• Mars Rover Curiosity Sends First Full-Color Panorama of Its New Martian Home
    154 replies, posted
[QUOTE]After a couple days of black-and-white imagery and blurry color thumbnails, the Mars rover Curiosity has downlinked its first full-color, 360-degree view of its new home in Gale Crater. Click past the jump to enlarge the whole thing--it's incredible. The image was brightened during its processing, because it's not actually this sunny on Mars. The planet is another 50-ish million miles from the sun, and it only receives half the sunlight Earth does. Still, it's bright enough for the rover to see its own shadow. The pebbly ground, which may be part of an ancient alluvial fan (water-flowing area), is also clear. Those grayish splotches are areas where Curiosity's sky crane descent stage blew away the dust with its rockets, and those will be interesting targets for scientists. Curiosity team members want to study the bedrock at Gale Crater to understand how the crater formed and what minerals are present there. They need to be careful the hydrazine rocket fuel doesn't interfere with measurements, however, which is one reason they don't plan to visit the descent stage itself, which isn't too far away. You can also clearly see sand dunes at the top, which appeared as a dark strip in the black-and-white images the rover previously sent this week. In color, you can see more detail and make out brownish, reddish areas, which indicate different rock textures and materials. Curiosity will be sending lots more postcards from Mars, along with its science findings — check with us for the latest updates. [img]http://www.popsci.com/files/675227main_pia16029-full_full.jpeg[/img] [B]Curiosity's First Panorama[/B] This is the first 360-degree panorama in color of Curiosity's landing site in Gale Crater on Mars. The panorama was made from 130 different 144-pixel by 144-pixel thumbnails taken by the Mast Camera. Click here to expand it. Scientists will be taking a closer look at several splotches in the foreground that appear gray. These areas show the effects of the descent stage's rocket engines blasting the ground. What appeared as a dark strip of dunes in previous, black-and-white pictures from Curiosity can also be seen along the top of this mosaic, but the color images also reveal additional shades of reddish brown around the dunes, likely indicating different textures or materials. [I]NASA/JPL-Caltech[/I][/quote] Source: [url]http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-08/mars-rover-curiosity-sends-first-full-color-panorama-its-new-martian-home[/url]
That is so sweet, it looks like a movie (but it's not)
that's fucking amazing
God, this is so fucking neat!
I want to go to mars now.
Looks kinda normal to me, apart from the choking dust in the air
[img]http://puu.sh/Qz9J[/img] ?
that looks similar to the backyard we had in qatar. except with a lot more lethal radiation
I want to go to Mars in my lifetime. It looks so beautiful.. I don't know why but looking at that image is making me feel very odd (in a good way). Anyone know where I can find more Curiosity images of Mars? (Google time)
Holy shit is Mars beautiful, sadly this is as close to Mars as I'll ever get in my lifetime.
mission control go ahead command confirming that we are looking at another fucking planet copy that say again this [B]is[/B] fucking mars we're looking at. jesus good christ goddamn.
Guys....Guy! Has it hit you yet? We are looking at another fucking world! Like, this is the pinnacle of human existence, the start of our empire! We creep ever so closer to finally one day putting human feet on an alien planet.
I absolutely love space.
[QUOTE=Bredirish123;37175396]this is the pinnacle of human existence, the start of our empire![/QUOTE] no that's the last thing mars needs. people.
it's weird looking at it and thinking that it was taken on an entirely different planet. everything in my mind says that it's just a place on Earth I'll never get to see, but there it is, the Red Planet.
holy shit this really puts it into perspective when you see the old tiny resolution pictures you're like "oh" but you see this... and jesus it's amazing
[QUOTE=thisispain;37175423]no that's the last thing mars needs. people.[/QUOTE] without people, there is no Mars, nor is there an anywhere. Mars just a clump of dust without people there to give and take life in equal proportion. Earth would be much the same if we weren't such poetic creatures.
[QUOTE=thisispain;37175423]no that's the last thing mars needs. people.[/QUOTE] Oh please. We make mistakes but we're hardly the worst thing to happen to the planet. We've accomplished more than any (known) species in the history of the planet. We should be proud of that.
Perhaps one of the most important photos in human history. Those rovers will always be there. Even if humanity kills itself, those rovers will remain until Mars is ultimately destroyed. Virtually untouched, except through erosion from the harsh sand-filled wind. Those rovers and everything else we've flung out to space stand as a testament for all humanity. We made our existence known and inerasable.
Except it will probably only last like 10 years
It's so beautiful up there, the rocky horizon against the red skies. One day I hope that I may have the privilege of setting foot on such a serene landscape. Almost unspoiled by the greasy fingers of man.
why wasn't this posted yet? [video=youtube;8_-A5-lclQk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_-A5-lclQk[/video]
[QUOTE=JeanLuc761;37175511]Oh please. We make mistakes but we're hardly the worst thing to happen to the planet. We've accomplished more than any (known) species in the history of the planet. We should be proud of that.[/QUOTE] As much as I love humanity, we really do plague this earth. [editline]10th August 2012[/editline] How big is that volcano on mars? Three times the size of Everest? I want a high definition shot of that towering in the distance.
[QUOTE=OvB;37175534]Perhaps one of the most important photos in human history. Those rovers will always be there. Even if humanity kills itself, those rovers will remain until Mars is ultimately destroyed. Virtually untouched, except through erosion from the harsh sand-filled wind. Those rovers and everything else we've flung out to space stand as a testament for all humanity. We made our existence known and inerasable.[/QUOTE] along with the other pictures of mars, yes. I swear some people are acting as if we've never taken a picture of mars from the surface before
Amazing... I posed this on my facebook.. No one gave a rats ass.. Like.. this is miles away from our planet! Fuck people, come on! Dense ass.. Argh, drives me crazy how people are not interested in this.
[QUOTE=fruxodaily;37175181][img]http://puu.sh/Qz9J[/img] ?[/QUOTE] I'm getting this as well. :(
[QUOTE=Cone;37175477]without people, there is no Mars, nor is there an anywhere. Mars just a clump of dust without people there to give and take life in equal proportion. Earth would be much the same if we weren't such poetic creatures.[/QUOTE] you can be poetic about it from a distance maybe the occasional tour more than that and you're just going to ruin it for everyone
if you think this is cool, you should check out this picture [url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Huygens_surface_color.jpg]taken from the surface of Titan[/url] (yes, that is Saturn's moon)
[QUOTE=doomevil;37175137]I want to go to mars now.[/QUOTE] [img]http://thewolfmancometh.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/total-recall-mars-quaid-eye-bulge.jpg[/img]
Just realised for me it's because I can't open it up in .com, it goes .com.au (Australia). And the article isn't on the .au version of the site. That sucks.
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