4 ms·

High-Res Photo Shows Sand-Capped Butte Rising from Mars Plain of Polygons

169 points by bookofjoe 3mo ago

lostnfound8778 3mo ago
NASA's version: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-science-laboratory/curiosity-rover/nasas-curiosity-mars-rover-discovers-field-of-honeycomb-textures/ https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-science-laboratory/curios...
- HelloUsername 3mo ago
  Posted 10 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49146160 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49146160
sandgiant 3mo ago
> NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this sand-capped butte, nicknamed “Miraflores,” estimated to be about 20 feet (6 meters) tall, on June 11, 2026. The surrounding area includes an expanse of terrain covered in surface features called polygons. From https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-science-laboratory/curiosity-rover/nasas-curiosity-mars-rover-discovers-field-of-honeycomb-textures/ https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-science-laboratory/curios...
- deleted 3mo ago
  [deleted]
oplav 3mo ago
> The color was adjusted to match the lighting conditions as the human eye would see it if a person were standing on the surface of the Red Planet. Is the non-adjusted color version available anywhere?
- GMoromisato 3mo ago
  I don't know, but note that the raw, unadjusted images are no more "authentic" than the color-adjusted ones. Mastcam uses a Bayer RGB matrix, very similar to a consumer digital camera. Effectively, each "pixel" of the matrix has an R, G, or B color filter in front of it. I don't know the specific wavelength response of each filter, but it's likely to be very close to a high-end consumer camera. This is different from (e.g.,) Hubble images, which (a) are captured through non-RGB filters, and (b) use long exposures far beyond what a human eye would see.
- zokier 3mo ago
  My recommendation is that do not bother to try thinking too hard about Mars image colors, it's deep and ultimately unsatisfactory rabbithole, just enjoy the pictures as they are. Here is another rendering of the same raw data: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nev-t/55357706514/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/nev-t/55357706514/ It is no less or more non-adjusted, all digital colors are interpretations of some sort. Of course you can also download the raws from NASA/JPL and process them yourself. But then you have to make the decisions on how to render the colors. areo.info has some information about their own image processing pipeline for M2020/Perseverance images (the successor mission of MSL/Curiosity), with good links: https://areo.info/mars20/ https://areo.info/mars20/ Lot of that information should be applicable to Curiosity too. But on the other hand I personally think many of their renderings look pretty weird so take the info with a grain of salt?
  - devindotcom 3mo ago
    yeah, this is good advice unless you really want to get deep into it. the people doing the colors on these know what they're doing. that said it can be fascinating to look at the process and try it yourself so go for it. I bet it's well documented.
deleted 3mo ago
[deleted]
neom 3mo ago
Mars Guy covered this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q1r9qeQwrI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q1r9qeQwrI
poulpy123 3mo ago
I can recognize a reptilian pyramid when I see one
- ColdStream 3mo ago
  Yeah we usually vote for those that come out of them. ;)
iamjs 3mo ago
This fascinating map of the path the curiosity rover has taken since landing really helps put this into perspective https://science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity/location-map/ https://science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity/location-map/
- spockz 3mo ago
  I find it amazing that we have a piece of equipment still going strong on a remote hostile place for 14 years. It is still finding new information. And at the same time over here we move fast and break things, we have regime changes. People chasing the latest fads or quarterly gains. Min/maxing. I find some solace in that somewhere we are still able to make these long running missions. I hope we develop such long term vision also for the more near problems of our world. (Both in time and space.)
  - stevenwoo 3mo ago
    It’s pretty impressive engineering but those wheels are almost at end of life sadly https://www.space.com/space-exploration/mars-rovers/curiosity-mars-rover-inspects-cracked-wheel-space-photo-of-the-day-for-july-24-2026 https://www.space.com/space-exploration/mars-rovers/curiosit...
  - kumarvvr 3mo ago
    If NASA made a lightbuld, it would outlast the universe !
  - altmanaltman 3mo ago
    There are 2 active and several inactive rovers, not just Curiosity. Also, yes, space is awesome, but a lot of progress happened there because regimes clashed with each other and tried to outdo each other. In the process, they moved fast and broke things in space as well. Also, what makes you think the world doesn't have any long-term vision? It's easier to plan (not execute, obviously) on shooting a rover onto Mars (relatively) than it is to plan what a country is going to do in a year.
gtm1260 3mo ago
Nasa needs to send an iphone to mars - every photo from there looks so weird.
- ourmandave 3mo ago
  With the Interplanetary Unlimited Plan.* * Data exceeding 10GB/month will be rate limited to Voyager 2 speed.
chillitom 3mo ago
Can anyone explain why the sand accumulated on top of the rock?

169 points by bookofjoe 3mo ago

NASA's version: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-science-laboratory/curiosity-rover/nasas-curiosity-mars-rover-discovers-field-of-honeycomb-textures/ https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-science-laboratory/curios...

HelloUsername 3mo ago
Posted 10 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49146160 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49146160

sandgiant 3mo ago

> NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this sand-capped butte, nicknamed “Miraflores,” estimated to be about 20 feet (6 meters) tall, on June 11, 2026. The surrounding area includes an expanse of terrain covered in surface features called polygons. From https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-science-laboratory/curiosity-rover/nasas-curiosity-mars-rover-discovers-field-of-honeycomb-textures/ https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-science-laboratory/curios...

deleted 3mo ago
[deleted]

oplav 3mo ago

> The color was adjusted to match the lighting conditions as the human eye would see it if a person were standing on the surface of the Red Planet. Is the non-adjusted color version available anywhere?

GMoromisato 3mo ago
I don't know, but note that the raw, unadjusted images are no more "authentic" than the color-adjusted ones. Mastcam uses a Bayer RGB matrix, very similar to a consumer digital camera. Effectively, each "pixel" of the matrix has an R, G, or B color filter in front of it. I don't know the specific wavelength response of each filter, but it's likely to be very close to a high-end consumer camera. This is different from (e.g.,) Hubble images, which (a) are captured through non-RGB filters, and (b) use long exposures far beyond what a human eye would see.
zokier 3mo ago
My recommendation is that do not bother to try thinking too hard about Mars image colors, it's deep and ultimately unsatisfactory rabbithole, just enjoy the pictures as they are. Here is another rendering of the same raw data: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nev-t/55357706514/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/nev-t/55357706514/ It is no less or more non-adjusted, all digital colors are interpretations of some sort. Of course you can also download the raws from NASA/JPL and process them yourself. But then you have to make the decisions on how to render the colors. areo.info has some information about their own image processing pipeline for M2020/Perseverance images (the successor mission of MSL/Curiosity), with good links: https://areo.info/mars20/ https://areo.info/mars20/ Lot of that information should be applicable to Curiosity too. But on the other hand I personally think many of their renderings look pretty weird so take the info with a grain of salt?
- devindotcom 3mo ago
  yeah, this is good advice unless you really want to get deep into it. the people doing the colors on these know what they're doing. that said it can be fascinating to look at the process and try it yourself so go for it. I bet it's well documented.

deleted 3mo ago

[deleted]

neom 3mo ago

Mars Guy covered this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q1r9qeQwrI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q1r9qeQwrI

poulpy123 3mo ago

I can recognize a reptilian pyramid when I see one

ColdStream 3mo ago
Yeah we usually vote for those that come out of them. ;)

iamjs 3mo ago

This fascinating map of the path the curiosity rover has taken since landing really helps put this into perspective https://science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity/location-map/ https://science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity/location-map/

spockz 3mo ago
I find it amazing that we have a piece of equipment still going strong on a remote hostile place for 14 years. It is still finding new information. And at the same time over here we move fast and break things, we have regime changes. People chasing the latest fads or quarterly gains. Min/maxing. I find some solace in that somewhere we are still able to make these long running missions. I hope we develop such long term vision also for the more near problems of our world. (Both in time and space.)
- stevenwoo 3mo ago
  It’s pretty impressive engineering but those wheels are almost at end of life sadly https://www.space.com/space-exploration/mars-rovers/curiosity-mars-rover-inspects-cracked-wheel-space-photo-of-the-day-for-july-24-2026 https://www.space.com/space-exploration/mars-rovers/curiosit...
- kumarvvr 3mo ago
  If NASA made a lightbuld, it would outlast the universe !
- altmanaltman 3mo ago
  There are 2 active and several inactive rovers, not just Curiosity. Also, yes, space is awesome, but a lot of progress happened there because regimes clashed with each other and tried to outdo each other. In the process, they moved fast and broke things in space as well. Also, what makes you think the world doesn't have any long-term vision? It's easier to plan (not execute, obviously) on shooting a rover onto Mars (relatively) than it is to plan what a country is going to do in a year.

gtm1260 3mo ago

Nasa needs to send an iphone to mars - every photo from there looks so weird.

ourmandave 3mo ago
With the Interplanetary Unlimited Plan.* * Data exceeding 10GB/month will be rate limited to Voyager 2 speed.

chillitom 3mo ago

Can anyone explain why the sand accumulated on top of the rock?