Is The Mars Rover Cam Life-Blind?

The Eyes of Mars.

reply to post by BarryKearns


Brilliant analysis, I was going to reply that the absorbtion spectra is not what you should set your camera to be sensitive to in order to see the reflected light, but you not only tackled that, you also tackled the rover's actual spectrum sensitivities as well. Excellent job, deserves a round of applause and a star.

And to ArchAngel, even if the rover's filters were hypothetically dead in their transmission of the appropriate part of the spectrum for chlorophyll, algae and plants would appear as dark blotches, they would not be invisible. You can prove this to yourself by taking red/blue glasses, drawing with a green marker on a sheet of red paper, and then looking at the paper with just the "red eye" open. The red paper "filter" will only let red light through, just like the hypothetically "green blind" filters on the rover (though as Barry pointed out, the rover can see green just fine). The green markings will appear dark, even though you won't be able to see its color.

I have seen some of the Mars animals licking rocks.I am guessing that some small plants provide them some incentive to do that.I don't know if it's moisture or salts,like a salt-lick for deer. If I get back to those images I'll post them. They seem to have long thin pointed tongues.