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."

9 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.
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: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: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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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.