Life on Mars: 1 Pelican, 1 Walrus, 2 Groves of Parsnips

The fancy technology that allowed the martian probe to photograph in color and therefore achieve the true robotic equality to 20/20 vision was brought about by use of a sundial, suggested to NASA scientists by none other than Bill Nye the science guy. It feels so... primevil?

"Scientists will also use the Pancam images of the sundial to calibrate or adjust images from Mars. They will use the colored blocks in the corners of the sundial to calibrate the color in images of the martian landscape. That means you'll see Mars in its true colors. Pictures of the shadows that are cast by the sundial's center post will allow scientists to properly adjust the brightness of each Pancam image."

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Oh - and regarding the Beagle that has officially not landed, this just in from the Times:

"When the European Space Agency's Mars Express containing Britain's lander, the Beagle 2, failed to communicate a "Merry Christmas" recently, the reaction here was not "Nyah, nyah, here comes ours." On the contrary, our feeling was "We failed a few times ourselves, and maybe your robot will be heard from yet.""
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My friend. I have failed a few times myself. Maybe your robot will be heard from yet.