Not the first batch of them though - earth is full of evidence of ancient civilizations who may have had advanced technology. We need to figure out what destroyed them, so we have a backup plan to not to become extinct :)

Cool pics...... Looking at the picture gives me a uncontrollable urge to play in Martian sand.... My CURIOSITY is killing me. (snicker)

Science is taking us everywhere. Thanks NASA, thanks Alan, and thanks Curiosity.

I hope we find unmistakable evidence of past life. This is one helluva scientific achievement, kind of like hitting a golf ball in New York and landing a hole-in-one in Bangkok.

Go Science!

Here: http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/images/2012/details/cut/ESP_028335_1755_IRB.NOMAP-2x.jpg

@ Alan We've been trying to find out how "smart" the electronics were on the sky crane here at work. While the two main Power PC 650 computers are on Curiosity, were there any "brains" on the sky crane? Unfortunately, we are now looking at the only off-earth superfund site with 300 lbs of Hydrazine sublimating. Was there any way to program the sky crane to touch down softly instead of just veering off and crashing? Since it hovered, I would think it could have taken a shot at a soft touchdown. Any info on this would be greatly appreciated.

i hope somebody paid up their aaa card?

it goes to show what our scientist can do.and what our people can build.

who says space exploration does not pay off? here is proof of what can be achieved and used here on earth.

what a show nasa.

"Turn left... in... 200 yards. Recalculating....."

Maybe you should invent a camera and/or lens that will take better images AND be lightweight and energy efficient enough to travel on a spacecraft.

I believe they are worm tunnels.

We take what we can get, right? I too wish it was humans up there but at least we have something up there doing the research. Someday that first man on Mars will be a household name.

I see. What are your science credentials, Ken?

@VetInVA None. Don't feed the troll......

I bet it will accomplish more than you will ever accomplish, Ken. Just my opinion.

Good thing our founders didn't have that attitude or your name "ken1776" would need to change.

Wow...just wow. Just landing there was a major accomplishment. Everything else is gravy.

Well, I know with distant objects, like Pluto or the moons of Saturn, there simply isn't enough light. The Sun is really far away, barely more than a slightly larger and brighter star. So if you saw the pictures "as it were if you were there, looking out the transparent, untinted window of your spaceship" the scene would be very, very dim.

I'm not sure about Mars, though. What would it look like to a naked human eye, if we could arrange such a thing? What exactly are the true colors of Mars? Does the atmosphere change the default light away from what we're used to? How much smaller and dimmer IS the Sun at that distance?

#18

Excellent point, colour is what is reflected and what the atmospheric gases allow to reach out retinas, so in reality, when the gas mixtures differ from those that we are used to, so does the colour palate, so nice question, the answer I would assume, :-) not ( Arse U me) if you do not mind, is that most people might not be aware of that scientific fact, and so it " makes life easier for them ";-)

I remember a story about the first Mars landing (can't seem to find it on the internet). The lander had only a black and white camera and used filters to send back three images. The images were then combined to give a color image of what the lander was seeing. The first color image they created had a red sky. So they adjusted the balance of the three images until the sky was blue. I wasn't until they had printed a bunch of copies that someone noticed the stripes on the flag that was visible in the image were blue instead of red.

I've seen the final image with true colors and a nice rosy red colored sky and a nice red white and blue flag in the bottom of the image. I heard the designer of the lander put the flag in that location so they would have a definite color palate to balance the images with.

If you want to see an example of Earth light verses Mars light, take an object and view it under a non-color adjusted light bulb (most lights you buy for your home are color adjusted to give a warmer feeling). Then take the object and look at it outside on a bright sunny day. Or the same object on a sunny verses a cloudy day. Do they look different? Different light sources (and Earth atmosphere verses Mars atmosphere give different light sources) make the color of objects appear different.

I think the main reason they change the colors is to enhance very small differences in real color. In real life, the color changes are very subtle, but it can make the difference between sandy and rocky terrain. By digitally enhancing these different colors, it is easier to see the differences and therefore you can make better decisions about where to go or what to focus on. The object of the rover is not to send pretty pictures, but to send detailed pictures that can enhance what we know about the planet.

Thanks for the helpful answers, all! I'm going to see if I can find any of those pictures of the discolored flag. All of this is so fascinating!

After how many MILLIONS of miles, you want to know why they couldn't get CLOSER??? Sure, YOU try throwing a basketball at a hoop from 5 miles away and get nothing but net.

Besides, this provided an optimal landing site. They didn't want to risk setting down in the dunes farther south or on the rocky slope of the mountain even further south. Realistically, this site was the best option.

The article states that it is a two year mission and the first half will be spent driving to their target location.

Getting there is half the fun.

#23.2

Its Speed/distance/day is about a " football field " so 6Kms is a long distance.

The biggest impediment is " power " and without the PV power 110watts a day is not much at all.

That's 110 W per hour = 2600 W-hr per day. That is fed to the rechargeable Li batteries, which are then used for the electrical needs of the Rover. The MER rovers had a maximum of about 900 W-hr and survived on less than 200 on some periods.

Another artice on the Slate said that Curiosity runs on plutonium from a Soviet-era nuclear weapons plant.

#23.5

Thank you, I should have stated watts/Hour, the actually useful watts are actually 2080 taking losses into account, and both spirit and opportunity have an RTG. Their PV power was and hence what was said earlier more " efficient " and hence " if it is not broken do not fix it " eight years reliable PV power is " not broken "