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One Mars Probe Photographs Another
sighted writes "In one of the more remarkable shots ever taken by robotic space explorers, the Opportunity Mars rover has been photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter ." From the article: "Shown in the image are 'Duck Bay,' the eroded segment of the crater rim where Opportunity first arrived at the crater; 'Cabo Frio,' a sharp promontory to the south of Duck Bay; and 'Cape Verde,' another promontory to the north. When viewed at the highest resolution, this image shows the rover itself, wheel tracks in the soil behind it, and the rover's shadow, including the shadow of the camera mast. After this image was taken, Opportunity moved to the very tip of Cape Verde to perform more imaging of the interior of the crater."
Yeah, I know how the probes feel, every now and then I'll run into one of my grade school classmates thousands of miles away from where we went to school.
We shake hands and take pictures of each other.
I wonder if the probes experience the same awkward silence after you've asked them how they're doing and feign interest about what they've been up to. I'll bet they both broke out, "Well, I'll let you go, you must be so busy and what with having the whole rest of the planet to photograph....but it was nice meeting you! And out here of all places! I mean with you an orbiter and I a rover, who would have thought we would have been assigned to the same planet?! It's a small universe afterall!"
My work here is dung.
Opportunity Mars rover: I can't believe it, it's like a dream. What's wrong?
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: I just had a terrible thought: what if this is a dream?
Opportunity Mars rover: Well then photograph me quick before you wake up.
Have you read my journal today?
It's fantastic that eggheads can find that teeny tiny rover on all the face of Mars when on most nights I have a hard time finding the ignition in my car after I leave the bar.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Think of the ratings if there were actual people there!
Is she sunbathing nude?
KFG
"Morning, Sam."
"Morning, Ralph."
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I'll give you partial credit for the "on another planet" part. No points for proof of intelligence, because there's strong evidence that the robot was built by humans.
You never really know how close to the edge you can go until you fall off.
if the tracks had spelled out "When Can I Come Home?"
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Wow, I can view Mars in better detail than I can my own freaking house on Google Maps...
but it is more impressive that Opportunity is still working years after its original mission was expected to end. I know both rovers, Opportunity and Spirit, are showing their age, but still to continue to function two and half years past their "warranty" as NASA calls is so cool. In the time since they landed on Mars I've moved three times, changed cities, broke up with two girlfriends, changed jobs and done time for molesting a goat.
Super High Resolution View
An analysis of probe communications reveals that they are now uploading their pictures of each other to their MySpace profiles.
Look, they even used that cliched "MySpace angle" where you shoot the camera down from above.