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As I noted in July, the support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.

 

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Ingenuity’s view of Jezero Crater during its 9th flight

Ingenuity looks across Jezero Crater
Click for full image.

Overview map
Click for interactive map.

Cool image time! The photo above, cropped, enhanced, and reduced to post here, was taken on July 5, 2021, about thirty seconds after Ingenuity had taken off on its 9th flight on Mars. I have increased the contrast slightly to bring out the features. This is a raw image, so I do not think the colors are accurate, and I also do not know why the middle of the image is brighter than the edges.

The red lines on the map to the right indicates the general area this image captures. Essentially, once the helicopter reached its flying altitude after liftoff the engineers had it tilt so that it could see the route it was about to take to the southwest. As they noted in their description of this flight,

We began by dipping into what looks like a heavily eroded crater, then continued to descend over sloped and undulating terrain before climbing again to emerge on a flat plain to the southwest.

I think that crater is visible on the left edge of this picture.

So far 180 raw images from Ingenuity have arrived at JPL. There might be a few more, but I think this is the bulk from the flight. Of these, all but nine are black and white and point straight down. The nine color images seem tilted up towards the horizon to various degrees, though the image above is the only one that captures the horizon itself and the distance mountains of Jezero Crater’s rim.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

8 comments

  • Jeff Wright

    Even a few feet off the dirt…it is still flying ‘higher’ than Bransons toy, right?

  • Dehazing helps with this shot (and probably quite a few other martian surface pics).

  • Michael McNeil: What is “dehazing” called in The Gimp? I can’t find this specific filter there.

  • wayne

    Mr. Z.,
    There’s not an actual feature for ‘dehazing’ in GIMP, it’s a combination of adjusting color levels & white balance, and removing any color-casts present.
    (I use ACDSee, but the concept is similar in GIMP)

  • Wayne: I know how to adjust color levels and white balance (do it all the time). I have never heard of “color-casts” however.

  • wayne

    I’m not the ideal person to explain this. I have GIMP but I use ACDSee and they have a ‘remove colorcast’ feature which I find more intuitive. (I would defer to Michael and others.)

    “Removing a colour cast using GIMP”
    https://youtu.be/3iehOYBYgXE
    4:22

    Adobe defines color cast as: “An unwanted color shift in the whole image, which can be caused by reflected light from a nearby object.”

  • Wayne: Based on the Abode definition, I do this all the time. It however is not dehazing.

    I’ll look at the video later tonight.

  • So much better than the simulations.

    Aviating on another planet (although by proxy). I’d say Space Force pilots have some Dissimilar Atmospheric Maneuvering to learn.

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