For example.
Posted on 01/28/2004 4:41:05 PM PST by blam
Nasa denies 'sexing up' mars images
US space scientists have defended themselves against allegations that they tampered with images of Mars.
The claim is that Nasa experts "tweaked" pictures sent back by the two Mars rovers to make it redder.
A more extreme version of the conspiracy theory says Nasa doctored the colours to hide evidence of life, such as green patches, New Scientist magazine reported.
The claims arise because of the strange appearance of certain colours seen on the rover spacecraft.
Nasa said this was due to the photos being taken through green, blue and infrared - rather than red - filters.
When infrared images were printed as red, the results were fairly accurate but with some glaring exceptions. Blue and green, found on the spacecraft but nowhere on the Martian surface, looked especially odd.
Blue came out as deep burgundy or pink, while green ended up as a kind of mustard.
Nasa said it used infrared filters because they provided better information for geologists, helping to distinguish different rock types.
In reality the redness of the Martian surface depended greatly on its sky.
"Because of the reddish dust that is always in the air, the light falling on the surface of Mars is red to begin with; the effect is likely to be rather like terrestrial lighting close to sunset, when hills take on a pink or magenta hue," said New Scientist.
The quality of the Martian red light varied with the level of dust as well as the time of day.
Story filed: 19:01 Wednesday 28th January 2004
For example.
This is a conspiracy I just can't figure out. Every government agency will do anything it can to increase its power and budget. Even a hint of life on Mars and suddenly NASA's budget would be tripled.
Also the indoor lighting in the Hollywood studio were they are taking the pictures anyway.
You can't think about this in a rational state of mind and have it make sense; the atypical conspiracy theorist, operating in a highly piqued paranoid state of mind could give you a whole slew of valid (to them) reasons, ranging form 'secret deals' struck between our gov't and the Martians in return for goods and services to 'protecting' us (the people) from a most surprising and perhaps disturbing 'truth'.
To be a *good* conspiracy theorist, you have to think inside the box.
Problem: it was FALSE color.
NASA's explanation: Well we wanted to highlight the features. Well, maybe or maybe NASA was indeed "sexing up" the public image of space.
We are even treated regularly to claims by some of terrestrial visits from such life forms; verily, the public is most accepting of this concept already! We have had movies and Television series devoted to such subjects and volumes written on this subject in the popular and niche media - there may be a small portion that would be 'affected' in some way, but overall, a society that has faced the attempted hyping of Y2K, SARS, Mad Cow seems primed to take the potential 'fact' that we are not alone and are ready to extend the olive branch of global friendship ...
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took and returned this image on January 28, 2004, the first picture from Spirit since problems with communications began a week earlier. The image from the rover's front hazard identification camera shows the robotic arm extended to the rock called Adirondack. As it had been instructed a week earlier, the Moessbauer spectrometer, an instrument for identifying the minerals in rocks and soils, is still placed against the rock. Engineers are working to restore Spirit to working order so that the rover can resume the scientific exploration of its landing area.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.