Leaving Victoria crater Options

[ilbasso]

I think the personification is a projection of our own feelings and emotions onto the rovers. It's a natural and human thing to do. The rovers are physical devices created by us, and as such are projections of our minds and hands and bodies onto another world. Why shouldn't we also project our emotions there as well?

Think of the collective will, the fears, the hopes, the wishes of all the people who created these wonderful devices...and then think about how much time we in the UMSF community have collectively spent looking over the shoulders of these robots these past 4 years. That's probably millions of hours spent "living" with Spirit and Oppy. That's a big investment in psychic energy we have made in them!

I feel confident stating that we would not be imparting "feelings" to Spirit and Oppy if they did not have cameras on them. We can't identify with sensors. The photos make us see these rovers in a REAL place.

I also think the mobility aspect makes them somewhat easier for us to identify with, too. For example, I haven't heard much personification going on about Phoenix. We liked Sojourner and called it cute, but we never said the same thing about the Pathfinder lander. (Do we think of the rovers as "pets"?) We like the probes that can reach out and touch things, but again the identification is increased if the probe can move around to get into position.

I have seen some imparting of emotion to space probes (I remember Time Magazine calling Pioneer 10 "plucky"), but again we don't invest them with the same identification as we do the rovers - maybe because they're not sharing our vantage point of 1.75 meters above the ground.

So my opinion is that it's the combination of cameras, mobility, longevity, interacting with the environment, and seeing things from a human point of view that makes us see Spirit and Oppy as friends, fellow travelers on incredible journeys.

[Tman]

Agree mostly! It's like the love to your car that brings you to (new) destinations too.

Tried to adjust the cloud GIF with an inverted sky image. It's 600kb http://www.greuti.ch/oppy/clouds.gif

[djellison]

See - thats our emotions projected upon a robot - that makes sense. One might feel sadness FOR Opportunity at leaving Victoria crater (I feel the opposite), but the vehicle itself does not That's the differentiation of lexicon that makes it make sense.

Doug

[centsworth_II]

That's the differentiation of lexicon that makes it make sense.

So you also are a member of the UMSF semantics club?

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...EHP1214L0M1.JPG

[Tman]

Hmm, the new tracks from the last drive are odd. Hope this slide of the left front wheel is only due to the (particular) slippage of the left rear wheel.

[BrianL]

I'm also not sad to be heading out. To be honest, as much as I was relieved to get out of those potentially rover swallowing dunes when Oppy first hit the apron, I find myself missing the almost daily tension that accompanied that journey. I'm looking forward to new sights, new adventures as she makes her way... sorry, as it makes its way to places unknown. Ithaca

Edit: Tman, I'm not quite ready for that tension just yet.

[Tman]

I'm not yet too...

[CosmicRocker]

... Tried to adjust the cloud GIF with an inverted sky image. It's 600kb http://www.greuti.ch/oppy/clouds.gif

That was very nice! I'm going to have to learn how to do that.

[Tman]

It's no wizardry - is that a common term in English too? - with PhotoShop.
A cloudless sky image, that comes the exposure/illumination of the cloud image as close as possible, has to be inverted (whitish comes blackish and blackish comes whitish). Then this inverted sky image has to cover up as layer 1 the cloud image with (here) 40 percent. Then you may working additionally some adjustments for better contrast of the clouds.

[Tesheiner]

You're "roughing it," apparently.

You know, I should be at the beach or at the swimming pool right now, but here I'm "stealing" the kids' notebook in between "torrent" movies.

[Guest_Oersted_*]

I'm sad to see Oppy back off from the rock wall, because I think it would have accomplished more science there than it will by heading off now.

I hope I'm wrong!

[CosmicRocker]

It's no wizardry - is that a common term in English too? - with PhotoShop. ...

Thanks, Tman. I had an idea about how you did that, and I was going to experiment with layers in PhotoShop tonight. Now that you have shared your wizardry (Yes, that's the common term in English, too.), I am able to do it.
Edit: That's one of the things I like best about this forum. There are all kinds of damn wizards hanging around here.

[Zeke4ther]

Edit: That's one of the things I like best about this forum. There are all kinds of damn wizards hanging around here.

As are you.

[Tman]

Then you may working additionally some adjustments for better contrast of the clouds.

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