Posted on 10/12/2004 10:27:04 AM PDT by cogitator
Click article link for article, and link to big image (0.5 MB).
Text:
This stunning image mosaic of the "Columbia Hills" is the first 360-degree panorama taken since the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit arrived at the hills over a month ago. The rover has been busy studying the rocks here, which show evidence of past alteration by water. The dark patch of soil to the right is the spot where Spirit stopped for engineering work on its right front wheel. Spirit's tracks can be followed from there all the way back to "Bonneville Crater" and the original landing site, more than 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) away.
This approximate true-color image, nicknamed the "Cahokia panorama" after the Native American archaeological site near St. Louis, was acquired between sols 213 to 223 (Aug. 9 to 19, 2004). The panorama consists of 470 images acquired through six panoramic camera filters (750 to 480 nanometers). It took until the week of sol 237 (Sept. 2) to downlink all the data back to Earth. Several more weeks of image processing and geometric mapping by team members at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., to stitch all the images together into this spectacular mosaic.
The climate on Mars is getting gradually hotter, and the ice caps are receding somewhat. So, if we have any hope of preserving Mars for our children we HAVE to stop the martians from driving SUVs and emitting CFCs into the air that cause global warming.
Looks like Odessa, TX.
I've seen spots like that in California's Mojave Desert.
Dan
I'd say WOW pretty much covers it.
Yeah, look at all those ATV tracks in the distance. Damn kids! They're going to ruin Mars, too!
Nice pic.
Looks like a typical Atlanta suburb, red clay and all.
Awesome pix! Thanks for posting this.
Looks like fall....
It is quite obvious from this picture that
mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids.
I hear it's cold as hell.
And there's no one there to raise them if you did.
It's just my job five days a week.
I hope those are rover tracks on the far right hand of the image. (grin)
Is this where the chorus go's "A Rocket Mannnnnn" or sum such, or is that later?
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