The story behind Curiosity's self-portraits on Mars
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The story behind Curiosity's self-portraits on Mars
1–10 of 13 posts
Re: The story behind Curiosity's self-portraits on Mars
#2All that work for a selfie - what a hack!
Re: The story behind Curiosity's self-portraits on Mars
#3Is this easier than having a camera with a self timer, that can be set on the ground, and then go pick it up? At least it would get a realistic perspective.
Re: The story behind Curiosity's self-portraits on Mars
#4Is this easier than having a camera with a self timer, that can be set on the ground, and then go pick it up? At least it would get a realistic perspective.
Come on - that's kinda missing the point.
It's not like they were gonna go buy some mil-spec or space-rated GoPro, then lift it right out of earth's gravity well and schlep it 150 odd million miles to Mars just so they could get some selfies.
This is a _brilliant_ hack using all existing equipment in ways it wasn't designed for, but turns out it's quite good at given the constraints.
Re: The story behind Curiosity's self-portraits on Mars
#5Is this easier than having a camera with a self timer, that can be set on the ground, and then go pick it up? At least it would get a realistic perspective.
Come on - that's kinda missing the point. It's not like they were gonna go buy some mil-spec or space-rated GoPro, then lift it right out of earth's gravity well and schlep it 150 odd million miles to Mars just so they could get some selfies. This is a _brilliant_ hack using all existing equipment in ways it wasn't designed for, but turns out it's quite good at given the constraints.
While I agree with what you say, you might under-appreciate the value of cool pictures. Yeah, they are doing cool science stuff up there, but a good part of the value of these missions is to get people excited about space, kids interested in technology, and to give humans some perspective of their place in the universe. A high-resolution selfie of this kind-of-cute robot is as important as the results of their drilling experiments, IMHO.
Re: The story behind Curiosity's self-portraits on Mars
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
Come on - that's kinda missing the point. It's not like they were gonna go buy some mil-spec or space-rated GoPro, then lift it right out of earth's gravity well and schlep it 150 odd million miles to Mars just so they could get some selfies. This is a _brilliant_ hack using all existing equipment in ways it wasn't designed for, but turns out it's quite good at given the constraints.
While I agree with what you say, you might under-appreciate the value of cool pictures. Yeah, they are doing cool science stuff up there, but a good part of the value of these missions is to get people excited about space, kids interested in technology, and to give humans some perspective of their place in the universe. A high-resolution selfie of this kind-of-cute robot is as important as the results of their drilli…
This is one of the aspects that gets me excited for airborne drones which can operate in the Martian atmosphere. Not only for the potential offered by longer range, but also the possibility for some great photos of any ground based vehicles whose mission zone overlaps.
Great photos can inspire and help fund great science.
Re: The story behind Curiosity's self-portraits on Mars
#7I find the mental image of this happening on the Martian surface quite amusing. Imagine an alien ship landing in your backyard, slowly extending an ominous robotic appendage and then... taking a 50 selfies.
Re: The story behind Curiosity's self-portraits on Mars
#8I find the mental image of this happening on the Martian surface quite amusing. Imagine an alien ship landing in your backyard, slowly extending an ominous robotic appendage and then... taking a 50 selfies.
And then imagine a big crowd of people coming up to it and taking selfies with it!
Re: The story behind Curiosity's self-portraits on Mars
#9Is this easier than having a camera with a self timer, that can be set on the ground, and then go pick it up? At least it would get a realistic perspective.
It seems a lot easier, to be honest. Adding all the mechanisms to drop off and retrieve a camera unit would be very complex. This way they just use an existing science instrument.
Re: The story behind Curiosity's self-portraits on Mars
#10I find the mental image of this happening on the Martian surface quite amusing. Imagine an alien ship landing in your backyard, slowly extending an ominous robotic appendage and then... taking a 50 selfies.
I find it amusing that we would see an advanced alien race as being borderline idiotic and socially blind. They would instantly grasp what was going on. They have PR in their world too, not to mention the engineers would know that a 'selfie' would be good to diagnose any external damage.