Image of the Martian landscape from the American Pathfinder landing site (1997). Above - NASA colors, below - an alternative version, exhibited by Patrick (photo from the site chez.com).
You probably already know that NASA is recoloring images of the surface of Mars to hide traces of extraterrestrial life from all of us. The agency takes advantage of the fact that the planet is considered Red, and so it cheats the people, armed with modern technology. Do you want to know the truth?
In fact, the Americans never hid: the rovers shoot landscapes through filters, and the combination of these monochrome frames into a color image occurs already on Earth. But there is a sensation in the media: it turns out that NASA is faking the colors of Mars. And what are they hiding there?
Of the numerous publications, I would like to single out this study of a certain enthusiast from UFOlogy Patrick (Patrick). Perhaps the most thorough one available.
He writes: “I heard from one of NASA's video engineers, who was responsible for setting up cameras for the Mars Pathfinder mission (1997), that on Earth he set everything up properly, and later with regret to learn that NASA changed the parameters towards 30% predominance of red.
The NASA denouncer did not name the engineer.
Promotional video:
Image from the Spirit rover. "Data from the panoramic camera's green, blue and infrared filters have been combined to create this approximately true color image," reads the NASA caption. That is, no one promised the exact color (photo from the site marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov).
So, the researcher of the secrets of UFO changed the palette of the "nasov" frames back, reducing the proportion of red in the image of the famous Twin Peaks.
The result is a curious landscape with a blue sky, just like on Earth.
Patrick goes on to add: “There is a debate between NASA and the team that operates the Hubble telescope. She made it clear to the agency that the sky is blue, not red or salmon-colored, as in the images from the Mars rovers published by NASA."
Following Patrick, many other Internet resources rejoice in the exposure. And they add from themselves that, they say, the Yankees are hiding green grass and transparent lakes in the pictures.
Let's leave the grass on the conscience of ufologists. But other? The whistleblowers are pounding through the open door.
Here, in one of NASA's images of the evening landscape at the Pathfinder landing site, the sky, illuminated by the Sun, located near the horizon, has a distinctly blue tint. The agency itself writes about this in a commentary to the frame.
Now tell me: what color is the sky of the Earth? Yes it also depends on the time of day! And years, we add, because Mars also has seasons and seasons of dust storms.
To dot the "i" s, we turned to the Sternberg State Astronomical Institute, the department for the study of the moon and planets.
This 1997 image of Mars from the Hubble Space Telescope proves that we are being deceived, says ufologist Patrick (photo from chez.com).
The leading engineer of the department, Alexander Petrovich Popov, said that in all missions to Mars, landscapes were filmed through a set of filters. And then color images were made from monochrome images.
How did the Americans calculate in what proportion to combine these colors? But they know the exact characteristics of their own filters, so it's not a problem to build an image more or less close to reality.
However, let us add that even some coloring of images before publication is not a crime. By the way, in different NASA shots, the shades of the planet's soil differ from each other.
Let's say NASA wants the images to be perceived more effectively: after all, it's a show.
And the scientists themselves are seriously working with individual monochrome images shot through filters. These frames tell them more than the full-color postcards that some polaroid would make there.
Evening on Mars. Mission Pathfinder. “A brownish-gray sky as an observer on Mars would see it in this true color mosaic taken at approximately 4 pm local time. The sky near the sun has a light blue color”, - this is the comment of NASA (photo from the site marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov).
It's not for nothing that the last two American rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have green, blue and infrared (not red) filters. They, say NASA, help get more information about the composition of the planet's soil.
“We can say that no one has yet seen the true colors of the Martian landscape,” Popov adds, “on the other hand: there is also the European Mars Express. If the Yankees had decisively distorted everything - wouldn't the ESA be able to bring them to clean water?"
The same landscape as in the previous frame, but at noon. "The true color of Mars, based on three filters with the sky set at luminosity 60," writes NASA. So, the most correct image of the ground here, not the sky? (photo from the site marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov).
“In addition, the references of some media to the effect of the atmosphere (they say, it does not allow you to see the real colors of Mars) are incorrect,” the Russian scientist continues. "The atmosphere there is too weak to interfere with the observed palette so much."
Further, the story of the leading scientist of the mission of the Martian rovers, in which he, as if in spirit, admits - "Spirit" (Spirit) sees not at all like a man
"Spirit doesn't see the whole perspective around it at once," explains Jim Bell, professor of astronomy at Cornell University and lead scientist on the mission. "It takes days to complete a full 360-degree view of the landscape."
“This means, - says the scientist, - that a combined mosaic can be built from images in which there is more or less dust in the air, or the frames are simply taken at different times of the day.
Such changes after 'stitching' end with a 'quilt' with different colors in different parts of the frame."
Professor Bell examines the Martian sundial (photo from cornell.edu).
But in the panoramas we see a more or less uniform color of the surrounding area?
“Getting the colors right is not an exact science,” Bell says. "There is an artistic, ghostly element in creating an idea of what we would see if we were there."
Of course, scientists go to great lengths to be as accurate as possible.
To do this, they take into account, when processing frames from rovers, images of Mars taken through telescopes, as well as taken on past Martian missions, in order to create a color-balanced picture as a result.
Jim Bell explains that getting absolutely accurate colors of Mars is still impossible (photo from cornell.edu).
Before sending the cameras to Mars, the team took over 100,000 images in a vacuum chamber that simulated Martian conditions.
Experts experimented with different levels of light, depending on the angle of the sun or the amount of dust in the air.
They then fine-tuned the rover cameras to properly account for temperature changes or anything else that would cause the instrument to change.
Sundial at different times of the day (photo from the site marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov). In addition, the rovers have a calibration target (a kind of sundial with gray, white and multi-colored stripes).
Mosaic of images from the Spirit rover taken on January 29, 2004. Above left - a sundial against the background of the ground. Monochrome image at the top right - the Sun (photo from jpl.nasa.gov).
Experts monitored how these colors changed under different lighting conditions and under different weather conditions in the laboratory, when shooting with different filters.
In addition, the Americans kept exact copies of the sundial sent to Mars as control samples.
“And yet, the images produced are only approximate Martian colors,” Bell says.
The fact is that many of the images, as already mentioned, are taken with a set of filters. Some of them work in the infrared or ultraviolet range, which is not perceived by the eye.
Journalists were fascinated by the three-dimensional images of Mars, but, alas, it cannot be said that they saw the planet exactly as if they had visited it themselves (photo from the website cornell.edu).
In total, there are 14 different filters. They provide maximum contrast in order to analyze some of the most interesting geological features in the landing area.
One way or another, show and science have different goals, and not the main task for NASA is to entertain the public with panoramic views of Mars.