True Color Images from Mars Rovers

Much ado about Martian Colors

Another perspective on obtaining 'true color' from Mars

PanCam true color images from Spirit and Opportunity Mars Exploration Rovers

The Process...

Fig.1: The image creation process applied to all images on this website (MER2RGB-process):

1. 3 raw images are taken through the red (L4), green (L5) and blue (L6) filter with the Rover Panoramic Camera.
2. The red and green images are combined (each pixel value summarized) with weighting 70/30; the same is done with blue and green.
3. The results from step 2 are combined into one color image.

How precise the true colors are reproduced?

There has been much discussion on the Internet how complicated the reproduction of true color images from Mars would be. Of course, a 100% precise reproduction is not possible as the human visual system can only be approximated by technical devices. Taking this fact, some scientist claim, that it is impossible to recreate the Martian colors. These scientists forget that on Mars the same Sun is shining as on Earth with just reduced intensity by 40% and the same optical and physical laws are valid.

Nobody with enough common knowledge would claim that you cannot create true color pictures on any location on Earth. Color is not always 100% correct, but the general colorization is represented so we can get the impression how it would look like on that location when viewing it with our own eyes.

...when viewing it with our own eyes.

THAT is after all... the bottom line

areo.info...

Fields of Blue Berries

reply to post by zorgon


Nice. Why though do NASA portray mars as a red planet?

Originally posted by thesneakiod
Nice. Why though do NASA portray mars as a red planet?

Dunno Same reason NASA colors Venus in a bright 'lava orange'?

The older viking images were correct... so why the change to 'NASA red'

reply to post by zorgon


Wow, looks like it could be our own deserts....

No doubt many CT'ers are saying it IS our own deserts....

reply to post by Gazrok


Yup, looks like death valley.... are we really at "Mars"

reply to post by VenomVile.6


I am sure they are more than capable. I don't see why not.

For anyone who has questions on Mars being Red I would like to help them understand why Mars is Red.
Why Mars is Red

Not sure what would give them that idea?

BUT having a look at the Viking below gives us a true color of the lander in Earth light for comparison.

Here is the typical "NASA RED" version



And here is the typical "CONSPIRACY BLUE" version



Seems both sides of the Color Controversy are not quite being honest

True Color of Viking Lander

Carl Sagan with a Viking Lander Somewhere in Death Valley



Somewhere near John Lear's house...



Found this one parked on a Beach somewhere in California







Well that wasn't the point but... a side step off of Mars...

Lunar Excursion Module Parked under some Trees, Philidelphia

reply to post by zorgon


nice post S&F

Rock Hounding on Mars

A piece of Vesicular Basalt (var Scoria) in my collection here of Earth



Same stuff found by Spirit on Mars





Dunno about you... but to my eyes the color looks pretty close now... unless Spirit is hitting my dig sites

reply to post by zorgon


I would imagine both planets have similar rocks and so forth. Would you agree with that statement?

reply to post by Romantic_Rebel


i would,after all we are all on the same solar system mi matter su matter

Originally posted by Romantic_Rebel
I would imagine both planets have similar rocks and so forth. Would you agree with that statement?

Sure. I did a thread on Martian rocks and chemicals uncovered in the soil when Spirit was dragging it's broken wheel and I did one on possible Fossils found on Mars as well

However there have been at least three NEW minerals identified on the Moon, one I particularly am interested in is the Chromium Spinel. Spinel is a gem stone... the 'Ruby" in the Crown of England is a red Spinel. I haven't finished gathering the details but will post a thread on that when I am ready

MARS - Rock Hunting with Spirit and Opportunity
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Fossils on Mars - A Collection of Evidence
www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by zorgon


As someone who has spent many a happy hour pouring over the Spirit and Opportunity photos I am pretty sure the images we are getting are not true color. As you probably know the rovers have a color wheel on them so NASA can set the colors right and in the photos where the color wheel is visible the colors are never adjusted correctly. There is also the blue NASA emblem as well as an American flag on the rovers which show up in the pictures with the colors wrong....so somebody doesn't want us to see the real colors of Mars and I suspect its maybe because we would find some green here and there that they'd rather not acknoledge right now.

reply to post by MissSmartypants


maybe...maybe not... how do you explain the difference in the pictures but the collor pallets beeing the same on the third post?

I've seen mars through a telescope. It looks red-ish to me. I know it isn't blue.

Cool pictures, Zorgon.

Originally posted by gift0fpr0phecy
I've seen mars through a telescope. It looks red-ish to me. I know it isn't blue.

Well, some of it is blue-ish. Those little blueberries are kind of gray, and they look blue if you don't have anything blue next to them for comparison. And Mars is still pretty red. Maybe not as red as dirt from Georgia or Tennessee, but you'd probably have the same problem getting that red out of your white socks. Even with bleach.

Originally posted by zorgon
Much ado about Martian Colors

Another perspective on obtaining 'true color' from Mars
(snip)

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Years ago this subject was broached in another forum. Since the rovers use the colored blocks in the corners of the sundial to calibrate the color in images of the martian landscape some still thought that we were not being shown the true Martian colors and they did include photos that could be manipulated to show the real Martian colors and not what NASA claimed to be real colors.

The same thing happened on the Moon when it was brought out that there were superior cameras, higher definition color cameras!, to the black and white that we saw the lunar landscape through, real poor images. It's about who you know, it seems.

reply to post by zorgon

Notice the colors of the American flag in this image.

Originally posted by zorgon
(snip)
Fossils on Mars - A Collection of Evidence
www.abovetopsecret.com...

edit on 18-11-2010 by zorgon because: (no reason given)

Zorgon, you have a tendency to make blurry images where nothing is seen more "palatable" by highlighting in color. An example is the 2 photos of "Turritella". You include a photo of an earth specimen for reference but then right below the photo is a black and white "Raw clip" where nothing is discernible but through your "magic glasses" you see in the "highlighted" clip something that's not seen in the super-blurry blow-up!

C'mon, man, you can't keep presenting stuff like this. Either it's visible and doesn't need highlighting, in color or otherwise, or it's not visible except to your imagination, as in the above example.