My Assistant
Site Message
Spacecraft Vanity Images, Look at me! I'm in space! |
 Sep 15 2007, 05:42 PM
Post
#1
|
|
 Senior Member  Group: Members Posts: 1281 Joined: 18-December 04 From: San Diego, CA Member No.: 124  |
I know it may seem like the planetary science equivalent of one's thumb blocking the lens, but there appears to be a trend of spacecraft taking pictures of themselves. I guess they can serve some engineering check out purpose, but gosh darn it, I just think they're neat. Rosetta, Beagle leaving MEX, and now Kaguya. Even Phoenix is snapping shots from inside it's shell.
Seeing the hardware in the picture makes me feel that I am a passenger looking out in a way that even panoramas can't. It could have something to do with establishing a human sense of scale, but seeing Haybusa's shadow gave me goosebumps. Maybe I am just so used to seeing things from a cinematic perspective that it feels more "real" that way. How come this ability seems to be more popular now? Are cameras cheaper? Are mission programmers getting more creative? I can't recall any early missions with these types of photos - what engineer in his right mind would design a camera to fly to Mars and let the spacecraft get in the way of the view?  Can anyone remember any old school hardware vanity shots? Other than landers, of course, which can't help but get in the picture sometimes? And no humans allowed. 
-------------------- Lyford Rome
"Zis is not nuts, zis is super-nuts!" Mathematician Richard Courant on viewing an Orion test |
 |
 
|
 |
|
Sep 16 2007, 01:53 PM
Post
#2
|
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 117 Joined: 7-December 06 From: Sheffield UK Member No.: 1462 |
The self portraits of Spirit and Opportunity are very impressive:
Spirit: http://astronomyonline.org/SolarSystem/Ima...elfPortrait.jpg Opportunity: http://www.hour25online.com/pix/opportunit...april05_02a.jpg -------------------- It's a funny old world - A man's lucky if he gets out of it alive. - W.C. Fields.
|
|
|
|
lyford Spacecraft Vanity Images Sep 15 2007, 05:42 PM
Paolo Amoroso QUOTE (lyford @ Sep 15 2007, 07:42 PM) Ca... Sep 15 2007, 06:04 PM djellison Philae imaging Rosetta, XMM-Newton on board camera... Sep 15 2007, 06:41 PM helvick MRO's self portraint using MCS was pretty swee... Sep 15 2007, 07:48 PM mcaplinger QUOTE (lyford @ Sep 15 2007, 10:42 AM) Ca... Sep 15 2007, 08:55 PM
djellison QUOTE (mcaplinger @ Sep 15 2007, 09:55 PM... Sep 16 2007, 07:35 AM Paolo QUOTE (mcaplinger @ Sep 15 2007, 10:55 PM... Sep 16 2007, 09:47 AM Paolo QUOTE (mcaplinger @ Sep 15 2007, 10:55 PM... Sep 16 2007, 11:08 AM
OWW QUOTE (mcaplinger @ Sep 15 2007, 08:55 PM... Sep 16 2007, 07:32 PM djellison Beagle 2 would have imaged itself using the Wide A... Sep 15 2007, 09:09 PM Zvezdichko Kaguya's pictures of her own antenna and her s... Sep 15 2007, 09:17 PM edstrick The Surveyors imaged themselves, though the postag... Sep 16 2007, 05:32 AM edstrick http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/history/hires/1966...veyor... Sep 16 2007, 07:53 AM Zvezdichko http://epizodsspace.testpilot.ru/e2/snimki/lh2sn.h... Sep 16 2007, 08:26 AM Sunspot QUOTE (Zvezdichko @ Sep 16 2007, 09:26 AM... Sep 16 2007, 08:54 AM Zvezdichko I know it looks like that, but I'd like to kno... Sep 16 2007, 08:56 AM PhilCo126 O.K. we're talking old timers here
Althoug... Sep 16 2007, 09:44 AM As old as Voyager Lunokhod 1 also imaged the Luna 17 lander on which... Sep 16 2007, 01:11 PM tasp The Viking Mars landers took some dramatic photos ... Sep 16 2007, 02:01 PM Paolo Amoroso QUOTE (tasp @ Sep 16 2007, 04:01 PM) The ... Sep 16 2007, 06:10 PM dvandorn For me, the self-portrait thing started with Surve... Sep 16 2007, 02:30 PM ugordan Yes it did, and because of the slow scan process s... Sep 16 2007, 06:19 PM Zvezdichko Will LRO be able to photograph the impactor next y... Sep 16 2007, 06:50 PM ElkGroveDan Of course we can't forget these, though not te... Sep 16 2007, 07:58 PM OWW Found the NIMS Galileo self-portrait. It's fro... Sep 16 2007, 08:17 PM Paolo QUOTE (OWW @ Sep 16 2007, 10:17 PM) Found... Sep 17 2007, 06:40 PM OWW QUOTE (Paolo @ Sep 17 2007, 06:40 PM) The... Sep 17 2007, 09:07 PM Paolo QUOTE (OWW @ Sep 17 2007, 11:07 PM) Anyon... Sep 18 2007, 06:28 PM Paolo QUOTE (Paolo @ Sep 18 2007, 08:28 PM) Unl... Oct 16 2007, 06:18 PM djellison OWW - (thank you)^10000
Doug Sep 17 2007, 06:43 PM Big_Gazza Don't forget Venera 9,10,13 & 14. All of ... Oct 17 2007, 04:23 AM As old as Voyager QUOTE (Big_Gazza @ Oct 17 2007, 05:23 AM)... Oct 17 2007, 05:29 PM dvandorn This is still representative of the first and most... Oct 18 2007, 05:11 AM 4th rock from the sun Here's a color version! Oct 18 2007, 12:11 PM dvandorn QUOTE (4th rock from the sun @ Oct 18 2007, 0... Oct 20 2007, 07:01 AM tasp I have never seen it, but IIRC, there should be a ... Oct 18 2007, 02:38 PM edstrick Neither the Luna 9 or 13 landers were able to reco... Oct 19 2007, 08:07 AM tasp Thanks for the information on that. It just might... Oct 19 2007, 02:21 PM tasp I did see an 'artists conception' of the c... Oct 19 2007, 02:23 PM PDP8E KAGUYA (SELENE) takes some pictures of itself
see... Oct 19 2007, 09:32 PM |
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 17th December 2024 - 01:48 AM |
|
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |
|
