Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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."

4 of 78 comments (clear)

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

    How much is that in Libraries of Congress?

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. Re:How many libraries of congress...? by LBArrettAnderson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    another possibility is that they mixed up bits and bytes... if it were 26 terabits of data it would in fact be somewhat close to 5,000 CDs. (in fact it would be exactly 5,000 of the older CDs that held 650 MB on them).