[meteorite-list] Mars color calibration

From: E.P. Grondine <epgrondine_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 07:15:28 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <291828.76603.qm_at_web36902.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Hi Sterling, Doug, all,

The human eye wants to see a human landscape, same as
the human mind does. Mars does not have one of these.
I remember how disappointed I was when the Viking 1
images were returned.

I see that my summary of the problem as being one
equation with two variables was about right. In my
opinion, the effort to use Hubble data to determine
the scattered light of Mars' atmosphere failed, as it
appears it did not take into account the often present
dust in that atmosphere.

What I think is going to happen with Phoenix is that
we're going to be treated to a torrent of
over-generalized statements about how non-existent the
back contamination problem is, based on data from one
point on the surface of a planet, but we'll see.

In my opinion, its going to take multiple long range
rovers to determine whether there is or was life on
Mars and whether back contamination presents a show
stopper to manned exploration or human development
there. Given current launch costs and the economy, and
the crummy launch vehicles Griffin came up with, both
of these are near fantasies now.

On the up side, some things were learned about
parachutes, descent engines, and of course we'll get
some experience with the tools.

Ed


      
Received on Fri 30 May 2008 10:15:28 AM PDT