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Mars Pathfinder Images - Wow!
About 50 images were displayed on NASA TV starting at about 4:30 PM PDT.
These images were the low-res versions to get an idea of the state of
airbags and the orientation of the lander, but boy were they awesome!
The camera was panned around in 360 degree circle, and took images of
the spacecraft, air bags and the rover. There were also several images of
the Martian terrain. There are rocks everywhere! The rover will be very
busy looking at them. The terrain looks a bit like Viking images, except
the rock sizes were more varied (more large boulder-sized rocks), and there
are apparently more variety in the rock compositions. In some of the images,
a distant mountain or large hill was visible. The images were taken with the
camera still in its canister, so additional images will be taken later when
the camera mast is raised 3 feet higher. The images shown were the raw
unprocessed black-n-white images, and will be combined to form color mosaics.
Ron Baalke