[omegaman]

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/20...uriosity-mars/

Nice. Now in color please!

[Roysten]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19201742

your wish is my command... at least in low res

[martok2112]

Moto grandie nifty!

[Saquist]

With camera tech being what it is why has it taken so long to get these type of pictures.?

[martok2112]

Well, shoot, when was the last probe we sent to Mars? If it's been a good while, camera tech has jumped a lot since then...and still continues to evolve.

Or to paraphrase Steve Buscemi in Armageddon: "Ain't it comforting to know that these ships were built by the lowest bidder?"

[Saquist]

Spirit and Opportunity were launched in 2003. Camera tech was suffiently far along to make this sort of imagery. Look at Cassini launched in 1997. Perhaps it would cost more at the time but this is a cost that I think would have been necessary to bring back images that could stun and awe the public into addressing the space program into having incredible benefits to giving us the perspective of understanding what's out there and our place in a what seems to be a vast desert.

Cassini and Curiously have finally done that.