[meteorite-list] The Best Hike on Mars You'll Ever Take

From: dorifry <dorifry_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 15:01:24 -0500
Message-ID: <D260E91959AE421B86F3DC31AAAECE6C_at_DoriPC>

This video compresses 5 years and 4 months of the Martian rover Spirit's
travels on the surface of the Red Planet into less than 3 minutes.



The Best Hike On Mars You'll Ever Take

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/12/02/143051269/the-best-hike-on-mars-you-ll-ever-take

by Robert Krulwich

It took five years, three months and 27 days, but you can do it all in three
minutes. Here, from start to finish, is what the NASA rover "Spirit"
sniffed, bopped, scratched and saw as it moved across 4.8 miles of the
Martian surface.

The lens is wide-angled, so the horizon always looks like a curved mountain
top; every so often a one-armed probe, looking weirdly lobster-like, will
suddenly appear, noodle around, poke, tap or sift through the Martian soil.

Towards the end you'll catch glimpses of the sun setting, (same sun!
different set! I thought.) until Spirit gets stuck in the Martian muck and
then, dramatically, everything goes dark. The folks who edited this together
added movie music, which makes it really fun to watch. This is the best
low-res, low-priced, low energy Martian hike you'll ever take.

-------------------------------------------------

Phil Whitmer

Joshua Tree Earth & Space Museum
Received on Mon 05 Dec 2011 03:01:24 PM PST