65dBnoise, 5 months ago (edited 5 months ago)

@andrealuck
Here is the Transverse Highway, from #KSR's #MarsTrilogy, crossing Valles Marineris at the famous Geneva Spur.

Your image, georeferenced.

#SciFi #kimStanleyRobinson #QGIS #USGS #Solarocks

andrealuck, 5 months ago

@65dBnoise it’s good that is low gravity for the slope 😬

andrealuck, 5 months ago

@65dBnoise you’ll find me at Candor Chasma

65dBnoise, 5 months ago

@andrealuck
Some kilometers to the north is Ganges Catena. You can buy groceries there at the domes, if you feel hungry in the middle of nowhere.

andrealuck, 5 months ago

@65dBnoise I’ll need a bigger Ingenuity to get there

65dBnoise, 5 months ago

@andrealuck
Gerald Kilby uses robotic mules in his #SciFi novels. Sounds like a good idea.

andrealuck, 5 months ago

@65dBnoise definitely - also good they are robotic and not martian mules 😅

spaceflight, 5 months ago

@65dBnoise this is more than a decade old - not so much "fiction" ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7ezXBEBE6U

65dBnoise, 5 months ago

@spaceflight
Haha, those came to my mind too!

Ohsin, 5 months ago

@65dBnoise @spaceflight

"Space Quadruped for Martian Exploration"

#ISRO #MartianMules
Source: https://redd.it/11hmsce

65dBnoise, 5 months ago

@Ohsin Interesting projects. Will be nice to see them materialize and prototypes tested. However, assuming mechanical, software and reliability problems can somehow be solved, the problem with robotic mules in space will still remain their weight and energy consumption, which scifi novels just look down as ancient problems, solved by some magic (and very rarely, if ever, described) invention.

65dBnoise, 5 months ago

@andrealuck
Ah, the novel gives great details about the road coming down at the Geneva Spur, and I followed it closely: 😀

andrealuck, 5 months ago

@65dBnoise I’m impressed!

65dBnoise, 5 months ago

@andrealuck
Haha, I tried to follow the contours with a somewhat smooth slope. 🤓

tom30519, 5 months ago

@andrealuck
Ophir Chasma looks so flat from up here! But it is around 6km deep, IIRC. That's an impressive canyon.

That slope from the top to the middle would make a great ski run, if there was any snow! 🙃 😃

andrealuck, 5 months ago

@tom30519 sounds like a scary ski slope

tom30519, 5 months ago

@andrealuck
It would be something like 200km long! One would have to stop for lunch halfway down...

andrealuck, 5 months ago

@tom30519 I usually fall in less than 1 meter 😄