Spirit has been capturing some amazing photographs of dust devils blowing across the Gusev plain. Visit the MER Press Release Images page to see some photos and animations created from photos. I'm fascinated by seeing weather, up close and personal, on another terrestrial planet.
We've known for quite a while that these dust devils existed on Mars, and there have been some great photos from orbit showing the devils (lower third of this MGS MOC image) and their trails (the lighter colored dust is carved away revealing the darker rock and soil below) marking up the landscape.
These Spirit images have given us a whole new vantage point and surely the science team's Martian weather folks are thrilled at the new data.
Posted by asa at May 7, 2005 10:29 AMSo very cool... It makes me want to throw on my suit and head out for a Red Planet hike.
These rovers are so impressive I can't wait to see how much incredible exploration will go on with the next generation of robot explorers! I bet it will be the beginning of our permanent occupation (automated and manned) of Mars.
~ Kevin
Posted by: KevinFreitas on May 8, 2005 01:07 PManyone of you ever read the red mars trilogy by k.s. robinson?
Posted by: testboy on May 8, 2005 01:54 PMRed Mars, Blue Mars, Green Mars (I think that's the order)...
I thought that it wasn't a bad trilogy (I tend to read more fantasy). I found that occasionally there was just a bit too much techno-babble and that made it a little dull to read. Although that could of been because quite a bit of the techno-babble was about psychology whereas I'm an engineer... ;)
It was also quite brave of the author to kill characters that, at the start of the trilogy, looked more likely to be lead characters and develop those that initially only had a side role.
Posted by: mjt on May 9, 2005 04:38 AM
