1/7/2004: More Mars
 

http://cellar.org/2004/mars2.jpg

This is the first non-stereo color pic from Spirit, I think, and it's also today's Astronomy Pic of the Day. But while APoD crops a neat landscpe view out of this, I took the whole big image and reduced it, so you could see what the big image looks like. You are in what they think might be an ancient lake bed, looking at Martian horizon.

http://cellar.org/2004/mars3.jpg

Then I cropped out just a section of the lower right, and sharpened it. Here you can see a sharper shot of a big ol Martian rock. The messy area is where the Spirit airbag was, before it retracted. And interestingly, it looks like the Spirit landing pressed some of those rocks right into the dust.

Especially on the wider image, you can see a trail of darker dust on the left side of any large rock. They figure this is wind sweeping the dust.

Now that the rover has landed, positioned its antenna, and had a look around, its next step will be to stand up, calibrate its instruments, pick a good direction, and start moving. It could get even more interesting from here.

Does this mean Lucas will now have time to finish the Star Wars saga?

the sky is groovy. pink. it looks a lot like an old movie i saw about martians......i think it was the martian cronicles or somethng? fantastico!

What do sunrises and sunsets look like? Is there enough atmosphere to make them interesting?

Sunset on Mars from Pathfinder: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970804.html

That "stuff" in the lower right corner of the second pic is I think what they're discussing here:

"It is bizarre," said Steve Squyres, principal investigator on the NASA team. "It's strangely cohesive. It's not like anything I've ever seen before. It's weird stuff."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/science...rs-rover_x.htm

Weird stuff indeed, I don't know what to make of it.

Martian loess?

Re: 1/7/2004: More Mars
 

Great, now we're trying to fuck up other planets!

Re: 1/7/2004: More Mars
 

As the resident sceptic, it will only get interesting when a green head with three ears, one eye and a set of antennae fills the video cam screen ....

Meantimes ... I believe NASA has probably made another giant Metric VS Imperial fuck-up (did I hear .. groooaaans .. in the background) .. and the Spirit has landed in the Australian outback in the middle of a duststorm ..

Well? .. doesn't it seem just a tad suspicious, the Australian outback is just that same RED dirt and rocks .. ?? .. and you can go for days without seeing anyone?? .. and I do believe that messy area, is definitely, a smeared kangaroo turd .. :)

Just wait until the camera pans around, and a wrecked abandoned car, fills the viewfinder ........ :rolleyes:

To add to my scepticsm, (narrowed eyes) .. why do they have a Mars Society in Australia .. and a MarsOz test site?? ... I rest my case ... :)

http://www.marssociety.org.au/