First High-Res Color Photos from Mars

First High-Res Color Photos from Mars 540

Posted by michael on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:10PM from the martians-blend-in-with-the-terrain dept.

mzs writes "The first color thumbnail from Spirit was available yesterday from a larger image. Today some full-size color images are available. If you are in the USA you may be interested in catching the NOVA program on your local PBS station tonight." Acrobatman notes the existence of a nifty utility:"Mars24, a Mac OS X and Java application and applet which displays a Mars 'sunclock', a graphical representation of Mars. This free utility shows the current sun- and nightsides of Mars, along with a numerical readout of the time in 24-hour format and landmarks such as the landing positions of the rovers."

First High-Res Color Photos from Mars

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Re:Pebbles, Chunks, and Volkswagens (Score:2, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:12PM (#7895642)

What would you prefer? Picotexas?

Date your checks 46218.7 (Score:5, Funny)

by andyrut ( 300890 ) * writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:12PM (#7895645) Homepage Journal

Interesting how the Martian clock gives the Mars date like so: MSD 46218.763 This looks very similar to ye olde Star Trek stardates [aol.com].

...the "Mars Sol Date" (MSD) defined by AM2000. This represents a sequential count of Mars solar days elapsed since 1873 December 29 at approximately Greenwich noon

Where? (Score:5, Funny)

by Gorimek ( 61128 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:12PM (#7895661) Homepage

I need alittle help. Who can tell me where in Utah this picture was faked by the liberal space establishment?

If we work together we can beat the system!!

What are they censoring? (Score:3, Funny)

by setzman ( 541053 ) writes: <stzman@stzmanple ... inus threevowels> on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:14PM (#7895686) Journal

If you look at the first photo, you will notice that a small area is blacked out. Is there something there that NASA doesn't want us to see?

Hey, I think I could afford that... (Score:5, Funny)

by Skyshadow ( 508 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:15PM (#7895701) Homepage

...I wonder how long the commute is to the Bay Area from there? Maybe I could talk my boss into letting me telecommute a couple of days a month...

Re:Wow!! smooth rocks... (Score:5, Funny)

by Transient0 ( 175617 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:19PM (#7895782) Homepage

i know.

they could have at least landed near a town or a beach or something.

Why the Terrain is Boring (Score:3, Funny)

by StefanJ ( 88986 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:22PM (#7895814) Homepage Journal

Why is the landscape around Mars landers always so uninspiring?

It's due to an agreement between NASA and the Cultural Interdiction Wing of the Gyken-JAT Pan-Sapient Meld.

The CIW allows a probe to land now and then . . . as long as it doesn't stray near sites that would make Hu-Mans really want to go to Mars.

Such as the soaring mountains, yawning chasms, spectacular wind-carved rock outcroppings, and the planet's numerous brightly-lit interspecies brothels.

Stefan

Re:Hmmmm.... Patterns.... (Score:5, Funny)

by stendec ( 582696 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:23PM (#7895835)

And I see an old lady smoking a cigar... oh wait, wrong test.

And the dual moonrises will be so romantic... (Score:2, Funny)

by Jonathan Quince ( 737041 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:24PM (#7895870) Homepage

Wow, such beautiful looking virgin terrain. The views are breathtaking, and the vast redness of the soil gives it a warm and cozy atmosphere.

It just makes the real estate developer in me itch for action.

That's shorts weather.... (Score:2, Funny)

by FerretFrottage ( 714136 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:25PM (#7895890)

nice and cool? I'd love 291 Kelvin right about now....it's freaking 257 Kelvin here

Re:all we need now (Score:2, Funny)

by paul248 ( 536459 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:27PM (#7895907) Homepage

Maybe they'll get a shot of Beagle 2 bouncing across the landscape...

Hmmm.... (Score:3, Funny)

by EverDense ( 575518 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:27PM (#7895920) Homepage

Half those images are bits of the robot itself.
If they wanted hi-res images of the robot, why not take them BEFORE they sent it to Mars?

Is Mars really THAT boring?

Re:careful folks... (Score:3, Funny)

by Alien Being ( 18488 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:28PM (#7895932)

Mars should be OK. Just watch out for pics of Uranus.

Re:Why is the sky red? (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:28PM (#7895935)

What you're seeing on the horizon isn't the sky, it's the dust cloud that is still settling after the Beagle impacted. :)

Re:What are they censoring? Linux usage of course (Score:5, Funny)

by FerretFrottage ( 714136 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:29PM (#7895948)

I believe under the black cersored block you will find either a KDE or gnome logo and NASA didn't want to deal with SCO lawsuits (despite SCO behaving as if they are from another planet)

Re:Where? (Score:5, Funny)

by Charcharodon ( 611187 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:31PM (#7895970)

Sorry that photo was taken in California. Go north on I-14, out of LA for about 3 housrs, till you get to Red Rock Canyon park, you can also take pictures of Venus, the Moon, and if no one is watching Uranus.

Pretty Disappointing... (Score:2, Funny)

by Niello ( 572850 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:33PM (#7896018)

Where are all the chicks with three boobs?

Re:What are they censoring? (Score:5, Funny)

by Boing ( 111813 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:36PM (#7896055)

It's possible that they'll have the lander retransmit the image at a later date. (Does anyone know the storage capacity of this thing?)

4 gigabytes, announced today. NASA could've spent $50 extra and gotten the 15 gigabyte one, but budget cuts et cetera et cetera. You know how it goes.
Besides, this lander is about half the size of the 15 gig model, and weighs less, which is great for that heavy martian gravity.
Oh, mars has less gravity? Oops.

Re:What are they censoring? (Score:4, Funny)

by Jonathan Quince ( 737041 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:36PM (#7896062) Homepage

Is there something there that NASA doesn't want us to see?

Hot, green-skinned, six-breasted Martian stripper girls. They're just walking around the place, hitting on any robotic landers that they see in the hopes of starting a very long-distance relationship. Watch out, because before long, mail-order brides from Mars will be the next hot thing landing in your inbox.

So of course they had to block parts out. We couldn't have government resources used to transmit pr0n, now could we?

Re:Important posting question related to this post (Score:2, Funny)

by slycer ( 161341 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:39PM (#7896108) Homepage

More links.
Also helps if you spell poorly.

Re:Pebbles, Chunks, and Volkswagens (Score:4, Funny)

by AndroidCat ( 229562 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:44PM (#7896173) Homepage

How many breadboxes to a Volkswagen?

Re:I've heard this before (link) (Score:3, Funny)

by Swanktastic ( 109747 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @05:53PM (#7896293)

Here's a fantastic quote from that page (this is regarding a photographic artifact that appears in one picture):

My opinion about the object is, that there are only 3 possibilities:

1. There is a turtle-like animal living on Mars.
2. There is a turtle-like robot operating on Mars.
3. The image was manipulated by someone to let a turtle-like object appear.

Mmm... turtles...

Re:Low res? (Score:5, Funny)

by taustin ( 171655 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @06:14PM (#7896557) Homepage Journal

Take your digital camera out and slam it against a wall hard enough to generate 40gs of deceleration, and see how many megapixiels it has left.

Still waiting... (Score:1, Funny)

by ioexcptn ( 190408 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @06:18PM (#7896601)

...for Battlebots Mars. I wanna see Spirit kick the piss out of Beagle. Hopefully NASA failed to mention the onbaord saw blade, and rotary bludgeoning device. w00t

Re:Where? (Score:5, Funny)

by Jugalator ( 259273 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @06:23PM (#7896680) Journal

This landing was indeed staged!

Look at a picture from my back yard [bredband.net]. Now compare to a released image [nasa.gov]. Sure, nothing similar there, NASA!

Re:What are they censoring? (Score:2, Funny)

by CXI ( 46706 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @06:41PM (#7896877) Homepage

My god, perhaps they are censoring the stuff we already saw in the low resolution black and white photos! Holy crap, those bastards!

Science question (Score:3, Funny)

by Veramocor ( 262800 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @08:47PM (#7898182)

The rover and its pictures are all fine and good, but for over 400 million a pop, the question remains......

How will the rover improve nerds neverending quest for more porn??

Re:OH GOODY! (Score:3, Funny)

by Leebert ( 1694 ) writes: on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @10:39PM (#7899095)

Mirroring content form the NASA server on *gasp* a NASA server!

Yeah, because Lord knows we use the same bandwidth in Greenbelt, Maryland that we also use in Pasadena, California.

Re:Where? (Score:2, Funny)

by BathTub ( 75720 ) writes: on Wednesday January 07, 2004 @06:23AM (#7901547)

I am trying to work out if you are joking or not, or did you really take the image of Mars that Jugalator made to look like his 'backyard' and 're-mars' it?

because that is kind of funny.

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First High-Res Color Photos from Mars 540

First High-Res Color Photos from Mars More Login

First High-Res Color Photos from Mars

Re:Pebbles, Chunks, and Volkswagens (Score:2, Funny)

Date your checks 46218.7 (Score:5, Funny)

Where? (Score:5, Funny)

What are they censoring? (Score:3, Funny)

Hey, I think I could afford that... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Wow!! smooth rocks... (Score:5, Funny)

Why the Terrain is Boring (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Hmmmm.... Patterns.... (Score:5, Funny)

And the dual moonrises will be so romantic... (Score:2, Funny)

That's shorts weather.... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:all we need now (Score:2, Funny)

Hmmm.... (Score:3, Funny)

Re:careful folks... (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Why is the sky red? (Score:1, Funny)

Re:What are they censoring? Linux usage of course (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Where? (Score:5, Funny)

Pretty Disappointing... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:What are they censoring? (Score:5, Funny)

Re:What are they censoring? (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Important posting question related to this post (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Pebbles, Chunks, and Volkswagens (Score:4, Funny)

Re:I've heard this before (link) (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Low res? (Score:5, Funny)

Still waiting... (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Where? (Score:5, Funny)

Re:What are they censoring? (Score:2, Funny)

Science question (Score:3, Funny)

Re:OH GOODY! (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Where? (Score:2, Funny)

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