Starship Asterisk*

Ares 3 Landing Site: The Martian Revisited

Explanation: This close-up from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera shows weathered craters and windblown deposits in southern Acidalia Planitia. A striking shade of blue in standard HiRISE image colors, to the human eye the area would probably look grey or a little reddish. But human eyes have not gazed across this terrain, unless you count the eyes of NASA astronauts in the scifi novel The Martian by Andy Weir. The novel chronicles the adventures of Mark Watney, an astronaut stranded at the fictional Mars mission Ares 3 landing site corresponding to the coordinates of this cropped HiRISE frame. For scale Watney's 6-meter-diameter habitat at the site would be about 1/10th the diameter of the large crater. Of course, the Ares 3 landing coordinates are only about 800 kilometers north of the (real life) Carl Sagan Memorial Station, the 1997 Pathfinder landing site.

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Did the author of The Martian know the coordinates looked like this, and did he pick the spot for a reason? The soil there does look about right to grow potatoes.

Reminds me of a winter scene!

orin stepanek wrote: ↑Sat Jun 22, 2019 12:18 pm Reminds me of a winter scene! :b: :rocketship: :wink:

A somewhat more human-eye-oriented rendering:
_

Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Sat Jun 22, 2019 2:10 pm

orin stepanek wrote: ↑Sat Jun 22, 2019 12:18 pm Reminds me of a winter scene!

A somewhat more human-eye-oriented rendering:
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PIA19363_1024_color.jpg

True; I liked the wintry look though!

Apologies in advance for expressing this particular pet peeve, But —

Speaking of the Great Film, </SARC>, whoever came up with the line, “In your face, Neil Armstrong!” — How dare they? Andy Weir, Drew Goddard, Riddly Scott and/or Matt Damon — How did those armchair astronauts have the gall to mock an *actual hero*? That one line ruined the entire film.

— end of rant —