Making Tracks on Mars

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Posted by michael on Tuesday September 28, 2004 @12:28AM from the leave-only-footprints-and-landers dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In a remarkable series of orbital pictures, the Mars Global Surveyor's cameras have imaged the tracks of the Spirit rover on the surface. Individual debris pieces including the backshell and lander are visible with remarkable clarity using an innovative roll of the satellite."

19 of 179 comments (clear)

An Initiative roll? Already made the saving throw by EQ · 2004-09-28 00:30 · Score: 4, Funny

[insert D&D reference here]

I wonder what the Satellite has for initiative roll bonuses?

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What else... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-28 00:32 · Score: 5, Funny

Now all they need to do is locate the massive impact crater left by Beagle 2.
They're not tracks... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-28 00:37 · Score: 1, Funny

...they're alien canals!
Hey you kids! by spidergoat2 · 2004-09-28 00:42 · Score: 3, Funny

Quit messing up my lawn!!!
Unearthly by NoInfo · 2004-09-28 00:43 · Score: 3, Funny

Yes, it's soooo interesting to look at our own devices on other planets.

Maybe it's just me, but when I'm on an exotic vacation, I don't go out and start taking pictures of my car.

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Re:Crap. by lucabrasi999 · 2004-09-28 00:44 · Score: 2, Funny

The Earthern Moon is, by definition, not a planet
True. But the article does not discuss the Moon. It talks about Mars Rover.
JPEGs! by The+Grassy+Knoll · 2004-09-28 00:45 · Score: 1, Funny

>imaged the tracks of the Spirit rover on the surface

Oh, yeah. Link to JPEGs why don't you? ;-)

Previously on slashdot...

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Messages by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-28 00:49 · Score: 0, Funny

You'd think that the NASA geeks could have managed to sneakily plot the rover's course so we get a message like "Osama was here" writ large in the Martian dust... What a wasted opportunity.
Re:I'm not so sure. by mikael · 2004-09-28 00:52 · Score: 2, Funny

Reminds me of a sketch I saw on French TV, which was taking the mickey out of journalists who were make live reports on Iraq from their own homes back in England. They show this barrage of green lights constantly starting to flying upwards, then as the camera pans out, you see the camera was doing a zoom-in on the water in the bowl, as the chain was being pulled.

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Re:Crap. by Moby+Cock · 2004-09-28 01:02 · Score: 2, Funny

NASA ought to launch a Roomba to Mars to take care of all the mess. Its small, robust and autonomous. A perfect solution!
Re:What about the Moon? by Patrik_AKA_RedX · 2004-09-28 01:04 · Score: 4, Funny

they can't. Satelites can't look inside movie studios.
Re:This is nothing new by dykofone · 2004-09-28 01:06 · Score: 3, Funny

Planets that dont have an atmosphere such as Mars and the Moon
Point 1) Mars has an atmosphere.
Point 2) The moon isn't a planet.
Other than that you're completely right.
Re:figures -- we humand are pigs by MBaldelli · 2004-09-28 01:09 · Score: 2, Funny

I think it was called "Salvage 1"

OMG. Andy Griffith's forray into sci-fi. And here I thought that I had blissfully forgetten it. Thank you very much for reminding me about it.

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Re:What does this say about Earth imaging? by jstave · 2004-09-28 01:10 · Score: 4, Funny

Makes me wonder what spy satellites can do, what commercial imaging satellites can do, and what DHS wants to let us have.
The government spy satelites can actually image individual crinkles on our tin-foil hats.
Re:Terraforming or ecosynthesising mars by mikrorechner · 2004-09-28 01:20 · Score: 3, Funny

I started to wonder - what gas other than nitrogen would be good to compose the other 80% (assuming we reach earth density - could we have a 1/5 less atomosphere than was 99% 02?
I don't think anything that has evolved on earth could survive in such an atmosphere for very long. And having things from earth there is the point of terraforming, right?

Also, if you had played The Little Terraformer's Virtual Lab (aka Sim Earth) long enough, you would know that if the oxygen ratio is higher than 25%, trees start to burn spontaneous. And then everybody dies, unless you have a fish civilization, or whales, or crustacean, or...

Ahem, I got a little carried away there. Sorry.

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There is life on Mars! by Chemisor · 2004-09-28 02:18 · Score: 2, Funny

Now we know how those "canals" got there :)
Damn! by Civil_Disobedient · 2004-09-28 03:03 · Score: 3, Funny

the combination of the lower orbit and the very thin atmosphere on Mars means there are estimates that the MRO cameras could resolve objects as small as 150 millimeters across in the visual light spectrum

I think I just shat myself.
They need to stop this monkey business! by BobPaul · 2004-09-28 03:08 · Score: 2, Funny

If they keep driving all over the surface of Mars, how will they ever tell the difference between their tracks and those made by the little green men?

We'll never prove the existance of life on Mars at this rate!
Re:Crap. by nizo · 2004-09-28 03:32 · Score: 2, Funny

I look forward to the day the first human comes along and picks up all this stuff to put in the new "Mars Museum". I just hope it happens in my lifetime.

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