The first images are in from the MRO, and they are absolutely stunning…and HUGE.

JPL are going to have a hell of a time distributing these files; each of the full res TIF files are 190megs, and the JPEGs are 91megs.

They really should build a site that serves these files by torrent only…and come to think of it, its quite a feat to get such long files back from mars is it not? Either way, this is quite an exiting mission; when the orbiter gets into a less eliptical orbit, the resoultion will be ten times higher.

This is what life is about.
This is what money should be spent on.
This is mankind at his best.

+++++++ UPDATE August 30th 2010 +++++++

Being from the generation weaned on space exploration without questions asked, I used to get very exited about NASA and all of its feats. Now of course, its clear to see that NASA is the completely wrong way to go about space exploration, as its very foundation is a slave society based on coercion and theft.

If private enterprise were free to flourish without the yoke of the state around everyone’s neck, who knows how far we would have gone by now. In every other field of human technological endeavour, private enterprise far exceeds the state in capabilities and price. Had space exploration been done on a purely private basis, in a completely free society without a state, we would have bases on Mars and not be simply looking at it with probes.

After this post was written and thanks to Ron Paul and Lew Rockwell, I was finally able to bring together all of my ideas about Liberty (which I have held since I was very young, thanks to  my parents and a ‘Social Studies’ teacher who I now believe must have been some type of Libertarian or Anarchist) around the time of Ron Paul’s second run for the US presidency.

I discovered something wonderful; all the things I knew were true, Libertarians hold as true. Many of the things I felt were true but could not express were confirmed as true and spelled out very clearly by Libertarians; and by ‘Libertarians’ I mean specifically Murray N. Rothbard.

I cherish things that are true; this is why I have always loved science and maths. Libertarianism is true, clear, free of contradictions, ‘cop outs’, means justifying the ends, necessary evils, excuses and fallacies. Accepting its truth means that you must give up your blind love of organizations like NASA and its achievements, but in exchange you get the truth… and that is worth the price.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 29th, 2006 at 12:52 am and is filed under Science.