Everyone on the mission who I have talked to about this except for the Mastcam PI agrees that it would be nice to have a Mastcam deck pan...

Andrew Bodrov already succeeded in using that technic.

Does anyone know a recent sol when Curiosity has fully imaged its deck ?

if you watched the movie "the Martian "
the color is pretty on the spot for the soil and rocks

But what does “looked Martian” actually mean? Well, MPC went straight to the source. “We looked at a lot of the NASA photos from the rovers - some of them from Mars - and there are interesting colors you get in there,” he said. “But a lot of the time it just looked like an overcast day in a desert on Earth.” Instead Ridley Scott wanted all different colors in the skies at all different times. “Sometimes more green-ish, sometimes it more like a coppery or bronze-y color and so we just had to figure out what the color was going to be and what the right mood was going to be for Ridley,” Langlands said.

What is the rocket size to launch a 100kg satellite to a stable orbit around Mars?

last time I spent a day looking through the NAIF documentation, it seemed really complex / more powerful than what I needed

I'm considering the following possibilities, to account for what I've observed. I haven't ruled in or out any of them as contributors to what I'm seeing.
1. Readout time may vary between frames.
2. The rate of pixel readout may vary across the frame.
3. Some pixels may contribute more current during readout than other pixels receiving the same amount of light.
4. During readout, additional current may be accumulated more readily depending on the existing current. In other words, accumulation at a pixel can't be modeled as simply as multiplying by a factor.
5. The effect of the dynamic view during readout may be substantial.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature provides a unique system of official names for planetary surface features, natural satellites, dwarf planets, and planetary rings for the benefit of the international science community, educators, and the general public. A single system of official names is critical for effective scientific communication.

There are lots of issues in this version of the image, but I'm unaware of any published version of efb12 with a better alignment of the rgb channels.

How high was the turret above the ground when this was taken?

I apologize to you Mike and the whole MSL team...

That new "selfie" panorama is from an unprecedented angle, unless I'm mistaken.

I am wondering if the crater-counting method of judging the age of a surface needs to be 'calibrated' for the far outer planets differently than it is for the inner ones.

we likely won't see fixed filter ccd imagers (like a 'normal camera') in most space missions... the fixed filter imager on Curiosity but it has proved problematic in some circumstances.

Some of the PDS data might have minimal processing of darks/flats applied, I don't know.

...ever since you said (years ago) that "Beagle 2" would dig a hole, due to the modeling being done using the wrong atmospheric composition - N2 instead of CO2 dominated atmosphere.

1. What reflective coating was used on the mirrors (aluminum? something more exotic?)?

2. Were the optical components coated in any manner?