Unique approachOne Mars detective that excitedly awaits the latest batch of images from Spirit at Gusev Crater and Opportunity at Meridiani Planum is R.D. "Gus" Frederick of Silverton, Oregon. He is an Instructional Technologist for the Oregon Public Education Network and creates multi-media resources for Oregon public educators.
"Being a long-time Mars enthusiast, I have always followed the progress of each new mission, eagerly waiting to look at the latest pictures," Frederick told SPACE.com. In the case of the Mars rovers, "a unique approach is happening," he said.
Images are released to the general public almost as fast as they come in, Frederick noted. In the past, there would have been an embargo for six months or longer. "So the general public gets to see these at pretty much the same time as the scientists working on them," he said. [Mars contrail image by R.D. "Gus" Frederick]
Armchair photo interpreters
Anyone with a Web connection can see the latest raw images from the rovers. Those daily rover products are sorted by day and camera, along with very basic information regarding the mechanics of the images.
Frederick said that most of the relevant information about each picture is stored in the filename. Just the basics are listed: such as time, rover number, filter used and which camera shot the picture.
"So it was up to us armchair photo interpreters to make sense of what we are seeing. Many have, and many have jumped to outlandish conclusions," Frederick said.
A case in point, he said, being the "blue rock" phenomenon and the airbag fabric bunny.
"But I find it exciting and fun to simply look at the pictures, draw my own conclusions, then wait to hear what the experts say," Frederick said.
Stereo viewing
Several of the camera systems on each rover are designed to be stereo imagers. They have the ability to take pictures of every scene from two slightly different views, making stereo viewing possible.
In the case of the Microscopic Imager toted by each robot, that equipment makes use of only one camera. This means that any stereo images must be done by moving the camera slightly when shooting a magnified view. This is compounded by the fact that the Microscopic Imager has no means to auto focus. That being the case, typically there are a number of images taken of any given scene.
Over the last week, those operating the Opportunity Microscopic Imager have been assembling microscopic montages of the now-famous rock outcroppings.
Early on in this exercise, Frederick noticed that there was a single image taken of a group that was slightly offset from the rest. That "extra" shot must be for microscopic stereo imaging, he surmised.
It was a quick matter to download the pictures into an image manipulation program like PhotoShop, and combine the pair, Frederick said. The trick is two-fold: Even though the extra shot was in focus, he had to poke around in the others -- sometimes as many as six -- to find a similarly focused frame to use.
Frederick patiently worked the rover images through a series of steps, making select scenes "jump right out" thanks to stereo.
Power of the Internet
Another dogged Mars detective is Robert van de Walle. He runs The Pixel Rangers Pegged!, based in Alameda, California -- a firm that is a branding and identity developer.
"With the power of the Internet and the generosity of the scientists at places like JPL or NASAs Ames Research Center, amateur observers have access to the very data that trained observers use to make their discoveries," van de Walle told SPACE.com.
Van de Walles father worked on both the Saturn 5 booster, as well as on the space shuttle program. "I grew up at the dawn of the Space Age," he explained.
Although engineering school through him for a loop, van de Walle found that he excelled as a graphic artist. "I work with lots of tech and science industry companies, so I keep current with the world of science and engineering. To let off some steam after helping launch another small business, I go back to my first love: space exploration."
Flood of information
Van de Walle explained that folks discover comets looking at Sun images transmitted from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO for short.
"With the power of the data relay we've paid for operating over at Mars, there's a flood of information coming down everyday," van de Walle added. "The scientists are so busy just running the mission, they apparently don't have time to make some of the basic observations I want them toso I just go ahead and do the science!"
Using commercially available software -- the Adobe suite of products -- van de Walle combines rover Panoramic Camera channels into a single image. For example, in Photoshop, hell copy L3 into the red channel, L5 into the green channel, and L6 into the blue channel.
"The final image is a bit blue," van de Walle reported, "since the wavelengths aren't quite the same, but it's good enough to see blueberries before the public announcement is made!"
Creature features?
Using Photoshop and ImageReady and LiveMotion, van de Walle can assemble multiple frames into larger movies, or compare features.
"Gusev has fascinating soil. Are those spiky grains microfossils? Are they made by evaporating brine? I can count shapes and classify them, and if I find that there's 1,000 of one type, 100 of another, and 10 of yet a third, then that has the feel of a predator/prey food chain to me," van de Walle added.
One of the more interesting pursuits, van de Walle pointed out, is whether the rovers Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) makes similar shapes as a result of its buffing and grinding duties. [Shifting sands on Mars image by Robert van de Walle]
"I can compare the rotini creature shape to shapes I see in other RAT tailings. Maybe I can be the first to puzzle out whether we have discovered evidence of biology, or evidence that the tool makes some interesting shapes," van de Walle concluded.
Panorama shots, pictures taken from the front and back of the Mars Rovers, as well as up-close microscopic images of martian soil and rock can be found at:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/
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