Back when I was a dyed-in-the-wool Mars Undergrounder, dreaming of future missions to Mars I never imagined that one night I’d be sitting here at my computer, doing my taxes and watching along on a live NASA feed along with the Mars Exploration Rover mission folks at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (and many millions of other folks) as the Mars Opportunity craft detached from its orbiter and began the descent to Meridiani Planum. But there I was… and now today I was greeted with the first images from Opportunity, taken on a sunny Mars afternoon not long after it bounced to a stop, deflated its airbags and opened its petals.

It’s quite a lot of fun to explore the surface of Mars in such great detail and apparently it’s caught the attention of some serious VR programmers, like this guy who has mapped a few Mars panoramas into Quicktime Virtual Reality maps you can explore on your own. Check ’em out! Along with the ongoing stream of images on the NASA sites, these panoramas allow you to check out the rocks, dunes, sand piles, and outcrops that have greeted the Spirit and Opportunity rovers. Enjoy the Mars mania while it lasts!

By the way, I’ve added a link to Dr. Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy site over in the links bar on the left. It’s fun reading and if you’re interested in debating science, theories, and whatever else catches your fancy, he’s got a forum, too!