You Will Go To The Moon

This is cool. NASA today released a gigantic (27 megs for the full-res) panoramic view from the Mars Rover Spirit. Apparently it has been climbing this foothill over there (on Mars) for the past few months and it has finally made it to the top. I think they said it is about the height of the Statue of Liberty, which is pretty good for a little go-cart the size of a cat.



Anyways, the picture is kind of breathtaking, for me anyways. This is another planet and here we have pictures of it like somebody went there on vacation. Course, I get goosebumps when I see Apollo pictures from the Moon. It's just awesome (as in, full of awe) to see these places out in space, on another planet, and they are just like Earth. Or, in this case, Arizona (which is a wonderful place, don't get me wrong). People argue about what the benefits of the space program are, but for me - it's worth it for its own sake. I think in another life I would have been an explorer. Unfortunately, we're at a time in history when everything within reach is already explored, unless you have billions of dollars. Oh well.

Here's a QT movie of the shot, sort of neat to watch. If you go here, and click on "view top 10 images" over there on the right, you can see some really neat stuff. I would call it "beautiful," but it's a bunch of rocks, and I don't want to sound too sentimental. Of course, here's the one I've been blabbing on about.

It's also worthy of note that these two rovers are now on day 591 of their 90 day mission. So we can remember them next time NASA forgets to convert meters into feet. They're making it up with these guys.