NASA Mars rover lands on the red planet

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Saltex

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Ok, stupid question incoming, but why are the images black and white, why not a colour camera? I'm excited about this, with technology at where it is today i'm hoping we get to see some decent images.
 
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diegoa

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The first images are from the Hazard Avoidance Cameras (Hazcams), basically they the first to get used to check if its landed or not. The Mastcam on the head of the rover will be risen up later this week which shoots full colour HD photographs :p
 
RaptorSA

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Endzeut said:
Ok, stupid question incoming, but why are the images black and white, why not a colour camera? I'm excited about this, with technology at where it is today i'm hoping we get to see some decent images.
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It could be because they wanted to keep the bandwidth needed as low as possible so they can get the images back faster to see if it's OK, or they're still in the process of deplying the master cam(cams). I'm sure those high-res pictures they usually take probably runs in some kind of batch job over a long time.
 
Roman4604

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Endzeut said:
Ok, stupid question incoming, but why are the images black and white, why not a colour camera? I'm excited about this, with technology at where it is today i'm hoping we get to see some decent images.
Click to expand...
Thats because the main scientific camera boom has yet to be deployed. These low res images are from the maneuvering cameras sent back automatically as part of the landing sequence to verify initial vehicle survival.

Also the high gain antennas have yet to be deployed so the rover cannot communicate directly back to earth at high speed. Initial communication is at low speeds via Mars orbiting satellites. Once the main cameras and antennas are deployed, I'm sure we'll be getting a constant stream of stunning hi-res photos.
 
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boswald

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Maybe Telkom was made responsible for bandwidth requires that is all they can transfer over the fantastic service :)
 
grok

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If Telkom was involved it wouldn't have worked and nobody would be able to afford it.
 
Roman4604

Roman4604

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RaptorSA said:
Fixed :)
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True, and unlike the previous solar powered Spirit/Opportunity which were only able to operate in daytime during summer months, this beasty is nuclear powered. Can keep working day & night all year round.

Maybe [-]NASA[/-] Skynet can detonate the core if [-]Curiosity[/-] T1 happens to run into a Martian base.:D
 
rwenzori

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Endzeut said:
Ok, stupid question incoming, but why are the images black and white, why not a colour camera? I'm excited about this, with technology at where it is today i'm hoping we get to see some decent images.
Click to expand...

Maybe Multichoice have "exclusive rights" to the colour pics. ;)
 
duderoo

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It is actually quite fascinating if one imagines this thing parking off on another planet and beaming the images back to earth. Does this happen in line of sight or how does that work, surely one of the planets would get in the way of the signal at some point?
 
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Dee96

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duderoo said:
It is actually quite fascinating if one imagines this thing parking off on another planet and beaming the images back to earth. Does this happen in line of sight or how does that work, surely one of the planets would get in the way of the signal at some point?
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uhm... U do know there are no planets between earth and mars.... Right.... Moving on...
 
marine1

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I find it amazing that we can see images sent from it? What hardware is used to send the image so far?
 
azbob

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marine1 said:
I find it amazing that we can see images sent from it? What hardware is used to send the image so far?
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There are DSN (Deep Space Network) stations and orbiters. They communicate with the rovers using x-band radio.
 
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