The Mars Report - September 15, 2012

The Mars Report

September 15, 2012

Welcome back, my groovy readers! I know that ‘The Mars Report’ is becoming a thrice-weekly affair, and I know that you are really loving it. ;-) I keep going to pick up images, and they just keep having new material each day that I go! Therefore, I dig through everything that they have, ready, and bring the best to YOU! Remember, you can always show your appreciation for my work… by making a donation. Just click the image at the end of this (or any other) piece. You will be helping me move to a safe apartment, and in a building that will accommodate my new home a powered wheelchair. [You have no idea just how happy this makes me. I always did imagine being in a wheel chair @ 55… groovy!]

Our first image of the day is of small spherical objects that fill the field in this mosaic combining four images from the Microscopic Imager on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The view covers an area about 2.4 inches (6 centimeters) across, at an outcrop called "Kirkwood" in the Cape York segment of the western rim of Endeavour Crater. The individual spherules are up to about one-eighth inch (3 millimeters) in diameter.

.

[caption id="attachment_280" align="aligncenter" width="292"] Small spherical objects that fill the field in this mosaic combining four images from the Microscopic Imager on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity[/caption]

.

Now we will see, in our next image, just how they keep the cameras in focus and calibrated. In order to bring us back such fantastic images time after time. This is also the image that I mentioned takes us back to our last issue of ‘The Mars Report’. Do you, my dear readers, remember the 1909 penny on Curiosity? Well, now we get to see where that penny is and how it figures into the calibration system for the cameras on Curiosity!

.

[caption id="attachment_278" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Well, now we get to see where that penny is and how it figures into the calibration system for the cameras on Curiosity![/caption]

.

OK, now we have seen some of the smallest objects ever photographed on Mars, and then we caught up with our 1909 penny on Curiosity. We now move in a totally different direction, under! That’s right, in order to orient yourself to our next image you have to know we are going under Curiosity! Yes, it is quite a different take on our Martian rover, Curiosity. This shot takes us under the rover, and looking at the undercarriage of Curiosity.

.

[caption id="attachment_281" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Under Carriage Curiosity -- A Shot From Down Under Curiosity![/caption]

.

And, another image from ‘down under’…

.

[caption id="attachment_277" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Best Shot From Under Curiosity I Have Seen So Far[/caption]

.

The next to the last shot, for today, is more of the promised (by me, and NASA) Three-Decisional images from the multi-exposure and angle camera on the mast of Curiosity. Bummer is? I found my 3D glasses, but they are ‘Red/Green’ and NASA is using the ‘Red/Blue’ system. Going to have to find some ‘Red/Blue’ 3-D glasses, somewhere, so I can check these bad boys out!

.

[caption id="attachment_276" align="aligncenter" width="274"] 3D Taget Image Curiosity - However, you will need Red/Blue 3-D Glasses to see this image from Mars properly.[/caption]

.

Our last image of the day, is my personal favorite. This is a shot of the discarded heat shield from the craft that brought Curiosity 227 million kilometers from Earth to Mars. The depth of this image, the clarity of the high-definition gives me the feeling of height so much it almost triggers my acrophobia.

.

[caption id="attachment_279" align="aligncenter" width="300"] This Is the Heat Shield from the space craft that brought Curiosity 227 million kilometers and now lays on Mars.[/caption]

.

That brings us, again, to the end of this issue of The Mars Report. Thank you, my dear readers, for joining me, again, here at The Other Shoe. You, readers, are the reason I do this. You are the reason I rise in the morning, and sleep in the night. Thank you, thank you for a purpose to this dark life and broken body. Thank You!

 

 

Thank you for all your generosity and kindness.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="220"] Daniel's Moving Assistance Fund[/caption]

.