Spirit Takes Snapshot of Earth 257
ControlFreal writes "On its 66th Sol on Mars, Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has obtained its first full view of crater Bonneville. In doing so, Spirit achieved its primary travel destination, as set out in its initial itinerary. Furthermore, Spirit has now travelled more than 300 meters, thereby fulfilling its minimum mission success criteria. With this, and Opportunity halfway through its primary mission, and having discovered very strong indications of a wet Martian past, NASA has truly many an astonishing interplanetary succes story! See the overview at the Mars Rover site for more details." Another reader writes "Among the 'money-shots' from the Mars rovers would have to rank the 'pale blue dot' image released today--a view looking back towards Earth. The larger image also includes the horizon and Sun, which because the Earth is seen as an inner planet closer in towards the Sun from a martian perspective, is difficult to photograph without saturation by solar glare."
Insignificance (Score:1, Interesting)
-- Arthur Dent.
It's really sad that image is monochrome. (Score:3, Interesting)
I have seen pitcure from interplanetory orbit to take Earth and Moon in a single pitcture. Color contrast between them has impressed me a lot.
Re:Congratulations! But... (Score:5, Interesting)
Shiny! (Score:5, Interesting)
Here [nasa.gov] (top right), here [nasa.gov] (top left) and here [nasa.gov] (middle).
Could it be a piece of Spirits entry/descent stage? In that last image it looks like an oddly shaped rock. If it is a rock, what could have made it so reflective?
How about those rabbit ears pics? (Score:3, Interesting)
Some reports said this thing was actually moving
Re:But the cultural impact... (Score:5, Interesting)
When the rovers were launched, Mars was about 78 million km from Earth. The average distance from Earth to the moon is roughly 400000 km. So assuming the angles are right, there would be a maximum angular separation of about s/r = 0.005 radians or 0.3 degrees - more than enough to distinguish with the naked eye. The moon is fairly large; its diameter is about 3/4 that of Mercury. Although it is not as brightly illuminated due to greater distance from the sun, my intuition is that it ought to be visible to the naked eye.
I don't know if the Spirit or the Opportunity cameras are up to it, or if the orbital configurations are so convenient right now, but a photo of the Earth and moon like that you suggest seems entirely plausible.
Re:But the cultural impact... (Score:5, Interesting)
It's not quite that. With Apollo 8's images, you look at it and it's Earth, obviously and plainly Earth. With the images from Mars, it's a dot. I know intellectually that it's Earth, but that's just not the same. If the picture was detailed enough that I could _see_ that it was Earth - as I mentioned, maybe if we could see the Moon beside it - then I might feel something for it.
If I only know that it's Earth because it's in the position in the Martian sky where Earth is calculated to be, then it's just another manifestation of mathematics.
Heatshield (Score:2, Interesting)
(Later on preview) Okay, now MSNBC is mentioning it [msn.com].
Mars Wiggles (Score:4, Interesting)
Very humbling indeed (Score:5, Interesting)
Consider that the human life span of about 80 years is but an instant compared to the lifecycle of the stars/galaxies/etc.
And we spend a significant amount of that time destructively (fighting/quarreling/warring/killing/spiting). Feels kinda weird...even destruction is bad only from our point of view....who knows what's actually "good" or "bad". Our knowledge and lives are just insignificant specks in the vastness of the Universe.
It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a... Spacecraft? (Score:5, Interesting)
I think that's even more interesting, and might draw people's interest as well.
"All of you on the Good Earth" (Score:3, Interesting)
IMHO what we need MOST at the ISS is a conference room. From what I've heard, EVERY astronaut or cosmonaut has come back to Earth with his/her world view adjusted by the experience. World leaders need to understand, that viscerally, that we all share this little island in space. (Unfortunately I suspect that some world leaders are so jaded and full of themselves that they'd see the vision and instead think "I want it ALL!")
I was similarly struck by a sequence during the movie, "Master and Commander." The scene began of people on the ship, then pulled back an up, until you began to realize that this was a tiny little ship on a huge ocean. I wished we could get a similarly powerful sequence of a spacecraft. Part of the effectiveness of the movie sequence was that the ocean was active, and that can't be captured in space.
Indications, schmindications... (Score:2, Interesting)
I thought the mission(s) were concieved because we already had very strong indications of a wet Martian past. Is this just marketspeak for not finding anything, ie. mission failure? Every press release from NASA that I read talks about indications and strong indications, there is nothing substantial so far.
Or maybe this is just hedging for another mission, to finally determine if these indications are true?
Re:http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/pale_blue_do (Score:2, Interesting)
God will save those who embrace Him. All one has to do is answer the call. So there is a hint. In fact, there is hope.
It does make a person reevaluate everything. It makes you wonder what things will be like in another 10,000 years. By then, maybe we'll have colonies on hundreds of planets. Our descendants will find it hard to believe that we lived on a single planet for so long. Maybe Earth won't even exist anymore.
Can you imagine what it will be like if we see colonies on Mars in our lifetimes? Even if it is only five people, it will be unbelievable. To know that we are living in the generation that is recognizing the dream of ancient civilizations is no less than thrilling.
Re:I hope I'm not the only one (Score:3, Interesting)
People think about issues that affect them and what they're "close" to. We're not in a cold war with national pride on the line. Most people have their attention elsewhere and while this is a major accomplishment, this may be one of those things that many will not appreciate until much later.
Stars (Score:3, Interesting)
I know that it's a relatively small distance, from a galactic perspective, but is it still enough to make some difference?
Anyone?
wbs.
Re:And in the meantime, on CNN... (Score:2, Interesting)
Your experience is not another person's.
The goal is to make everyone's experience as pleasant as those who look up in awe at Earth from millions of miles away.
Re:The Little Dot in The Sky (Score:3, Interesting)
Because insanely large spans are easy to say, but very difficult to grasp, if you aren't already into astronomy. 1 million miles: wow, that's a lot. Travel one million miles and it just seemed to get a WHOLE LOT FURTHER.
Re:And in the meantime, on CNN... (Score:5, Interesting)
<irony>
What a piece of work is man!
How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty!
In form and moving, how express and admirable!
In action, how like an angel! In apprehension, how like a god!
</irony>
Re:And in the meantime, on CNN... (Score:2, Interesting)
I would love to believe that, but I can't. Remember Von Braun, whose V2 killed thousands of British during WW2 and were the start of the exploration of space? Remember the leaders of the Soviet Union, behind both the first pictures of Earth in space and one of the most oppressive dictatorship ever?
I can't help feeling that between yesterday's terrorists and the scientists operating Spirit and Opportunity, the gap is not as large as I would like to believe.
Re:It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a... Spacecraft (Score:4, Interesting)
What your seeing is the result of a slow exposure camera watching a objecting moving across the sky. It's probably the Mars Odyssey orbiter which the Rovers both use as a communications relay. You can simulate that on earth too, wait for the ISS to fly over your house, point your camera at it and leave the shutter open for a few minutes.
Re:It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a... Spacecraft (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:In case the image gets /. 'd: (Score:3, Interesting)
In other words, that dot is *both* Earth and Moon.
Re:But the cultural impact... (Score:2, Interesting)
I agree that such a picture would have a much more visceral meaning though. I really liked the shot of Earth and Jupiter together that was taken by one of the current mars missions (I forget which) that was posted a while back. It does give you some feeling of the vast emptiness that is the Universe.
Re:And in the meantime, on CNN... (Score:5, Interesting)
But his loyalties did not remain with the Third Reich. Once it was clear Germany was going to fall, von Braun disobeyed orders to destroy V2 technology and surrendered himself and other engineers working with him, along with a trainload of rocket parts and plans, to US forces. While in the US, he oversaw the design of both the Redstone which lifted the first American into space, and the massive Saturn V, which took men to the moon.
I don't think it's fair to paint von Braun in the same brush as the senseless killers that bombed Madrid yesterday.
Try Celestia (Score:3, Interesting)
On a related note, I'd love to see some details such as this (i.e. view from Spirit, etc) integrated into it. I wonder how much space (no pun intended) to integrate GIS data into it? I'd be kinda neat to fly from Alaska to the Spirit rover, and since it is unlikely I'll get to do that for real, this is the next best thing.
-cp-
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