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NASA Spaceship Scouts Out Prime Mars Landing Spots

Posted by Zonk on from the you-know-they-limit-the-good-ones-to-give-out-tickets dept.

coondoggie writes "NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter this week sent back high-resolution images of about 30 proposed landing sites for the Mars Science Laboratory, a mission launching in 2009 to deploy a long-distance rover carrying sophisticated science instruments on Mars. The orbiter's high-resolution camera has taken more than 3,500 huge, sharp images released in black-and-white since it began science operations in November 2006. The images show features as small as a desk. The orbiter has sent back some 26 terabytes of data, equivalent to about 5,000 CD-ROMs."

8 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. 5,000 CD-ROMs? by Change · · Score: 5, Funny

    How much is that in Libraries of Congress?

  2. How many libraries of congress...? by Lookin4Trouble · · Score: 3, Funny

    26TB == ~5,000 DVD (Single Layer, 4.7GB per) or ~36,000 CD-ROM (700MB per). Are those JPL guys trying to convert to/from metric _again_ or was that just Zonk being Zonk?

    1. Re:How many libraries of congress...? by flyingsquid · · Score: 5, Funny
      26TB == ~5,000 DVD (Single Layer, 4.7GB per) or ~36,000 CD-ROM (700MB per). Are those JPL guys trying to convert to/from metric _again_

      Maybe the conversion got screwed up because of the difference between metric Libraries of Congress and Imperial Libraries of Congress? Anyway, the line that impressed me was "The images show features as small as a desk." Who'd have thought, a desk on Mars.

    2. Re:How many libraries of congress...? by DaveWick79 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Too bad the camera isn't good enough to pick up the Martian sitting at the desk.

      Really, if any of the landing spots have desks near them, I'd avoid them as much as possible.

    3. Re:How many libraries of congress...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      You know, an Imperial Library of Congress has a bit of a ring to it...

  3. Seaching for life? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    From the article: The images show features as small as a desk
    If they are looking for life on Mars, they should land where the desk is.

  4. It REALLY doesn't matter by zappepcs · · Score: 3, Funny

    If they have been using P2P clients to download them, the RIAA/MPAA will be suing them shortly.

    The court case will be of special interest as the first attempt by a US entity to claim IP rights off world, and will be referred to for decades to come as precedent reference.

    In unusual clamor, SETI will engage the ACLU to defend NASA, and found the ETIPFLC (extra terrestrial IP Freedom Law Center) to later become the infamous Galactic Law Center. You will remember them, as this gigantic legal machine was the first recognition of the human race by other sentient beings in the universe.

    --
    Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
  5. Re:Bad Math by mcbutterbuns · · Score: 2, Funny

    Give 'em a break, they were using Excel to do the math