Slashdot Mirror
First High-Res Color Photos from Mars
mzs writes "The first color thumbnail from Spirit was available yesterday from a larger image. Today some full-size color images are available. If you are in the USA you may be interested in catching the NOVA program on your local PBS station tonight." Acrobatman notes the existence of a nifty utility:"Mars24, a Mac OS X and Java application and applet which displays a Mars 'sunclock', a graphical representation of Mars. This free utility shows the current sun- and nightsides of Mars, along with a numerical readout of the time in 24-hour format and landmarks such as the landing positions of the rovers."
Why is it that when scientists need a medium-large object to compare with the size of a rock, it is always "the size of a Volkswagen"? It's even worse than using football-fields to measure distance.
When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
Mark Twain
Interesting how the Martian clock gives the Mars date like so: MSD 46218.763 This looks very similar to ye olde Star Trek stardates.
...the "Mars Sol Date" (MSD) defined by AM2000. This represents a sequential count of Mars solar days elapsed since 1873 December 29 at approximately Greenwich noon
Very cool! I'm not sure I even care how they compare to previous pictures. There's something about knowing these are from virgin ground (so to speak). Alien landscape. I can't get enough. Right now, it just doesn't get much better.
Damon,
http://actionPlant.com
I need alittle help. Who can tell me where in Utah this picture was faked by the liberal space establishment?
If we work together we can beat the system!!
They're so biiiiig, and red!
(sorry, first thing that came to mind.)
On a slightly more serious note, I'm looking forward to sunset pics, and perhaps ones from a Martian duststorm, in addition to pics of the crash(?) site of Beagle2.
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
It always annoys me that in the pictures that nasa releases the sky is red. If they're going to release colour pictures they should release them in the correct colours.
The sky on mars is blue, it is not red.
For instance, look at a picture of mars, around the edges you'll notice that its blue, where you're looking through the atmosphere. The molecules in its atmosphere scatter light they same way earth's does. Its blue damnit! Show me the correct colours!
If ever there was an opportunity for a submitter to include a goatse link in an article, this is it!
Careful what you click on!
3D Printing Tips and Tricks at Zheng3.com
If you look at the first photo, you will notice that a small area is blacked out. Is there something there that NASA doesn't want us to see?
C:\>
Don't get me wrong. Views from another planet are breathtaking in of themselves. But it would be nice if we use this experience to improve our future landing technologies so we can land these probes in places more interesting than a wide open plain. Mountains against the sky (for example) would make for some amazing photographs.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
...I wonder how long the commute is to the Bay Area from there? Maybe I could talk my boss into letting me telecommute a couple of days a month...
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Check out this pic There's a line of rocks that starts at the middle left edge of the picture and goes up and to the right. In addition, there's a line of rocks that intersects the first in the upper/center. Finally, there's a "wind trail" in the sand that intersects both rock lines, forming a triangle.
In the center of the triangle are two triangular rocks.
Isn't that interesting?
Damn Godless commie martians!
One interesting mystery is the presence of dark patches that look like mud near the rover - they are clearly visible at the bottom the larger 8MB version of the photo on the nasa site. They are most likely formed by the airbags, but have an unusual dark appearance that really looks like wet ground.. nobody seems to know why they'd look that way from what I've read so far.
Great! About 1% of the population can use it!
...NASA's coveting the support of the farming caucus.
As the saying goes, "Red sky at night, shepard's delight."
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
all we need now is the live "martian" webcam, so we can watch for aliens. After all, I can already watch for nessie from the comfort of my own home
Your dirty Martian aggression against our peaceful science probes will not be tolerated!
I've seen the pictures of Mars, and I think they saved some money on the rockets and are really hiding out in El Paso, Tx.
t
I don't care how red it is, giving a color image that contains only red tones isn't useful. I could do just as well by taking the black & white and using light red instead of white. They should adjust the frequencies so that the pictures give our eyes some useful information. That is, unless there really is just one frequency of light on Mars.
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/12/1 9/138212&mode=flat&tid=134&tid=160
says NASA has lost the edge [to the ESA]. A few weeks later,
NASA lands a robot on Mars and Beagle is
toast. Sorry, couldn't resist.
I think you're mixed up. Unless I'm gravely mistaken, the sky on Mars is indeed red and not Blue. The atmospheres vastly are different in both content and pressure. Also, there's probably a lot of rust dust in the air colloring things.
You might be thinking of the Martian sunset, which is blue.
Blaze a trail to the New World
i know.
they could have at least landed near a town or a beach or something.
lysergically yours
That should, of course, be "shepherd", not "shepard", although the connection with astronaut Alan Shepard is almost freudian.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Why is the landscape around Mars landers always so uninspiring?
It's due to an agreement between NASA and the Cultural Interdiction Wing of the Gyken-JAT Pan-Sapient Meld.
The CIW allows a probe to land now and then . . . as long as it doesn't stray near sites that would make Hu-Mans really want to go to Mars.
Such as the soaring mountains, yawning chasms, spectacular wind-carved rock outcroppings, and the planet's numerous brightly-lit interspecies brothels.
Stefan
The pictures are just the tip of the iceburg. If they are able to get Spirit over to some of those rocks, it'll perform tests on them that may detect signs of life. Now that's some tax money well spent.
Don't get me started on the real ways tax money is wasted.
Blaze a trail to the New World
here's the dominant wallpapers for the month...
ed
"This image highlights streaks or tails of loose debris in the martian soil, which reveal the direction of prevailing winds. The picture was taken by the rover's panoramic camera. "
So we can analyze rock to look for signs of microbiological life on the planet, but to see if the wind's blowing we're using the sophisticated dirt behind the rocks measurement?
Go have a look at:
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpegMod/
Notice the dates on the files? Makes you wonder doesn't it? And why are they all modest? I want something bold and/or spicy!
And I see an old lady smoking a cigar... oh wait, wrong test.
a martian.....
oopps that was a rock, sorry
Today some full-size color images are available.
/. gets to them.
Available, that is, until
I am officially gone from
Wow, such beautiful looking virgin terrain. The views are breathtaking, and the vast redness of the soil gives it a warm and cozy atmosphere.
It just makes the real estate developer in me itch for action.
Microsoft Windows is, fittingly, the official Desktop OS of Olig
Every time NASA sends a probe to Mars all we the public see are rocks and red dirt.
I want to see humans actually go to Mars. Why haven't we done this yet? I've heard by 2008 we're supposed to go, but we're still sending probes!
I think it is entirely possible to colonize and build cities and towns on the red planet. Spend 100 or so years pumping a massive amount of greenhouse gases into the planet's thin atmosphere and you've got an Earth-like atmosphere that will produce rain, clouds, more Earth-like temps, etc. The only problem is finding a way to make the gravity the same as Earth's.
There is a decent article available at space.com with some more information from the press conference and the first color image as well.
On the centre right of that same picture is a trail of rocks arching towards the centre into the (relative) distance. This arch is a curve, and mars is a moderately shperical shape... plus the airbags were spherical. Clearly evidence of life on mars and that life on mars has influenced our earth technlogy.
How interesting.
karma karma karma karma karma chameleon, you come and go, you come and go.
nice and cool? I'd love 291 Kelvin right about now....it's freaking 257 Kelvin here
"Look Lois, the two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change."
Red Sky at night
Flock's alight!!
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
First of all, there's a vertical line just left of center. This is where the image is stiched together. Although NASA may like us to believe this is one image, it's really a composite.
Aside from that, I see nothing terribly unusual. Interesting, yes, but not unusual.
The "line of rocks that starts at the middle left edge of the picture and goes up and to the right" is an illusion created by shadows and perspective. If I stare up at the light fixture on my ceiling, there appears to be a "pattern" of concentric rings and radial lines of texture. It's daylight, the curtains are open, and snow is on the ground so when the light is off, I have plane-source scattered light and any "pattern" disappears.
Any appearance of order in the image is just an illusion.
Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
Half those images are bits of the robot itself.
If they wanted hi-res images of the robot, why not take them BEFORE they sent it to Mars?
Is Mars really THAT boring?
http://jesus.everdense.com/
No
LOOOOOOOOOOOL! OMFG!
By the way, the French are the only European nation with a nuclear powered carrier. So much for the seafaring nation, Brits.
The Mars Polar Lander most likely crashed in 1998 so I think it was wise of them to be cautious and realistic about their chances this time. They sent two to improve their chances of getting one down. They went with stuff that worked in 1996 on Pathfinder, airbags, instead of lander legs which proved troublesome. More importantly, they included telemetry on the way down which is more expensive but which means you aren't left with such a guessing game if there is a failure. You at least have a clue how far it got, unlike the Beagle which hasn't been heard from since it left its mother craft; we have no idea whether its chute opened or if it was eaten by a space-probe eating monster. I applaud NASA for being more careful this time and for putting the equivalent of some printfs in there to make sure it wasn't going to slip away quietly this year.
$#!^ happens, but why does it always have to happen to me???
I believe under the black cersored block you will find either a KDE or gnome logo and NASA didn't want to deal with SCO lawsuits (despite SCO behaving as if they are from another planet)
"Look Lois, the two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change."
the most amazing part in these photos is the eeryness, the emptyness... it's beyond imagination that there is absolutely NOTHING out there on that red dust ball the size of the earth.
If I stop to think about that fact, some cold shivers go over my spine, rubbing my nose in the fact that we're really really really really fucking lucky to even exist.
When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
So very .... red! ....and sandy! .... with rocks!!!
I'm not trying to be rude (especially given the demise of the British lander), but the terrain looks a bit like the Sahara desert - pretty featureless in all directions. What are they going to do for entertainment when they've sampled a few rocks and sand? Looks like you have to to travel miles for any difference in scenery.
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
We haven't landed on Mars!! NASA is showing us pictures of their 1st moon landing ever through a red filter!
The lag is going to be hellish. Anything approaching real-time communication (telephone, IRC, etc.) is going to be impossible (unless, that is, we find a way to supercede the speed of light).
Once the global society goes interplanetary, there will be some interesting social changes involved. Mostly it'll be like rolling back to the early (pre-telegraph) 1800s and before, although SMTP will still work faster than Pony Express.
Microsoft Windows is, fittingly, the official Desktop OS of Olig
I think you might be just a bit jaded if you find these pictures dull. The main point of the Mars program is to do science, not to provide entertainment. A photo that demonstrates that there was abundant water on Mars will probably not be very interesting to the casual observer but will be awesome to anyone who thinks about it.
You are forgetting the French Navy is crap, the only reason they have their (poorly functioning) boats is because of a government scandal in the 80s. And they don't use them, they go on strike instead.
...and the Photoshop guys at NASA can't align the individual frames properly so that we can have some nice clean images to use on our desktops.
cool... is there any picture 1280x1024 that can be used for my background ?
ok so we've landed on Mars. Ok all the pictures are red. Big deal. Unless anyone has been to Mars and knows the geological structure, air patterns etc, then complaining about red images is a little strange. Its a great moment in history where we get to see the landscape of another planet in detail, and will probably never happen again in our lifetime at least. Complaining about it is missing the point.
Another view.
Xenon, where's my money? -Borno
No argument here. I just REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to see some cool extra-terrestrial pictures. These images are just making me itch all that more. Actually, those photos wouldn't satisfy me either. What I REALLY want, is to go there. Unfortunately, we have a few nuclear activists to get off our backs before we can do it cheaply.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
The photos are great and interesting and I personally eat this stuff up whenever its released, but it always brings up the same question in my mind and I never can manage to dig up the answer. Does NASA release everything they have and toss it all on the table for all to see? Is it NASA policy that they release every single photo and piece of information they get about everything they do? Do they publicly say that they have the right to withhold certain things from public consumption? Obviously there are certain military things that would fall under national security, but speaking strickly space exploration and expecially these mars missions, do we get to see everything they get to see? I'm not talking conspiracy tin foil nonsense here. I'm just talking is it NASA policy and the way they do things.
Where are all the chicks with three boobs?
I give men fish.
Just look at some of the photos and see how small-grained the sand is, it is almost like powder at some spots. The flow marks we have seen on some earlier satellite photos are probably caused by powder-like movement of these small sand particles.
It is not my intention to gate-crash this party folks, but my optimism about flowing water on Mars has deflated like those air bags.
did they gtk-gnutella to trasmit the pictures? or what other p2p software did they use?
Nasa has taken down the 8MB hires image off it's site due to bandwidth problems (/.ing aint helping im sure. I managed to get it earlier today and put a copy of it on my otherwise useless earthlink web area - Im sure that one will get hammered in short order too, so if anyone with a robust web server can get it and provide a better mirror, be my guest.
It looks like there's plenty of parking on Mars ...
-- www.globaltics.net
Political discussion for a new world
I'll second that. We watched the show on Sunday night, which was pretty good. Interviews with team members during the development phase, ending with the current status of the program, which at that time was the successful landing. Tonight's show should be informative as well. 8PM Central on PBS.
The "line of rocks that starts at the middle left edge of the picture and goes up and to the right" is an illusion created by shadows and perspective.
So, do you think that the "wind trails" behind the rocks are also a trick of shadows and perspective?
In a thousand years humans will have spread over the surface of Mars like a virus!
shows how dumb you American's are....
Your point about "how dumb Americans are" might hold some water if you would just learn to spell. Even the incorrect but standard British spelling of words are acceptable in this case.
There's some color-corrected photos here that show this:
http://mars-news.de/life/
Basically, the theory behind it is that:
1) The colors of the Viking lander, especially in the US flag on it, are mismatched and discolored. When the hues are remapped in a paint program to the correct colors of the flag, the sky turns blue.
2) The atmosphere seen at an angle from the Hubble is almost always blue.
This latest landing only makes it the conspiracies flourish, because in 1997 and even in the 1970s when Viking landed, they immediately had color photos. Why was the color being hidden?
I don't know about moist, but it looks to me like the airbags cleared some loose dust away so we can see the actual rock/soil that is underneath instead of the powder that normally covers everything.
A picture of water would have been great. But aside from proven that the camera works how is this picture of martian rocks different from the many other pictures of Martian rocks we've already seen. They could have atleast landed near that thing that looks like a giant face.
My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle...
why did they use a shade of rusty red for their inflatable bags?
seems to me they could've used a color that contrasts well with martian soil, so in case of a crash, an orbiting satellite could've taken photos that showed where the probe fell...
and why is the background of the inflatable balloons photo, taken at JPL, also of a rusty red shade?
Did JPL have their facilities decorated with a martian theme, or did they just mass-process all their Mars-related photos in shades of rusty-red to fullfil the public's expectations regarding the "Red" planet?
I wonder if those tumbleweeds are anything like the ones we have in our deserts.
More links.
Also helps if you spell poorly.
By the way, the French are the only European nation with a nuclear powered carrier.
And that's good. As a Brit, I wouldn't want to see my parent's tax money being spent on useless toys for some uniformed cunts. You may get a boner when you see a military parade and decide that it's worth the money, but I don't.
Do NOT click - redirects to goatse.cx
Looks like some tweaking to Slashcode is in order to filter this crap out.
"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand". -Milton F.
Yes, it's a conspiracy!
More information, courtesy of the Temple ov thee Lemur.
Somehow, I wonder if TotL.net's mission was the inspiration for Beagle 2...
The Brits are on the right-handed side of the Atlantic.
That is if you are northern-centric. Why is north always "up" on a map? That isn't fair.
In a more equitable map (southern-centric), The Brits on on the left-handed side of the Atlantic.
It's basically a huge basin that has what looks to be an old river leading into it. If there was water, this is where to look, at least in a place where we could actually land. (The constraints are large: needs to be near the equator to get direct transmission to earth, low elevation to get maximum aerobraking, not too bumpy, etc)
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
(spoken in a thick Austrian accent): Give these people air!
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
It's a ground covered with rocks in a pretty random assortment of sizes, shapes, positions and you found a triangle?!? You've been studying your geometry lately, haven't you.
-N
I've nothing to say here...
appeal to exploration instead of domination. I have to like the US when it does this kind of publicly-funded space stuff.
Has anyone ever tried to fill in what Mars would look like with oceans filling in the deeper canyons to a depth similar to Earth? I think that would make an interesting picture.
Do really dense people warp space more than others?
oh, i get it, Mars is just *full* of patterns, and it was waiting for *you* to discover them.... Quick, call NASA, they'll be delighted to hear from you Idiot.
Before you decty money going to NASA, take a look at this. NASA gets about 17 Billion as opposed to the trillion that goes to welfare of one form or another. Please put things into perspective. The 80 cents that you spent on this Mars mission wouldn't have gotten you that battery.
Now on what NASA does that that money, that's a different story. A manned mission to Mars would be about the same cost of the shuttle program or the ISS money-sucker. The perfered way to go is obvious to me.
Blaze a trail to the New World
Don't get me wrong, I think this is another great achievement in the space exploration program, but are these pictures the best resolution they can manage? I seem to recall the same kind of quality from the sojourner project and was expecting a little bit more detail. (ok, actually a lot more) I guess this isn't a limitation of the onboard hardware, but rather of the available bandwith directly or via MO and GS. So can we expect even higher resolutions over the coming months as they use even finer grained image-tiles? On the other hand, it would probably make more sense to them to produce more up-close pictures instead, panoramic views have little scientific relevance other than to secure funding/audience appreciation.
Also, what strikes me as funny is how the rovers production process was all-cleanroom/rubber suits, only to expose these things to one of the most dusty surroundings known to man. (I think that's how I am going to define Mars from now on) Maybe the Russian approach of 'when it breaks during production, it wasn't strong enough anyway', would be more suitable to high stress environments. Then again, making these babies indestructible would probably cost much more than simply building swarms of them. (Yes, that's what I want!)
How long do you figure before someone starts telling us it's all being faked ala the moon walk hoax conspiracists?
It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries
There is a great wide angle shot at that site.
slightly off-topic..but does anyone know why the rover was dropped the last 10/15 ft and not landed..i tried looking for the answer but didnt succeed.
Insightful? ROTFL. See ya in metamod. You'll never get mod points again, my friend.
For news, status, updates, scientific info, images, video, and more, check out:
Mars Exploration Rover Highlights (AXCH).
This has links to tons of great information, images, QuickTimeVR, 3d images, videos, history, and lots more about Mars and this MER Spirit mission in particular. I have been obsessively checking this page and branching out from there every couple of hours for the last few days.
I was reading about the cameras on the Spirit rover over at cornell.edu. It says that the main camera is using a 1 megapixel CCD. It also says that the camera is unable to distinguish colors, so they have a manual color filter wheel mounted on the front of the camera lenses.
Can anyone explain why something launched 8 months ago is using 1 megapixel technology that can't see color? I understand the data takes a while to get here but it seems they could lower the default picture resolution, then send a take picture at max resolution command when they find something interesting.
I read on the site that the CCD is "space certified", but I'm not really buying that argument as the PCSAT($30,000 off the shelf parts satellite) has been in operation for going on 3 years now.
Is there a rocket scientist in the house?
Well, Canadians also spell it with a 'u' so there are some of us on the left side of the 'pond' who spell it colour.
$#!^ happens, but why does it always have to happen to me???
http://mars.telascience.org/
:)
"New data from Mars will be released for Maestro from this site on Wednesday, January 7!"
Hooray! I've already thoroughly explored the little lab in which the test data was taken.
The parent makes a great point. All the Slashbots were droning about how NASA sucks, the ESA made a cheap lander, etc., etc.
Now, theirs is toast, and we're on the planet transmitting the highest-res pics of another planet in history.
And yet, now the crowd is exclaiming "Why did we go here!! It's just barren! What kind of desktop background am I supposed to use from this!?"
Well, why was it OK when the ESA was attempting it then?
All this talk of Mars prompted me to bust out and read the Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars trilogy from Kim Stanley Robinson. Some really great books about colonizing the Red Planet ... so who out there is a Boonean? A red? Or do you follow the Ishi? I forgot all the other factions, great books though. It discusses Martian time in length.
It looks like one of the rocks is pyramid shaped. Look at the bottom right quadrant of the pic, it's one of the bigger rocks.
And I've heard that although she is beautiful to look at, Venus unclothed is positively toxic.
Microsoft Windows is, fittingly, the official Desktop OS of Olig
this is somehow a reverse-engineered date/time format?...i mean, clearly, humans knew mars existed well before 1873, after all....
:)
The Mars epoch of 1873 was chosen for its precedence to a cosmic Martian event in 1877. Read the Mars time technical notes. for more info.
I think it's safe to say all epochs are "reverse-engineered" by being placed in the past. You don't see any ancient documents dated "1066 B.C.", do you?
on absolutely nothing
although if things like this are selling well i could open up a mars travel center in the middle of the hot nevada desert.
just because some of us have way to much cash on hand and are plain out right stupid and some are broke......ill even charge for parking
anyone want to buy a plot of land from me for a gas station? grocery store?
Thanks for the picture. I mirrored it for you at http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~stefan/mars-hires.jpg
That should survive any slashdotting we can throw at it.
//FIXME: Bad
1/5 your 56k modem. Poor NASA.
Sorry to disappoint you.
The reason Spirit was more successful than Beagle 2 is because Nasa knows to land in uninhabited areas with nothing to see but rocks.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
It is NOT pyramid shaped; it is shaped like a trapezium, the top of the pyramid is actually the rock BEHIND it (look closer).
It is amazing how people find patterns in random things then project some sort of intelligent design behind it.
just = (My)Opinion.toCents();
my parent's tax money
Is that because you're really like 8 years old or because there are no jobs in britain for anyone under 40?
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
seriously though I'm all for the space program, but jeez something a little more interesting please...
Like what? Why don't you trolls ever offer constructive criticism? Oh wait, that's because you wouldn't be a troll then... Have you any idea how childish you're sounding?
Anyway... There's only so much with the images you can do with images that resemble those of a desert. NASA has so far given us 3D stereo images, color images of previosly unseen resolution from a craft landing on another planet, 360 degree panoramas, and will soon (tomorrow) release data for the Maestro software so we can drive around on Mars ourselves. They will soon start driving around and analyzing the minerals found to hopefully determine Mars' former climate, and know more about its geology.
What exactly do you want to see?
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
For the billionth time, THERE WAS NOTHING THAT COULD BE DONE.
The tiles could not be repaired, Columbia could not go up and dock with the ISS, reentry could not be changed in any way.
The landing site was not selected because it might offer photogenic panoramas. It was selected because it appears to be a likely place where water once exist on the Martian surface.
We aren't going to Mars to take pretty pictures, you know.
If you want pictures of Martain mountain scenery, tell your government you want to send people there.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
Has anyone seen Yogi and Scooby Doo? harhar. I wonder what's the naming convention this time?
On the chance that this gets slashdotted (it's been slow for a while), I'll mirror the high-res panoramic image here: http://nccs.nasa.gov/~lsherida/PIA04995.jpg
Although NASA may like us to believe this is one image, it's really a composite.
In NASA's defense, I don't think they claim that it is a single shot, I've heard them refer to the images as mosaics many many times and describe how the panoramas are taken as a series of images stitched together.
The "wind trails" appear to be wind trails.
DNA just wants to be free...
If you look at the high definition photo, at the bottom-right is one of the dark rocks scientists have said may contain fossils, if you look at it you can see heavy indentations into it, this they believe, may be a fossil.
Also, up and to the right you'll see a smooth area, this is possibly from a hit millions of years ago, anyway, it's 'special' because it contains very finely ground rock, and if you look around the majority of the photo this does not exist, so it is believed this hole from a asteroid hit or whatnot has acted as a barrier and protected finer particules which NASA hope to scoop up and analyse.
--- any post that takes longer than 20 seconds to write, isn't worth writing
The caption says that
There's clear compositing artifacts in the image (where the subpieces don't stitch together smoothly), so I got to wondering: what's the previous record holder? And was it a single image or also a composite?Any pointers?
Emile Snyder
www.talentcodeworks.com
Don't know about the megs, but I think a monochrome CCD has better resolution. That way, you can get a green, red and blue version of the exact same pixel. In a three color sensor, those pixels would be next to each other.
It's a 90 day mission, they haven't even finished unpacking the rover yet. There will be alot of much more interesting data, although most likely it won't be interesting to you.
It is not a spelling mistake but a grammar mistake. And I think the parent you think the Beagle has crashed huh? ha shows how dumb you American's are.... was a satire.
karma karma karma karma karma chameleon, you come and go, you come and go.
This BBC news story says 12 images. Hard-hitting investigative journalism exposes the cover-up!
Here is a link to a high-res mosaic, 3498x3851, TIFF format, 40.4MB:
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/tiff/PIA04995.tif
And the same picture as a 1.1 MB JPG (still full resolution):
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA04995.jpg
OMFG! Those can't be ROCKS! They're MOVING!!!!
A picture of water would have been great.
What if there isn't water? I'm not sure what you're referring to, but the "ice" on the polar caps is just frozen carbon dioxe.
They could have atleast landed near that thing that looks like a giant face.
Yeah, and we would have seen some hills/mountains. We have also seen those before. Only the actual look is special, but know what, only the special look can be seen from above. So the entire point would be lost if *landing* next to the foot of a seemingly regular mountain. They would have used a billion dollars to land next to a site that looks cool from space and they hadn't anything special to do at.
The reason they landed where they did is because of scientific reasons -- exploring the special soil and minerals that can be found in what they think could be a former lake. And I'd surely prefer an organization using their money to get something done instead of giving an unpleased public something to look at, think "hey, that's kinda cool" about, and forget about in 10 minutes.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Hey gang,
Since this is what we have to go on, I thought I'd have some fun with the images.
Note how this big image curves at the bottom? This confirms that the panoramic camera takes multiple photos, and they're stiched together to make a composite (suspicions from the earlier thumbnail confirmed). Also note that the bad tiles also curve, which would be consistant with a bad tile. You can see what I think are airbag marks in the lower-right hand corner.
I have one that I've equalized, to get an idea of how things would look with a more earth-like atmosphere.
I took the same image, and enhanced the brightness and contrast.
If you're a conspiracy theorist, you're looking for land like this. Good luck! Doesn't look like any desert I've seen before.
~D
This sig has been enciphered with a one-time pad. It could say almost anything.
Are you trolling Kelly?
Jealous because I don't need to flip burgers to pay for my education?
Why is this flamebait? These pics really do make me itch to get to mars. And one of the biggest problems with getting there is propulsion technology. Nuclear propulsion such as NERVA would make a trip to mars much more economical. Unfortunately, it just ain't happening until we can get the "Nuclear Power is BAAADDD!!!!" people off our backs. On the bright side, public opinion of nuclear technology has been steadily increasing over the years. At this point 60% of the population is in favor of nuclear technology.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I knew they would find him
MoFscker
Don't you just hate it when your d4 lands on one of it's corners?
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
Can the lander make a shot of an alien sky? Two moons, a really small sun or something like that? That would be amazing to see. Like those shots from the moon of the earth being the moon. Beautifull.
These rocks no matter how amazing are well just rocks.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I think I've heard of these tests before, someplace...
...for Battlebots Mars. I wanna see Spirit kick the piss out of Beagle. Hopefully NASA failed to mention the onbaord saw blade, and rotary bludgeoning device. w00t
Intelligence is like four wheel drive, having it just means you'll get stuck in more remote places.
Nuclear Activists?
It seemed to me that using nuclear propulsion was a good idea, but then Columbia exploded. Also, 2/3's of the probes sent to Mars have failed. The last thing we need is a probe to burn up and cause a nuclear explosion in the Martian atmosphere because someone forgot that they were supposed to use metric.
Actually landing something with rockets requires a liquid fueled throttle controlled engine attached to the radar altimeter which is very complex and expensive to build. The vikings landed this way at ~$1 billion 1976 dollars. Their landings were *amazingly* accurate, designed to disturb the ground as little as possible. Viking 2 I believe landed with an estimated disturbance of less than 1 mm of dust blown off the ground.
How this mars lander worked was to deploy a parachute to slow it down and then fire some solid rocket motors (can't be shut down or throttled and are really cheap) to bring it to a dead stop around 20-40 ft in the air and then deploy airbags to cushion the last few feet fallen. The system, though complex as it is, is far cheaper and less complex than a liquid fueled rocket motor landing system.
The reason for stopping in mid-air is because of timing variations in calculations. Its difficult to tell exactly what conditions the lander will encounter from 300 million miles away and months before launch. So they fire the rockets early enough to bring it to a stop well before it would hit the ground.
-
Mac OS X and Java application and applet which displays a Mars 'sunclock', a graphical representation of Mars.
.137 AU less into the bargain?
Why would I want a 24.6 hour Martian day when I can get a 4226 hour Mercury day and for
Everyone is complaining how boring the landscape is. What is really needs are "South of the Border" billboards like on rt 95. An gas station sell real indian jewlery, and beef jerky too.
http://www.leadmagnet.50megs.com
Perhaps you mean why didn't it land on the chute. Simple. Risk of getting tangled up on the chute. This has proven lethal for people right here on earth you can imagine how much it would suck to have the entire lander wrapper in its own chute. Cutting it loose above ground means the chute would fly away. You notice it isn't in any of the pictures.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Maybe it's just a watermark those shareware proggies use to add, you know... I bet they haven't registered it yet.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Which says more about the human brain than about Mars, probably.
The last thing we need is a probe to burn up and cause a nuclear explosion in the Martian atmosphere
Ignorance regarding nuclear power. No probe can ever cause a "nuclear explosion". Several probes sent to mars have included RTG's which contain Pu238, including the Vikings. RTG's are extremely safe sources of power - in fact, as far as radioactive elements go, Pu238 is one of the safest to handle since it only produces alpha particles which are stopped by a sheet of paper.
The RTG's themselves are titanium shelled and designed to survive re-entry or explosion. In the unlikely event they are cracked open, the Pu238 is bound in oxide form in a ceramic which resists producing Plutonium dust in an explosion (Pu oxide tends to form chunks) which is the main hazardous form of plutonium.
-
And behind that are two patterns that look a little like diamonds. Probably nothing but maybe there was some frost heaving once upon a time. That can create hexagons in some area in the arctic. I think it might be associated with permafrost.
There's Waldo! Wait, it actualy looks more like Osama's profile! No, no...its the Iraqi WMD!
Going on means going far
Going far means returning
Mars24 has been ported to a Palm Pilot:
MarsClock
Space and Computers.
I think I see Beagle2 - or what's left of it...
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
The last thing we need is a probe to burn up and cause a nuclear explosion in the Martian atmosphere because someone forgot that they were supposed to use metric.
ARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!! (Runs around waving hands in frustration.)
For one, nuclear systems in craft are designed to be survivable in uncontrolled reentry situations. NASA and the Russians have already dropped a few nuclear devices into the oceans after their craft exploded. They always recover them intact, and in some cases, actually reuse them.
Also, anyone who knows about nuclear technology knows how difficult it is to produce a nuclear explosion. Atomic bombs are specially designed to make the reaction go critical. BTW, did you know that Cherynobl continued to operate even after the disaster? People automatically assume it had the leveling power of a bomb, but in truth, radiation release and fallout (read: radioactive dust kicked into the air and soil) has been a far bigger issue.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
People, yes. The grandparent, no.
Right on. Years from now, historians will look back at us and say "it is too bad that they spent tons of money on the space shuttle program instead of beating the chinese and europeans to mars where resource availability and colony set up resulted in huge monetary rewards..."
But does this thing run Linux?
They need to adjust their cameras. There's this strange red tint to the photographs. :-)
It is amazing how people find patterns in random things then project some sort of intelligent design behind it.
I find it interesting how people sometimes see assertions in other people's statements that do not exist. For instance, I never said anything about intelligent design in my first post.
Is there anything like XEarth, but with a Martian desktop display?
Because mostly that's all there is. Later probes might be able to roll or fly to interesting, spectacular places, but for now they are playing things safe.
". . . we're still sending probes!"
Well, yeah. Probes are cheap and have a high Find Things Out For The Buck ratio. There is a lot about Mars we simply don't know, including important things like how much water there is and in what form it is.
We have to know about these things before we can plan manned missions. Hyper-enthusiasts will tell you we can go to Mars tomorrow and create self-sustaining habitats the day after, but they are way full of it, cutting every corner and making every most optimistic assumption. (They're a lot like the L-5 enthusiasts of the 1970s. Anyone else remember them?)
Before you walk, you gotta learn to crawl.
Earthlike atmosphere? No, because Mars is very short on volatiles. Yes, there may well be enough water for a few small seas, and enough CO2 to create a thin atmosphere. But there's little or no nitrogen, and you'll have to crack the CO2 to create oxygen. And, I suppose, Ozone to screen out the U.V. And maybe how to create a magnetosphere from scratch to divert the solar wind.
Terraforming Mars would take centuries and probably involve importing gasses from moons and comets Out Yonder, and successive generations of tailored life forms to do the dirty work.
Stefan
The look like the exact same pics from the Viking lander in the 1970s. Red sand and rocks. Hopefully, they will get some new data out of this.
just a thought, if there was some kind of life on Mars NOW, how do we communicate with them? signals from Earth is probably useless but something physical and visual from the rover might useful.
imagine an alien spaceship landed on Earth, and just moves around and ignores any communication with it.
That isn't Mars in those photos. Those are just old movie props from Total Recall.
They can't fool me.
I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
"Zoidberg", of course, will never get any attention.
You must think in Russian.
No.
LOAD "SIG",8,1
Looking back at your original post, I guess you never said anything about intelligent design. Some people could take that as an implication of your statements, though.
;-)
I agree, it is interesting. So are the "patterns" on my ceiling.
Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
Full size image here
damn filter... here's the link again:
clicky clicky
Some people could take that as an implication of your statements, though.
;-)
:)
And therein lies your error. Make no assumptions. Only comment on concrete, observable phenomena, not on your own assumptions. True, your own perception system is a built in assumption, as this post seems to imply. But even he makes the error of assuming that a certain illusion exists. And, even if the illusion is present, what is it an illusion of? If it's an illusion that changes the perception of one pattern to another pattern, what is the underlying pattern? That is interesting. If it's an illusion that creates the perception of a patter where no pattern exists int he first place, that's even MORE interesting. (When's the last time you saw order springing spontaneously from chaos?)
I agree, it is interesting. So are the "patterns" on my ceiling.
If there was a crack in your ceiling, and I told you it was an illusion, what would you say? If water started leaking through it during a storm, and I persisted in calling it an illusion, what would you think?
Oi! I need to get back to work.
Maybe the "crater" that Beagle landed in is really the left nostril of that "Face Of Mars" from years ago.
Wind trails are just that -- wind trails. No trick here. I guess my point is that we can find interesting patterns in randomness, and often those patterns are brought out by tricks of light, shadows, and perspective.
/dev/random` and come up with a solution to an unknown problem.
That's why we see things in clouds. That's why images stir feelings. That's why an infinite number of monkeys at an infinite number of typewriters for an infinite time will end up typing "Moby Dick" or, at least, the Reader's Digest condensed version. The monkeys really didn't type Moby Dick; we only see it as order within chaos. Another example is the "Bible Code" that was hyped a few years ago... an appearance of order within what would ostensibly be chaos. Interestingly, we only see patterns that are familiar to us, patterns we are looking for. It's unlikely that someone will `cat
Even though we see patterns it does not necessarily indicate intelligent design (unless you believe in an all-powerful God that created the universe and all its contents).
Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
We all know these are a fake pictures, probably taken in the grand canyon. That way NASA can get increased government funding without having to send a craft to mars. It's all a scam people! Don't believe it! Man never walked on the moon, and we've never sent a craft to Mars! It's all a scam!!! =D
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
Gen IV nuclear reactors are extremely safe (and most certainly won't EXPLODE) and if you're going to see reactors in space (besides what the soviets launched decades ago) they'll be of similar and extremely safe compact designs. You only need a few kilos of uranium to power a spacecraft for months and uranium isn't all that dangerous either.
Its unlikely a nuclear engine will provide launch power from earth, but I can see one being put in space and then going from there.
-
Martians sunsets are "pink/red," not blue.
Further careful analysis of Viking Lander data revealed a Martian sky which is generally "butterscotch" (yellow/brownish) in color, except for the pink/red of sunset and sunrise. This was confirmed by Mars Pathfinder.
"Sufferin' succotash."
I have this sudden mental image of a Martian H.G. Wells investigating a crater, poking a broken Beagle 2 with a stick, and coming up with a story about an invasion from the Blue planet... (Hope the first wave of Human invaders have been immunised)
some video clips of the martian planet? I want to see some pebbles sit on the ground in 30fps video.
www.samuraidreams.com - My Blog
www.samuraifiles.com - Get Some Videos Here
Is it my monitor or does the photos taken at the JPL have a reddish tint?
Seriously, Don't take anything I say seriously.
> Also helps if you spell poorly.
Or submit a redundant story.
work in monochrome. Actually all CCD's do. Your consumer camera has built in color filters attached physically to the CCD with a separate color per charge well. While this makes processing for you and the camera simple, it lowers the resolution and sensitivity than if you were using a single filter across the whole CCD and then later combine it into a mosaic.
The filter wheel also includes infrared and ultraviolet filters so that the camera can explore in those wavelengths as well. So it can still see more than what your consumer camera can.
And while its all fine and good the PCSAT has been lucky enough to work with off the shelf parts, if you're given a big budget and told to send something to mars (several months and a whole lot of radiation away..once you leave earth's somewhat protective magnetic field you're in a really dangerous environment) and you want to be really sure things work well, its best to get your equipment space certified and well proven, even if it sacrifices the cutting edge.
-
It's Waldo.
Hundred or so replies and their server still opens up in a click! The unstoppable /. effect has fallen hit the immovable NASA wall.
"Any appearance of order in the image is just an illusion."
Sure it is. How much are they paying you?
This might be *slightly* offtopic but where do I buy the 3D viewer. Anyone can suggest the store that might be carrying it ? It might help me and others find those 3D viewers to enjoy the mars view. I have tried so many stores from the electronics, to software to video games to Spencers, etc... none of them seem to be carrying them...
Between the mystery of seeing a truly alien landscape from the ground, and the symbolism of what humankind can accomplish when we set our mind to it, I find this terribly inspiring.
Next you'll tell me you don't see what's so beautiful about a woman's eyes... They're just a white jelly-filled ball covered in mucous, after all.
There's more to beauty than just the photons hitting your cornea.
The enemies of Democracy are
Flaws in human perception is always the last ditch explanation of the kneejerk skeptic. It's kind of like the placebo effect. It can be used to explain away anything.
:)
That's why we see things in clouds.
What do you see when a long, thin, straight cloud in an otherwise clear sky gets longer and longer?
See, when I see a roughly colinear collection of rocks, I see...a roughly colinear collection of rocks. Even given a perspective illusion, this collection would remain colinear. (Lines translate to lines in perspective...)
Why do you try to explain away a pattern as being due to a certain cause? I made no such assertions as to the cause of the patterns, just that I observed them.
Even though we see patterns it does not necessarily indicate intelligent design
And, if you would read beyond your assumptions, you would see that I did not assert intelligent design. You did. I only commented on my perception of a pattern and the interest that perception aroused.
Before you are skeptical of other people's perceptions, be skeptical of your own assumptions. Skeptic...heal thyself!
The transmission of data has been slow... Something is not working as expected.
It will be more interesting when later photos. show some of those rocks are slowly moving toward the ship ......and shortly afterward no more transmissions are received.....
Mirroring content form the NASA server on *gasp* a NASA server!
My the usefulness of this astounds me!
Europe has the worst education system. They don't even study The Marshall Plan - where the USA saves your ass from the commies!!
I'd like to see them drive around and create a movie. Now THAT would rock. However, unlike the slashtrolls, I can wait for JPL to finish the post-flight checks and actually move the rover off the lander. :)
Questioning the wisom of the all-powerful moderators will result in more negative karma.
I oughta know, it happened to me two weeks ago.
Beagle2...
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
Yeah, but what about those nucular activists?
Yeah, but what about those nucular activists?
I don't know. They can't spell maybe?
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Is it just me, or is there a burnt detached skull lying there?! Did the solid rockets broil a Martian on the way down?
Alien planets do all look like rock quarries!
For fun I carefully massaged the photo to suppress the massive red cast, so we can see all the colors and detail more clearly : here!
And the original for comparison (just resized) : here!
Well this really is a very different view of Mars than to what we are used to. Those rocks are very smooth, tho it could be the dustdevils that cause that over many millions of years rather than water. Apparently this landing spot has quite a lot of them. Wouldn't it be cool if it was caused by water eroson! It would be one of the biggest discoveries of the century.
For comparison, here is the Pathfinders landing site.
(*fingers crossed for Beagle 2 and the next NASA rover*)
Trying to view the full-size image has killed my X server!
Here on earth we have water to move rocks around, otherwise they pretty much stay put. What do you suppose moved those fragments around?
The rover and its pictures are all fine and good, but for over 400 million a pop, the question remains......
How will the rover improve nerds neverending quest for more porn??
Veramocor
the Memorial to the Columbia crew that they put on board.
They just announced it today, hence why it is blacked it out in the first images.
the columbia plaque was a nice touch. Actually, I was watching cowboy bebop yesterday and I was taken by suprise when in episode 18 the columbia shuttle (intact) makes a guest appearance. That was erie!
I really can't tell if you are being facetious, but just so you know, any three points in the same plane that don't form a line will form a triangle.
So, no, I don't find it terribly interesting that you can find lines and triangles in an assortment of rocks.
"...Skeptic...heal thyself!"
Can't be done.
Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
did you know that Cherynobl continued to operate even after the disaster?
;)
And that, in some way, is meant to make us feel better??!
Can't be done.
Should be tried.
/. seeking urgently professional comedians.
for the tif version of this first color photo, head here. warning: 40mb!
i was watching CNN or Headline News and the NASA person they were interviewing said the compression ratio for this picture was 24:1, which is done by the rover before transmission. apparently, the ratio is adjustable and they are gearing up to take even better shots with less compression soon.
And that, in some way, is meant to make us feel better??!
:-)
*chuckle*
No, I meant that the area wasn't destroyed in the meltdown, as many people believe. Stack 4 (IIRC) was more or less gone, but the rest of the stacks continued to operate for a long, long time. I think the new Russian government might have finally decommissioned the remaining reactors, but my memory is a little hazy.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
What happens after 90 days of the mission? Can we write programs that try to extend the life of the mission and submit them to nasa? I would like to know if the brush on the rover for the grinder can be used to 'clean' off the solar cells to extend their power generating lifetime. I guess there is no manipulator on the robotic arm, so doing anything interesting to the structure of the rover is out. Can we make them slowly rendezvous at a point on the surface, or make them go to one of the other rover sites? Is the terrain unsurmountable? Could we use the arms on both the rovers to manipulate objects?
i am so very tired....
ion engines only throw out lightweight ions - even if you put a nuclear engine on one. It won't be enough to get you off the ground. These work great in space where you don't have resistance to overcome and you can build your velocity slowly over time through orbitting.
Chemical rockets on the other hand generate steam and other heavier mass exhaust gasses which generate more force in the short term and giving you massive acceleration, which is what you need to get off the ground and stay off it.
-
As a Brit, I wouldn't want to see my parent's tax money being spent on useless toys for some uniformed cunts.
You are quite old fashioned for a youngster, that was a popular sentiment in the 1920s and 30s.
So.... they can run away faster or farther?
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
WWJD.... for a Klondike bar?
There is a significant amount of difference between a nuclear bomb and a nuclear reactor. A nuclear bomb is designed to release all of its energy (i.e. fission all or almost all of its fuel) in one instant. A nuclear reactor isn't designed to do this and can't do it if it wanted. Since nuclear reactors require the moderation of product fission neutrons in order to make subsequent fission probable (the lower the velocity of a neutron, the more likely it will be near the nuclear radius of a U-235 atom for a longer time and be able to be absorbed), a certain time is expended between each fission during the moderation (there is some average distance between collisions during the moderation and a neutron has to travel it); hence, time for heat transfer to occur. If a nuclear reactor ran out of control, the heat transfer would expand its fuel and other reactor materials to such a degree that it would be improbable for fission neutrons to cause subsequent fissions (i.e. if you are inside a large enough balloon with an 'X' painted on the side and you blew up the balloon, it would be harder and harder to hit the 'X'), and the reactor would shut down without releasing all of its power. Nowhere near the amount of energy released in a nuclear bomb would be released.
Suddenly, the hairy finger of a familiar monkey tapped me on the shoulder. It was time.--G. T.
Jeez, get the jpeg2000 codec out guys
Why live in the 80s?
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Full resolution JPG (3498 samples x 3851 lines)
...this stuff could stick to the wheels?
What? You guys couldn't afford mudflaps?
http://www.livejournal.com/users/cixel
Anyone notice that split rock in the foreground? I'm no geologist - what would split a rock on Mars? Ice?
Hey, anyone notice that split rock in the foreground? I'm no geologist - what does it take to split a rock on Mars? Ice?
There's a page describing some martian 'city' this guy thinks he's found.
-
Look under "3-D glasses, sources" on the page below.
For news, status, updates, scientific info, images, video, and more, please visit: Mars Exploration Rover Highlights (AXCH).
I find it interesting how people sometimes see assertions in other people's statements that do not exist. For instance, I never said anything about intelligent design in my first post.
:P
I didn't respond to your post. I responded to the post that mentioned pyramids. I guess you just proved your point.
FYI, the NOVA program for me will be on channel 28, KCET (at 8:00 PM as site states, almost an hour from now).
Forget bungee jumping, now there's Airbag Jumping!!
How far can you fall before pulling the cord to surround yourself with 30 airbags for a cushioned landing.
Excellent job. That is much closer to what mars really looks like on the surface. Most people forget that mars has a blue sky (except for dust storms). Why nasa continues to cast the pictures with a red hue to everything is beyond me.
Sig? What Sig?
No wait--it's Mother Teresa!
"Hot, green-skinned, six-breasted Martian stripper girls."
Imagine making love to a woman with six breasts!
And so it should. Occam's razor and all that.
If you want me to believe that your new purple pill is worth $13 apiece, you have to do better than saying it's as good as a placebo.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. The skeptic never has the burden of proof. And everything that can be explained away, should be.
-ccm
Too much Law; not enough Order.
You think Indian outsourcing is bad.. just wait for Martian outsourcing..
Teflon was actually invented by a DuPont scientist, Dr. Roy Plunkett. In 1938 he accidentally discovered Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) while trying to produce a better coolant gas. Since Polytetrafluoroethylene is not a very catchy name, Dr. Plunkett abbreviated it and Teflon(R) was born.
By the early 1950s, Marc Gregoir of Paris successfully applied Teflon to his fishing tackle hoping to minimize tangling. It was his wife who conceived the idea to apply Teflon to pots and pans. It would not be until the mid-1960s that Teflon-coated cookware was commonplace in the American kitchen.
-Jon
source
this is my sig.
If we were doing it for the scenery, we'd have aimed for Olympus Mons or one of the spectacular canyons.
This mission is designed to survive in order to dig into the dirt, drill into the rocks, and do quite a few other experiments that require being there and touching things. Of course, we're not going to do it with our eyes closed, so we take pictures to figure out where to go and what to try in addition to learning anything we can from the images.
"Those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded."
Without spending a grand or more for a Geochron, is there a similar PC screen saver for download to the one for Mars?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Has somebody noticed that stranger broken rock on the left right inferior corner? this hollow one!
It seems a fossil egg
EC1CXR
And a way to get a free pair of red/blue glasses to view the anaglyphs.
And some anaglyph 3D views from the Spirit lander.
Well, the Martians missed again. Got the Beagle II, but missed us. Is their aim worse than usual lately, or are they just not good at double-headers?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Appearently one of the electric motors on the movable high-gain antenna is generating excess friction and they keep playing with it trying to determine why. I think perhaps they should get on with the mission rather than waste 2-way broadcast cycles fiddling with minor problems like that. There is not much they can do with a rough motor, is there? Anybody have more details on this problem?
Table-ized A.I.
note the thrust of the solid rocket boosters during the critical first few seconds: 3.1 million lbs each.
e m/ 11/29.cfm
Nuclear is great once you're in space. But you still have to get to space.
http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/HAS/cirr/
That page has a good overview of the different types of propulsion systems and their proper usages. Key point: Getting to orbit requires high thrust chemical. Once you're there, you can start up your more efficient but slower accelerating nuclear engine.
-
Mars really does need women!
The colors of the Viking lander, especially in the US flag on it, are mismatched and discolored. When the hues are remapped in a paint program to the correct colors of the flag, the sky turns blue.
Or in a room with coloured floodlights? Or anywhere where you're not getting pure, "white" sunlight?
*gasp!* Things don't look their original colour! Know why? Because if you illuminate something with red light, it will be tinted red. Take an American flag, shine a red light on it, and OF COUSE the colours will be wrong. Mars' atmosphere is naturally tinted red (all them oxides in the air scatter the blue wavelenghts), so by the time light from the sun gets to reflecting off any object, you're getting the same effect. Removing the red gives you the same effect as if you had (ready for it?) taken the picture in sunlight as seen from Earth!
No conspiracy here, it's just optics.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
All data is speech. All speech is Free.
please NASA learn to use bittorrent, saves your server and then you can send us the super high res raw pics we would really like to see
we like to zoom in also!
PLEASE!
Bittorrent is PERFECT for this!
please NASA learn to use bittorrent, saves your server and then you can send us the super high res raw pics we would really like to see
we like to zoom in also!
PLEASE!
Bittorrent is PERFECT for this!
All it costs you is the first few downloads then everyone else takes over!
PLEASE!
Windows and linux versions work great!
Just wanted to mention that, in my always humble opinion, everyone at NASA has done an outstanding job on this.
When someone might yell at me, it has to be OpenBSD.
The parachute is probably visible from orbit. :)
When someone might yell at me, it has to be OpenBSD.
This is your tax dollars going towards CIA supercomputers that they wanted to use to spy on voice calls from all Americans!
They are saving you from the terrorists! Be glad!
They simply diverted funding from NASA to their supercomputer project (a cluster of supercomputers) and then to keep the public happy, generated a complete Mars Lander virtual program, to even fool the scientists into thinking this is really happening!
The cluster only has to use *some* CPU cycles when it needs to render a panorama shot, the rest is easy and THEY GET TO KEEP THE HARDWARE AFTERWORDS!
Isn't this great! Isn't technology wonderful? The government thinks so.
Thanks for your tax dollars!
In the high resolution image of the martian horizon in the lower left corner, in the wind trail, there is definately a pipe sticking up from in the ground. The wind trail does not seem damaged so it can't be from the landing.
Something has been here before...
I remember them stating the high res images would be good enough to be blown-up the size of a theatre screen and still have little/no res loss. -- The images slashdotted here "First high res images" definately aren't _THAT_ high res.
What's going on?
I couldnt even make it my desktop BG without res loss.
In case you didn't see the photos, they are of dirt and rocks.
Good question!
Check those NASA pictures where you see JPL equipment - all is in red. It's obviously photohoped. I understand to see all the red on the surface. But why all equipment is red? I don't believe it's all painted in red.
So, it's fishy to me.
Less is more !
For me all those pictures are a fake in terms of color. Why do faked it? That's another question.
Less is more !
I find interesting the rock that appears to be split due to mechanical weathering just slightly up and right of the blacked out area of the photo.
Where are the martians??? I've been wating years to see them! Now the pictures come back and none. I think it's a scam... I think the goverment got loads of pictures of little green martian's and just want to be selfish and keep them all to themselves.
The destruction of another planet in the name of humankind. Am I the only one that thinks it's sad that we're already destroying off-world natural resources?
"Mars" is just a cover story. It's really in Afghanistan. They're looking for Osama hiding behind those rocks.
SHHHHHH...you'll get Richard Hoagland and the Art Bell Coast-to-Coast AM radio crew whipped into a frenzy. "This one series of rocks here, if you squint at it a certain way and look at it through cling wrap, looks a little peculiar to me...the only possible explanation is an ALIEN PRESENCE and GOVERNMENT CONSPIRACY."
My shirt is grey, but when I stand in a room with a blue light, guess what? It looks blue.
Mars' sky is red, ergo the light that comes down through it is red. It's like shining a red light down onto the Mars rover. It's going to look red.
Finally, Nasa has actually taken extraordinary measures with this mission to ensure that the colours are correct. In previous missions, they sent digital cameras that simply captured what they saw, without any corrections. This time, they actually have a calibrated colour wheel mounted to the station itself. One of the reasons there was a bit of a delay in Nasa releasing colour photos is they took the time to re-calibrate their imaging equipment to the colour wheel on the station. They did this to ensure that the colours we see in the photos is accurate. That is, if you have normal colour vision, and were standing right where the rover is parked right now, the colours you'd see would perfectly match those in the photos released.
And if you were wearing a grey shirt at the time, it would look red. Right before you died.
Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
NASA is indeed hiding something. Check out the original photo, before NASA photoshopped it.
http://j.bruce.home.mindspring.com/realmars.jpg
credit goes to "madmikee" on corvetteforum.com for this
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
Just imagine what a government run space exploration agency is going to do with incoming data. I mean, NASA's caught-red-handed-but-subsequently-ignored-by-the
If something were to pop up on a Martian-explorer's camera other than another boring red rock, you can be pretty much assured it'll never reach the public awareness until the reality-doctors have had a chance to figure out what to do with it. Just look at how loopy everybody got over the possibility micro-fossil organisms; put a nice big Martian relic on the table and people would start throwing themselves from building tops. Not going to happen. Not yet, anyway. Gotta warm up the kettle slow-like, because people have been so herded that they spook at the slightest course change in 'reality'.
Anyway, we're trying to pitch a frickin' war down here, so no star-gazing. Now get back to your trench.
-FL
Has anyone else noticed there seems to be a shiny nut (as in bolt) in http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA04995.jpg ?
It's in that lower left section that is sticking out at the bottom. You can see it's reflecting light.
Is Spirit falling apart or have we found a clue as to what happened to Beagle2?
-- Rob
> You theory of red-dust-in-the-air cannot explain why all equipment we see is in red? Don't tell me that it's all painted red in NASA specially for Mars.
Here's an experiment: put a white sheet of paper on a table. Turn on a red light. What color does the paper look? Does it turn whiter if you get closer to it?
If the atmosphere is reddish, all the light coming through it is reddish, and under reddish light, everything looks, well, reddish.
> For me all those pictures are a fake in terms of color.
Well, "for you" isn't the measurement they used, apparently.
Virg
> My guess is that black and white takes less bandwidth and processing power.
Your guess is correct. The BW camera is a navigation camera (remember, this device is a rover) so it can transmit more frames per second because they're low-res, BW images. More frames means faster reaction to navigation hazards. The high-res color cameras are there for the "real" pictures.
Virg
My shirt is blue, but when I stand in a room with a red light, guess what? It looks purple.
Don't say that they made all equipment only grey - there must be other colors too. And if that color is not red - it will apear in a red light as a mixed.
Now, your theory has even more weak points. The problem is that the day light in Mars cannot be just red. It can have slightly more red than other color - but not completely red. Te Marsian athmosphere is not a lamp bulb - it's just a transparent air with small amount of red dust. That means it may add a little bit of red to the light by reflecting it from dust particles, but guess what, that change would be a fraction of %. The original blue and green component of the sunlight will be still there.
By all means the pictures are fake. It's a matter of time now to read articles full of criticism from varios athmosphere phisists who do not work for NASA.
That is, if you have normal colour vision, and were standing right where the rover is parked right now, the colours you'd see would perfectly match those in the photos released.
Once I was in the middle of red-color cloud made my military signalling grenade. Let me tell you - red colors around were looking slightly brighter than others, but the grass was still green (although some brownish), and the blue jeans were still blue (although some purplish).
Also, back two decades ago I used to do black-white photo for my family, and the lab was a room with a red light. Again, my blue jeans were purple, and my green shirt were brown, while yellow things were orange. And that was in the room with EXCLUSIVELY red light. Remember? Marisan dust clouds do not create a monochrome light - they transparent to the light adding a bit of red by reflecting the WHITE light from particles.
Less is more !
Sun is white, and marsian dust clouds are transparent enough - they don't change the lign frequency, they just reflect a fraction of % of the light adding a VERY SMALL AMOUNT of red.
Well, "for you" isn't the measurement they used, apparently.
At some point I was studing athmosphere phisics back in University. Enough to make logical estimations about the subject.
Plus in mountains I was in the middle of a big red smoke cloud from military signalling grenade. All our equipment was still in the original color, just a LITTLE BIT changed. While on those pictures i see all equipment as it is under a MONOCHROME red lamp.
Less is more !
Printfs, HAHAHA!!! Any real computer nerd would get this! HAHA!
But really, I with the Mars Express radar would get to work and find those ancient city ruins on Mars!
How about we get this rover to find some evidence of past civilization on the Mars and find that WE are the martians.
...they don't beat the pictures of Uranus!
It's a phenomenon very familiar to photographers here on Earth. Our blue sky creates a strong blue or cyan cast in pictures taken in open shade. I suspect something similar happens on Mars.
Now... the question is, what is the "right" color for these pictures? I'd guess that the engineers and scientists at NASA didn't build any automatic white-balance into Spirit's cameras. They probably set them for Earth daylight (5400°K) color balance for comparison. If that's the case, then in one sense, these are exactly the right colors.
But color is a shifty thing. Your eyes automatically adjust to the color of the light; flourescent light is very green, incandescent light is very orange, but you seldom notice it. It's likely that if you lived on Mars for any length of time, you would start to perceive direct daylight as white, regardless of its measured color temperature. So the sky might very well look blue...
If I stare up at the light fixture on my ceiling, there appears to be a "pattern" of concentric rings and radial lines of texture. It's daylight, the curtains are open, and snow is on the ground so when the light is off, I have plane-source scattered light and any "pattern" disappears.
Any appearance of order in the image is just an illusion.
Or it could be a secret message from God!
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
And what extraordinary claims did I make?
I said, "Look. There's a line of rocks."
The skeptic never has the burden of proof.
Absolutely wrong. The skeptic has a burden of proof, as much as any being who utters logical assertions. If you are going to propose an explanation for a phenomenon, any explanation, you must back that up. In my first post I simply made an observation. What were the replies? Immediate "debunking." What the skeptics didn't realize was that there was nothing to debunk except their own misinterpretation of the post.
THAT is the skeptic's burden, one which is regularly shirked due to intellectual arrogance and laziness.
Did any of you "smart" people think that the reason they didn't put them on the rovers is because they had a limited budget and couldn't afford the cost?
Naaah! It's much easier to blame imaginary modern day luddites influencing NASA policy than to think of something more mundane...and correct...
Debunking the "59 Deceits"
WTF Troll??? I was making fun of the accusations during the 1960's!
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0