Monday, July 9, 2012

Mars Is Calling !

I had photos from my latest adventure and then saw one of the following pictures on the news and could not resist going to the NASA website to show you a few more. These are all photos taken by the latest generation of Mars Rover and they are clear beyond belief. I was more than happy to adhere to their requirement and say that these photos have been provided Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech. As usual click each photo for a better view. 

Before we get into a look at the surface some history is in order. Here is a picture of three generations of Rovers. While you almost expect to see R2-D2 they are not far from fiction becoming reality and look quite close to what we have seen in the movies.


Next, comes a view of the current Rover. The photo almost looks like a fractal as you view the various panels. I guess a lot of that has to do with the way they have pieced together various pictures to provide a complete image. 












And now, lets go for a trip on the surface. Here is a low light image. You can see parts of the Rover that took the image.
















Talking about R2-D2, my favorite is this one that once again has been stitched together to create one image. You can clearly make out the tracks of the Rover in the background as it drove to get to this spot. Salvador Dali would have loved this view!


I'm sure we will be seeing more pictures as I am certain NASA scientists are having great fun shifting through the data. There were also loads of multimedia examples of Rover's work, so if you have a moment, jump over to the Mars Exploration Rover Mission from the highlighted link and be even more amazed because Mars is now calling!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

The Ark Has Finally Landed!

The last week has been challenging to say the least. We all expected Tropical Storm Debby, which usually means a few days of rain and wind. What no one expected was days and days of unending, monsoon like rain. I've included some photos to show why it felt like we were on the ark waiting to finally hit land.





A road near my house that I travel a lot. A sinkhole developed, became overloaded, and gave way. I find it amazing because just the day before I was driving down this street.






Another intersection I use a good deal looks almost unreal. It has the strange look that cars have  been driven into a  lake.  You would never know this is an entrance to the interstate highway.








You have to feel for the person in this car (this almost happened to me but I was helped by people in the street who showed me the high point of the street). It was scary to say the least.


  





But in every bad situation there is always someone able to make lemonade out of lemons. This young man looks like he is having the time of his life floating down the middle of his street.








And so the ark has finally landed as the water slowly begins to draw down. Now comes the mosquitoes breeding in all that water!