Last month, NASA announced that Curiosity rover had wrapped up its work at Mars' Vera Rubin Ridge and would be making its way to a clay-rich region near the Red Planet's Mt. Sharp for additional work. In an update on that mission last week, the space agency shared a panoramic image captured by Curiosity's MastCam at the ridge drill site before it left, as well as an interactive video of the area.
Curiosity's last drill site on the ridge is known as 'Rock Hall,' and it's located relatively close to the 'clay-bearing unit' that researchers will study next. A panorama from the Rock Hall location was created using images captured by the rover before it departed the site. NASA also published a 360-degree video from the images and annotated a few landmarks in it, including Mt. Sharp in the distance.
Visible near Mt. Sharp is the clay-rich region, now called 'Glen Torridon,' where Curiosity will help researchers uncover more details about Mars' landscape and history. The rover is equipped with multiple cameras, including the MastCam and the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), which is attached to its robotic arm.
Last month, NASA shared a stitched image of the full Curiosity rover at the Rock Hall drill site; that image is made from 57 individual images that were captured using the MAHLI camera. The 'selfie' features the final Rock Hall drill site in the bottom center of the image.
Overexposed sky and they didn't level the camera properly for panorama rotation. Image processing probably used some kind of generic setting because of unnatural contast and/or black level. This is typical when shooting with default in-camera JPEG profiles.
I can't believe what kind of monkey process those images. There is big money right there, but it looks like some random person did first panorama with auto settings. Also dislike that panorama projection because it looks sooo unnatural. There is no clear visible "corners" when moving your eyes or rotating your head.
You really need to go to NASA and set them straight as to how stupid they are. I'm quite certain that you could do far better. Exactly when does your ship land ?
No doubt someone will present a proof that the picture was taken on Devon Island, or somewhere in the Mojave desert. Can't wait to see the proof. ... Where are the conspiracy theorists?? .. :)
yes yes, the moon landings is a government conspiracy, humans have never been outside of the earth atmosphere and most importantly the earth is flat satisfied?
That is the question now isn't it. Its difficult to say with the paucity of independently verifiable/trustworthy information. I'll just have to say I don't know. Can you say that??
You believe whatever you want. Most people in general wouldn't know the truth if it slapped them in the face. Conspiracy is part and parcel of the human condition when money and power are involved. Is this news to you?
I work for Northrop Grumman; a lot of my focus at work directed towards space and satelitle technology ... I think I have enough evidence to know the truth.
Chadders, you seem to be referring to me as a conspiracy theorist after I’ve already explained my initial comment was made in jest, smiley and all. Please get your nose out of the engineering books and look up sarcasm. Do you see me here promoting a moon landing hoax? No, I’m arguing against your mistaken assumption that a subscribe to that conspiracy theory. Laughable, really...
Donco ... I guess I’m too mature to understand your level of sarcasm; and too busy to post silly throwaway comments rather than make the effort to say something constructive. My last comment was also aimed at someone else ... that’s the laughable thing really.
You say that your comment about conspiracy theorists wasn't aimed at me, which means you need to learn to communicate better. Why? Because the first part of your comment clearly referred to me (re 'comic' Dane Cook, whom I mentioned previously), and you did not indicate that your second point was directed to someone else. You say you are too mature to understand sarcasm, but please don't confuse maturity with dementia... Cheers.
I worked for Northrop Grumman too, on satellite projects, etc, etc. That in itself is evidence of nothing. But believing that human beings won't conspire is the most demented, stupid thing I've ever heard. Yet I'm the crazy one... cheers.
I could give you plenty evidence we went to the moon; but you’re probably so blinkered, you’d choose to believe 12 year old Petes UTube conspiracy instead!
Typical nonsensical comment. I can show you a video with astronauts faking a shot of the earth through a window. I can provide evidence that Neil Armstrong was handing out petrified wood as "moon" rocks. These are documented and more critically, independently verifiable, facts. There are many other examples if you care to go into it, but I know you don't, so don't bother. You're the 12yo, refusing to question your indoctrination.
I’d love to see this BS evidence you have. Do you realise how utterly pathetic your comments make you sound to normal thinking people (and those of us that have experience of working in the space sector). Sighs.
Just go to the Nevada Desert. That's where these images come from. Area 54 or The Death Valley. Don't have to go to Mars. After a week there you'll feel miserable: No beer!!
@MannyZero so true, i remember seeing someone who found the exact location of the first rover selfie in the Nevada desert and did a rock for rock comparison and it had a nice little NASA bus in the background lol. Ever since i saw that photo I can't believe anything NASA says anymore, too bad.
I love it when idiots talk about the NASA training area in the desert.
The guy who originally "discovered" it found it on google earth. It wasn't satellite imagery, it was special "street view" type images added by NASA THEMSELVES.
So NASA voluntarily add panoramic images of their training ground to google earth, one idiot pretends like he's found some massive secret even though he knows fully well the images were added purposefully and then a million conspiracy theorists with severe Dunning Kruger syndrome parrot it around the internet.
And then they link to other conspiracy theorist websites where they essentially see faces in clouds but with mars photos instead and then draw over the photos in photoshop to emphasise the faces in the clouds.
A mixture of imagination and pseudo science all designed to make dumb people feel like they are really intelligent so that they will buy books etc. Ever notice how these conspiracy sites always have a large webshop? ;-)
@Roland : Just photograph the moon with an f/0.95 lens wide open. Proof of the spherical (not pancake) nature of the moon will show toward the edges of the disk where the moonscape will go out of focus.
Those f/0.95 lenses have razor thin DOF, even at 239,000 miles. That's why they cost so much. 😁
But get this: All those people you think you impressed with your secret knowledge actually just thought you were insane so they agreed politely out of fear.
what makes you think you are right and I am wrong? I have seen photos of nevada desert which are identical minus the Photoshop colour balance, rock for rock. If that isn't enough evidence to say that NASA lied when they claim it was taken from Mars then you must be the one classed as insane. Conformists are always quick to insult the more open minded questioning type.
My understanding is that because Mars doesn't have the same core as the Earth which produces the magnetic belts which protect our atmosphere from the ravages of the Sun trying to 'terraform' Mars would be a pointless exercise.
There are two problems with not having a magnetic field. 1. There are no protection against cosmic radiation and the solar wind. So, humans might not survive so many years. 2. The lack of protection against the solar wind will blow any atmosphere away, which is what have happened on Mars.
So - the only way to live on Mars is under ground or maybe inside in houses, where you can have an atmosphere and also be protected against radiation.
To be able to terraform the entire planet, you first have to generate a magnetic field. Then you can start making an atmosphere and extracting water.
NOTE also - that if you do extract water and make an atmosphere that it will always be winter when you are ready. The sun is far away.
"I have seen photos of nevada desert which are identical minus the Photoshop colour balance, rock for rock. If that isn't enough evidence to say that NASA lied when they claim it was taken from Mars then you must be the one classed as insane."
The irony of using the word insane is just breathtaking.
Two deserts look the same, if you photoshop the colours of one to match the other. Therefore they ARE the same desert?
Brilliant.
You realise a desert on mars is made of the same ingredients as a desert on earth, right? Other planets aren't made out of jelly and candyfloss.
Just because you fell for these dumbed down pseudo facts doesn't mean they are true. It just means you are easily fooled and seduced by the idea that you are some kind of anti conformist genius.
You lack the insight to realise how meaningless your comparison is.
@James Pilcher: For any reasonable telephoto focal length lens the hyperfocal distance at f/1 is approximately 3000m, which means that everything from about that distance to infinity is "in focus." In other words, the DoF is far more than 100 times larger than the diameter of the moon. If, in an image of the moon, the center of the disk appears in focus and the limb does not, it's likely the effect of lens field curvature, i.e., the surface of sharpest focus of the image is curved and not entirely coincident with the plane of the camera sensor.
Mars does possess some magnetic properties, although it lacks an internal dynamo such as Earth's, which gives us our magnetic field and protection from cosmic rays.
The Mars atmosphere consists almost exclusively of CO2 and the air pressure is around half a percent of the pressure on earth. And oxygen? Almost none!
@James Pilcher: Sorry, I guess the joke is on me! Some people have profound misconceptions or misunderstandings that show through in their posts, so one never knows. This time you got me. 🤙
@schex87 : Try your Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95. That's a longer focal length. The added bonus is that your moon will glow with that Voigtlander f/0.95 CA goodness.
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