the only space news we were hearing have been the vagaries
and troubles of Mir. Sad, but true: misery sells.
I don't know if it is the media who decide what is
newsworthy or whether they truly reflect public opinion,
but during the time of a successful expedition to Mars,
.
the only space news we were hearing have been the vagaries
and troubles of Mir. Sad, but true: misery sells.
The pictures here are my selection of what I consider the best out of NASA's site. There are certainly some breathtaking pictures: the blue dawn, the pink day and the mauve sunset, plus the stunning proof that the probe has landed in an ancient riverbed.
But first a B&W picture of the probe, the Sojourner rover.
Newspapers have described it as no bigger than a microwave; well you can see it being assembled and so can get a good idea about its size, bigger than it seems in the pictures which makes the boulders bigger.
The view of the surroundings from the lander looking down. You can see the inflatable parachutes that the probe landed on - what the papers described as a bouncing castle. Not a bad metaphor I suppose.
And a picture of the rover's wheeltracks back to the lander from the probe.
A panorama of the rover examining the rock Yogi from the lander. Whoever saw the similarity to a bear ? One of the best pix - showing the tracks of the rover and the 'carpet' from which it left the lander.
Now for the real revelation : a view of the surroundings boulders. Note that they are all leaning in the same direction (unlike the Moon's) which shows fluid activity - most likely past water/flood erosion. It is believed that the area where the rover landed was flooded a millions of years ago, ergo a riverbed.
The rock named Yogi in close-up. Further evidence of flood is shown by the lighter coloured deposits contrasting with the red earth. The rover checked at that point how hard the soil was by drilling down.
A picture passed through various filters to simulate how a human eye would view Mars follows. This is how it looks IRL folks:
Now for the stunning atmospheric pictures:
Extraterrestrial sunset. The sun does look small does it not ? Well it is further away as if you didn't know. It would really look mauve!
Twilight on Mars (lasts two hours and that in the equator where the probe is) - lots of dust in the atmosphere is the reason.
Skyscape on Mars - the atmosphere is pink, as you can
see because of the dust.
Yes there are clouds on Mars and here they are in true in true colour. Clouds are blue because they are not vapour clouds - they are ice clouds. Much like dew, they form during the night and they evaporate during the day. So, on Mars we have blue dawns, pink skies, mauve sunsets and dusk that lasts for hours on the equator. On Earth we have pink dawns, blue skies, red sunsets and hardly any dusk on the equator.
Do I have to book now ?