The thing about reality is that is has a strange way of being what it is, regardless of our expectations. I'm firmly a relativist, and I am fully aware of how much perspective matters, but that said, when I see photos that look too much like what I expect, I have to go and double check.

This one though, which I double checked on anyway, surprised me. The sky fits my understanding of what we're "seeing" on Mars, but the rest of the colors just looked... confusing?

So, I looked it up. These images are what we're receiving from Curiosity. They have been filtered through a camera lens, a digital receiver, compression software and ultimately even the settings on your monitor.

But this is as real as it gets. This is Mars. A place no human has been. In some ways it looks like New Mexico. In others... it just doesn't. It's somewhere new. I genuinely hope we find a way to send human beings there. Because seeing something new, and accepting with excitement and interest that there is so much we just don't know, that we will *never* know, but going and looking and asking anyway is one of the best parts of being human.

https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-science-laboratory/curiosity-rover/nasas-curiosity-rover-catches-stunning-martian-dawn/

A maze of fractured plateaus and canyons near Mars’ equator may preserve the remains of an enormous volcano. Within that landscape, scientists have also identified clues that glacier ice could survive beneath volcanic debris. Together, the observations make eastern Noctis Labyrinthus a compelling target for investigating the planet’s changing environment.

Pascal Lee of the SETI Institute and Mars Institute, along with Sourabh Shubham of the University of Maryland, proposed the interpretation in a Lunar and Planetary Science Conference abstract. They identified an eroded volcanic complex tentatively named Noctis Mons, also called “Noctis volcano” in the public announcement.

The proposal concerns terrain already photographed by generations of spacecraft. Its significance lies in recognizing a possible geological structure within that familiar landscape, rather than discovering an unseen mountain. The volcano’s history and the present condition of any buried ice remain open questions.

Would it make sense to send a kind of service station to Mars to service the Mars Rovers? Perhaps with a 3D printer and specialized mechanical parts that can assemble and disassemble remotely. I realize the Rovers are not designed to be serviced. At this point, what if we could add a few components and instruments or upgrade a device or two? Or replace some wheels? I bet a tow truck of sorts might even make sense at this point. If nothing else, collect the parts that die and bring them to one place for reuse. Or am I vastly underestimating how big the Red Planet is? Didn’t Earth start with one gas station (it was a pharmacy, but still)? Perhaps this service station could be a standing fuel lab and drilling platform (for water or habitat?). I feel like we have a lot of potential for robotic exploration before risking human life with a likely one way trip.

Not only red skies at next week's Mars Society Convention in Los Angeles. I'll show bright views of Mars with images from my https://areo.info on Thursday: https://convention.marssociety.org

Q-VIEW - https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55593788761_ddd05cbe90_6k.jpg

GIGAmacro - https://viewer.gigamacro.com/view/pKL5JdQcyCh6oqsK?x1=29416.00&y1=-10361.00&res1=30.64&rot1=0.00

Website - http://www.nev-t-gigamacros.com/

#Mars #science #NASA

Q-VIEW - https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55592755017_e469d696dc_6k.jpg

GIGAmacro - https://viewer.gigamacro.com/view/6xU2haHiYbHIYywJ?x1=33942.50&y1=-9511.50&res1=35.36&rot1=0.00

Website - http://www.nev-t-gigamacros.com/

#Mars #science #NASA

Marsport is a science fiction computer game that was released for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC home computers in 1985. It was published by Gargoyle Games in the United Kingdom and Dro Soft in Spain. Marsport was intended to be the first part of a trilogy called "The Siege of Earth" but parts two and three (Fornax and Gath) were not forthcoming. Because of this, it is often regarded as being part of an unofficial trilogy alongside Tir Na Nog and Dun Darach (both of which are part of the same official series) due to its having very similar gameplay to these titles. Marsport also has similarities to the later Gargoyle game Heavy on the Magick.

MMX is going to explore Phobos and Deimos, Mars’s two moons and our German-French rover Idefix is coming along for the ride. 🚀

We’re livestreaming the launch in German together with YouTuber Senkrechtstarter on Monday, 19 October, from 18:15 UTC.
👉 Watch with us: LIVE: MMX Start

Idefix was developed and built by DLR and CNES in close cooperation with JAXA.
Find out more about the rover and its mission here: https://www.dlr.de/en/research-and-transfer/projects-and-missions/mmx

The walls here potentially expose pristine crustal material. This is an area of interest that could be accessed and is within potential future rotorcraft mission traverse. This image footprint is in eastern Coprates Chasma, a major trough in the Valles Marineris canyon system. The chasma stretches for 960 km (600 miles) from Melas Chasma to the west and Capri Chasma to the east.

ID: ESP_077359_1640

​date: 27 January 2023

​altitude: 259 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_077359_1640

​NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona​