Anyone has insights on how data in such volumes can be transferred from Mars to Earth in the absence of a direct link? Do the intermediate nodes have gigabytes of available storage to emit data to the next available node once it becomes visible ?
This is a video presenting ten milestone images that revealed what we've learned about Mars after decades of exploration prior to the landing of Perseverance [1]. It's nice to see the evolution of image resolutions of the Red Planet.
Stupid question maybe but like is there a reason the picture quality seems worse than a decent dslr photo? I'm so curious what that photo would look like, taken with an everyday camera, without the bizarre 'scientific' look of these shots.
If anyone is curious about the technology powering the Perseverance rover, there's this great video on YouTube explaining the incredible engineering behind it:
All ya'll complaining that you can take better pictures with your iPhones than Percy can on Mars, please read this: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/cameras/
These are ENGINEERING cameras for taking incredibly precise measurements. Not for populating an Instagram page.
Is there a single good official site to get Perseverance media from?
Stupid question, but where is Perseverance's energy source?
Answer: Plutonium
It powers a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator.
The plutonium decays at a few % per year, so that means it should be able to bring Elon a sandwich when he lands.
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/electrical-p...
The bottom of this page says: "All images copyright Nasa/JPL-Caltech"
But I thought all works created by the US federal government are public domain and not protected by copyright?
Famously the "Blue Marble" photo is not under copyright and reproduced all over the place: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Marble
What are the "dark spot anomalies" that appear to be floating in the air in some images (1, 2)? Dust on the camera lens? I've never looked at any rover images so I assume someone knows.
Also, whay are the images fairly low resolution compared to a phones camera. Does it have to do with image data transmission error?
Finally (then I'll shut up), when do we get to see the stereo images? I want to see these on my Vive.
1.) https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/multimedia/raw-images/NLE_000...
2.) https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/multimedia/raw-images/SI0_001...
The high resolution, 360 panoramic view, of the landing site is also stunning:
https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8873/nasas-perseverance-rover-giv...
Does anyone know what type of data compression is being used to transmit these images? There's been huge progress since the last rover.
> All images copyright Nasa/JPL-Caltech
Question: Aren't those pictures actually in the public domain as they were produced by US government's agencies?
Wholly cow. In that 2nd photo, the rover looks like it just missed landing on a ridgeline.
ref:https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/58BB/production/...
Can someone explain, is this how Mars would look to us with naked eye or this is an artistic/digital interpretation?
Mars surface looks pretty much like Earth surface :)
I love seeing cables neatly routed and even evidence of cable lacing in 2021. Dying art.
This mission is an incredible achievement. The images are as advertised (stunning) and I'm sure all the sciences - and even art - will benefit from the data.
What I find a little sad is that we seem incapable of doing this without leaving a particularly human signature wherever we go.
We arrived on Mars with jets of pollution https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25672/black-and-white-smoke-... followed by the dumping of the two pieces of trash required to enable the landing.
For all the data we have gained, we have lost a pristine planet - which makes me wonder if we are doing this at the right time.
How close was the rover to its intended landing spot?
"And we made it to Mars! I stepped out of the lander and took a look around. It turns out the place is just a bunch of rusty looking rocks. No hot green chicks, no angry little green men. I guess I was kind of hoping there would have been someone here to shoot it out with, or at least make out with."
- From the unpublished short fiction of itbeho
Seriously though, this is fantastic. Imagine being a kid today, seeing these images and being inspired to help get us there in person, hopefully in the near future.
Nasa's image gallery UI is such a pain to use, I wish someone would upload these into a more user friendly photo viewer tool.
Any sound clips released as of now? I heard they had a microphone on board unlike so many of the probes till now.
All the extraterrestrial expansion, dream of Men to conquer Space, star track enterprise! I'm pessimistic that we will ever leave our solar system, and if so in 1000 years, I do not care.
Hopefully people learn how tiny our bubble is and protect our environment more. The Martian environment looks so boring -- as a replacement for polluted Earth. (We will pollute Mars faster than Earth).
I'm living at the ocean, trying to keep my vicinity free of garbage. Today I pulled out pair of trousers and some plastic bands out out water. Sometimes I'm having fights with my elderly village neighbors, who are burning household trash (paper, wood) on the ocean shore. I take their garbage out their hands and carry it to my home, later drive to the garbage processing center.
Any good desktop wallpapers out of this?
I remember a recent article on HN about being able to receive signals from Tianwen-1 with a homemade satellite dish - is it possible to receive these pictures over radio with the right equipment, or do they come down encrypted?
Curious, whether rover survives to the return sample mission.
I hope we start terraforming Mars in my lifetime.
Nice
I think people who don't care for long term investments like this are afraid of the idea that the world will go on without them just as well as it is now. They believe in their fear that some catastrophy bigger than their own death must be coming or what was the point of their life at all? The world was fine before you and it will be fine after you. Endeavours like these are the only worthwhile contributions we have to make towards the future.
Hi
The photos are stunning!
Scratching head why one would like to live on Mars ?
"The Perseverance rover has initial funding to operate for one Mars year, roughly two Earth years."
So wire the rover money after 2 years ? no wonder Elon is into Bitcoin
Looking at closeups of the Rover, I cannot help but think: are those screws, nuts and bolts? And if so, why? Why carry the weight or decreased stiffness of or by the notches, slits, threads etc. that makes screws be screwable. To a place where no-one ever will unscrew them?
I get how exciting this is for planetary scientists, but the last few robotic missions have really driven home that Mars is kind of an armpit. Here's to sending rovers somewhere with cooler visuals. I will stay up all night to see what the Io Lander can send home before it falls into a volcano.
they don't look all that stunning to me.
Stunning? Boring is the truth. They look as haphazard and unconsidered shots of earthly, unremarkable, landscape.
NASA needs artists and poetic photographers to capture inspiration on Mars if they want to snare the hearts of the public. What a waste of fortunes if they cannot do that.
If only the images were as great as the feat and engineering itself.
Up to date image collection on the nasa site for anyone that cares: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/multimedia/raw-images/