the surface of Mars."

10 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. From the BBC article by Aanallein · · Score: 4, Funny
    "Since its inception Marsoweb has been viewed by more than 44,000 distinct users, resulting in more than 1,880,000 hits," he adds.
    I'll see your 44,000... and triple it...
    1. Re:From the BBC article by Lord_Slepnir · · Score: 2
      An error occured while loading
      http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/landingsites/:

      Timeout on server
      marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov

      that means we're halfway there!

  2. A good method of garnering public support by Cloudmark · · Score: 3, Insightful

    All in all, not a bad idea. By involving members of the public in the mission and keeping them informed and interested, the mission planners can work towards guarantying broad public support. In an era of increasing fiscal restraint, that critical for the success of any lare-scale, high-cost initiative.

    This type of plan has worked for Zoos and other groups (post pictures of possible landscapes, get people's opinions, etc) so why not for the space program? Furthermore, the site does have intrinsic educational value and is a great resource for students, particularly at the post-secondary level.

    ~Cloudmark

    --
    "Be proud to be a fighter" - Martial Arts Adage
  3. Billions of dollars, and this is what they plan? by AVIDLY+INTERESTED · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Methinks I smell the sickly scent of a public relations campaign. I mean, are we really supposed to believe, that, even with their huge budget, NASA is incapable of finding a good landing site on Mars? They already landed on the planet a few times, they know places it is possible. For a manned mission it may be a bit more complicated, with water (or ice) needed, and perhaps a few other things, but seriously, a website to decide this sort of stuff? They are showing, what was it, 44,000 images, to scientists who may find (at a guess) a few thousand possible landing sites. I am supposed to believe a NASA bigwig is going to say to his dedicated team, "Hold everything, we've just had an email from someone who works at a high school in Belgium. He reckons slide 38,233 is a good spot. That's the breakthrough we were looking for."
    Yeah, right!

  4. Landing on Mars... by Soul-Burn666 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yet the website is crashing here on earth...

    --
    ^_^
  5. Already /.ed by seen2much · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Didn't take long at all. Hey could the government consider this an attack on federal property? And if so, who do they raid?

    --


    "Beware the squirrels"
  6. Mars Face by naeger · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Just curious: What happend to the famous Mars face popular in the late 80ies/early 90ies. I think it was just a natural landscape which coincidentally looked like a face on this particular picture because of the shadows. However, I haven't heard anything from the "face" for a long time. There should be other pictures from the same location by now. How do they look like? Are they on Marsoweb (can't get to the site it's /.ed)? Anyone with more information?

    1. Re:Mars Face by Graspee_Leemoor · · Score: 3, Informative

      Nasa at first would not even speak about the face because they considered it perfectly obviously a natural formation, and therefore when they weren't considering it for a 2nd flyover the cospiricy theorists' alarms went off.

      In the end there was a 2nd flyover of the region and pictures of the same "face" were taken that showed it only looked like a face from the exact angle and time of day the original pictures were taken...

      graspee

    2. Re:Mars Face by cethiesus · · Score: 2, Informative

      This is what it looks like without the shadows. (From 2001 Mars Global Surveyor)

      --


      "Ford," he said, "you're turning into a penguin. Stop it."
  7. While that site is down... by slipmat · · Score: 2, Interesting

    you can fly around the proposed Melas Chasma landing site in 3D with this software.

    http://planet3d.demonews.com/PWMarsExplorer3.htm
    It needs a fast PC though.

    and here's a contour map of the Melas Chasma landing site (3Mb):
    http://planet3d.demonews.com/Melas%20Conto ur%20Map (200m).JPG