'Curiosity' - NASA Mars Rover - Due to land 5th Aug 2012

[MiniMan64]

Bedazzled said:

Nasa Morpheus lander - oops!

That's what tests are for!

[FurtiveFreddy]

Some full resolution mastcam images now available.

Nice view of the ground disturbed by the rocket motors during the landing:



It's now very obvious that fuzzy shape that looked like it was possibly man-made is, in fact, just a rock.



I quite like this little detail:



I presume it's the 'sundial'?

Edited by FurtiveFreddy on Sunday 12th August 13:23

[blueST]

Found this link to a nice 360 degree panorama. Don't think it's a repost. It's almost like being there... Sort of.

http://www.360cities.net/image/curiosity-rover-mar...

[TheHeretic]

blueST said:

Found this link to a nice 360 degree panorama. Don't think it's a repost. It's almost like being there... Sort of.

http://www.360cities.net/image/curiosity-rover-mar...

That is fantastic.

[Eric Mc]

Excellent. The site looks really spectacular.

[Zaxxon]

That is wonderfull, thank you, I have just emailed that link to my office.

What is the blanked out rectangle obscuring at the back of the rover? Fricken Laserrrs? A Mars Ant?

[TheHeretic]

Zaxxon said:

That is wonderfull, thank you, I have just emailed that link to my office.

What is the blanked out rectangle obscuring at the back of the rover? Fricken Laserrrs? A Mars Ant?

Presumably the arm that the camera is mounted on, the only bit that is not photographable... Either that, or there is someone up there with a camera!

[Eric Mc]

Bedazzled said:

Excellent. The site looks really desolate and boring.

I think it looks fantastic. The view out to the far away hills is great. It's very like the high desert of California.

[anonymous-user]

Don't think I've ever seen a picture from Mars with the sun showing. Wonderful to see 'our' sun from another planet, and strange too!

[RegMolehusband]

Eric Mc said:

I think it looks fantastic. The view out to the far away hills is great. It's very like the high desert of California.

Be careful you don't excite the conspiracy theorists Eric

[PeanutHead]

Desolate, empty, nothing but hills rocks and sand.
It's so interesting makes you want to explore.

[John_S4x4]

That is a great panorama Reminds me of the film "Pitch Black". All we need is Vin Diesel and those black flying aliens entering the shot.

[Eric Mc]

Deserts can be fascinating places and spectacular in their own right. And the geologists are salivating over these images already - no doubt.

Curiosity is a tool, an expensive and impressive tool, of course, but still a tool. The reason it was built and the reason it is where it is is to explore that desert and find out its geological and paleontological history, if it has a paleontological history.

Mars is an amazing planet. It has already surprised us time and time again. I am sure it has many more secrets that it will reveal to Curiosity.

[Eric Mc]

garyhun said:

Don't think I've ever seen a picture from Mars with the sun showing. Wonderful to see 'our' sun from another planet, and strange too!

One NASA took earlier -




Taken by Spirit or Opportunity - I can't remember which one.

[FurtiveFreddy]

Putting into context where Curiosity is in relation to Gale Crater (Curiosity is the green dot within the blue 'target' elipse'):

[Dakkon]

FurtiveFreddy said:

Putting into context where Curiosity is in relation to Gale Crater (Curiosity is the green dot within the blue 'target' elipse'):

If PH is resizing it the photo take the link an open in a separate tab to see the photo full size

[jmorgan]

Eric Mc said:

garyhun said:

Don't think I've ever seen a picture from Mars with the sun showing. Wonderful to see 'our' sun from another planet, and strange too!

One NASA took earlier -




Taken by Spirit or Opportunity - I can't remember which one.

How about Earth?



Clicky
From NASA Goddard Photo and Video's photostream on Flickr

[Eric Mc]

And a Martian sunset from the 1970s - taken by one of the Viking landers.

[FurtiveFreddy]

jmorgan said:

How about Earth?

We are all just a pixel floating in space

[VinceFox]

The more i look at these pics, the more i'm convinced we're going to see signs of previous life. It'll be something small, but there has to have been something there.