YouTube channel ElderFox DocumentariesOpens in a new tab has assembled what it claims is the “largest mosaic ever put together” of the Martian surface. The Mars mosaic, rendered in stunningly crisp 4K resolution, offers a glimpse of the red, rocky planet like never before. It also makes the prospect of sending something like this StarshipOpens in a new tab to Mars all the more tangible.
ElderFoxOpens in a new tab, a UK-based company that produces space exploration documentaries, recently posted the new Mars mosaic to its channel. The images were taken by three NASA roversOpens in a new tab that have roamed Mars’ surface at one point or another, including Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity. (Curiosity is still operation but both Spirit and Opportunity are not.)
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In the video, a series of still images taken by the three rovers have been assembled and rendered in 4K. The narrator—who sounds like the one you’d hear on a true crime showOpens in a new tab—notes that the shards of black seen in some of the images indicate areas where no images were available.
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The images have been recolored in order to help geologists identify surface details with more clarity. This means that the blue sky seen in some of the images is, in fact, not blue. It’s red. Mars does have skies that appear blue, but only near the Sun. (This color change, incidentally, is due to the amount of Martian dust in the atmosphere. It’s the reason Mars has blue sunsets.Opens in a new tab)
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In addition to delivering unprecedentedly clear images of the Martian surfaceOpens in a new tab, ElderFox also says the video aims to address the often-asked question: “Why don’t we actually have live video from Mars?” The narrator discusses the painfully slow upload speeds our Martian rovers have been limited by: 32 kilobits per second for most of the Martian day (or Sol). The rovers also get a whopping 2 megabytes per second when the Mars Reconnaissance OrbiterOpens in a new tab is in view.
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What do you think about this largest-ever mosaic of images of the Martian surface? Are you more ready than ever to go to Mars now, or are you just going to stick with… Utah? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Feature image: ElderFox DocumentariesOpens in a new tab
