Comments on: Mars in Pictures

Mars in Pictures

Chinese Jet Pilot — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:03:35 -0800

The evolution of Mars imaging from orbit: Mariner 4 (1964), Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 (both 1969), Mariner 9 (1971) (all NASA), Mars 5 (1973) (USSR), Viking 1 (1975), Viking 2 (1976), Mars Global Surveyor (1996), Mars Odyssey (2001) (NASA), Mars Express (2003) (ESA), up to this spy-quality shot of an active avalanche taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (2005).

By: DU

DU — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:13:33 -0800

Awesome. Browsing the site, the first thing I find is Earth and Moon as seen from Mars orbiter.

By: slogger

slogger — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:20:13 -0800

Cool. I love looking at this stuff. The avalanche is especially cool, reminding me that there really is activity on what I think of as a lifeless orb. Also: eponysterical!

By: bondcliff

bondcliff — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:30:54 -0800

Nice post. My favorite pictures, which I can't seem to find just now, are birdseye views of the rovers and other hardware on the surface. There's something about seeing one spacecraft from another spacecraft that gives me a wicked chub. I'm looking forward to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to be launched later this year. For the first time we should get images of the Apollo hardware from orbit. It'll be fun seeing how the conspiracy theorist nutjobs attempt to prove Photoshoppery.

By: Hactar

Hactar — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:32:26 -0800

My reaction: "Neat (up through voyager), cool (voyager) wow, wow, my god, WOW" Excellent post.

By: elpapacito

elpapacito — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:32:56 -0800

Obligatory Carl Sagan youtubery.

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:34:54 -0800

The avalanche shot is literally awesome. It really shows Mars as a physical, dynamic place, not just a still landscape like we're used to seeing.

By: DU

DU — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:42:40 -0800

For the first time we should get images of the Apollo hardware from orbit. It'll be fun seeing how the conspiracy theorist nutjobs attempt to prove Photoshoppery. If you are going to ignore the Apollo-era evidence, why would you balk at ignoring modern-day evidence? "There is no lunar orbiter" or "these images are CGI" are still viable (in the sense of "utterable by idiots") options.

By: Scoo

Scoo — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:37:46 -0800

"Ingrid's Avalanches" would be a great band name.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:31:15 -0800

Heh. I was thinking about ways to put that avalanche image in an FPP. Great stuff.

By: CynicalKnight

CynicalKnight — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:19:03 -0800

My avalanches, my avalanches, my lovely Martian avalanches. Check it out.

By: sexyrobot

sexyrobot — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:38:16 -0800

nice seeing a russian shot...they had a miserable record at mars...i have a copy of the nasa atlas of the solar system that has a timeline of all the planetary probes ever launched...the russians sent something like 40 or 50 probes there that all failed...most of them completely...1 or 2 that lasted only a few minutes...sad...they are the only ones that ever succeeded at landing on venus, though... those avalanches are madness!