The Mars Report June 2, 2013

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A rat on Mars, did you hear about this? ROFLMFAO (Rolling On the Floor Laughing My Fracking Ass Off) I looked at the images, at about 4:30AM today (Sunday). Went to NASA/JPL to download the original shots and looked at them on my 1920x1080 monitor. Rocks, just rocks. Guess it is a slow news week, right? Just as I was sewing that up I hear something about “a metallic arm’ on Mars? Again, ROFLMFAO. Does nobody in the media realize that the public/media images have been altered? It is called ‘White Balancing’ and it helps make ALL the public images released appear in EARTH light.

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Hence, something that appears ‘metallic’ in the media/public image is, in reality, not even metallic. But, this kind of thing keeps those pulp mags moving and the ET tele-mags full of pseudo-intrigue. However, I really must hand it to the blogger that broke this story. His blog is hopping and he is experiencing his “fifteen-minutes-of-Fame” all we Americans were promised. (My favorite… my ONLY.. favorite phrase from Andy Warhol)

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See, the thing is? I would just LOVE to have this traffic here @ The Other Shoe. Although, honestly, I would not want my time of fame to be over a rat shaped rock on Mars. I have been writing The Mars Report here for the past eight or so months, not just a fly-by-night venture for me. When you come here to read about Mars and see images that open your eyes and fill you with wonder, it is just that. I want people to feel engaged and involved in the American Mars Science Expedition, not harvest the whole project for fill in a slow news week. Nope, I am here for the hard science and pure enjoyment of discovering another world, and alien planet, for the long haul.

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I was thinking of posting the images here, then I thought not. The media has already debunked the ‘rat’ image. As for the “metallic arm’?

Simple factoid. Pretty much without exception all the images that make it to the public and media have been altered (by NASA/JPL) in a process called ‘white balancing’. This is a imaging process that alters the color saturation, hue, and white level of the original image so that the scene appears in Earth Light. Right, we rarely see Mars in Martian light. However, here @ The Other Shoe I have presented images that are in original Mars lighting. In one article I shared an image from JPL that broke down a single shot in the three different imaging processes they use. RAW, Natural and White Balanced.

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Here is a shot of Mount Sharp in Raw Colors:

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="258"] NASA/JPL Image of Mount Sharp with RAW colors.[/caption]

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And, here is the same image with ‘White Balancing’:

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="258"] NASA/JPL Image of Mount Sharp with White Balancing imaging used.[/caption]

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So, with the processes and imaging techniques used, what appears to be ‘metallic’ in a white balanced process image in reality is not metallic colored at all. I looked at the image, both at this bloggers site and at NASA/JPL project web site. There is a glare, on a rock face, that appears to have been translated, visually, as a silver metal color. There is not metal object on Mars, least not yet. I appreciate that a lot more people are looking at the Mars mission images. I hope all Americans follow of space program (less than 20% actually do), but this is for all the wrong reasons.

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Scientific achievement, advancing our understanding of our world via exploration of other planetary bodies in our solar system and fulfilling mankind’s need for expansion and exploration. THOSE are the good and genuine reasons to write about and talk about Mars and the NASA/JPL Mars Mission.

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Thank you for dropping by, today. I was hoping for more images today… I am just really in a ton of pain and simply cannot put together all the downloads and uploads, nesting URLS and labels that it takes to produce one single episode of The Mars Report. I appreciate your support and understanding.

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ENJOY!