This black-and-white image released Monday, Jan. 19, 2004, by the rear hazard-avoidance cameras on NASA Spirit rover shows tracks in the martian soil as it moves away from its lander, visible at upper right. The two rocks in the upper left part of the image are sashimi, left, and sushi, which Spirit will bypass in order to study the rock Adirondack (not seen). (AP Photo/NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Cornell)
19.01.2004 First HRSC close-up view of Mars This first spectacular stereoscopic colour picture was taken on 14 January 2004 by ESA’s Mars Express satellite from 275 km above the surface of Mars by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). The picture shows a portion of a 1700 km long and 65 km wide swath which was taken in south-north direction across the Grand Canyon of Mars (Valles Marineris). It is the first image of this size that shows the surface of Mars in high resolution (12 metres per pixel), in colour, and in 3D. The total area of the image on the Martian surface (top left corner) corresponds to 120 000 km². The lower part of the picture shows the same region in perspective view as if seen from a low-flying aircraft. This perspective view was generated on a computer from the original image data. One looks at a landscape which has been predominantly shaped by the erosional action of water. Millions of cubic kilometres of rock have been removed, and the surface features seen now such as mountain ranges, valleys, and mesas, have been formed.
Nevertheless I will tell you this: I am impressed with this Mars rover. Articles like this indicate that grown ups are in control. I mean, can you imagine if we turned the rover over to a bunch of MTV types? Those idiots would have popped a wheely off the pad and lost that sucker in 5 seconds.
