maxxusflamus

"cal targets"

they're basically color swatches that were premade on earth. We know what color they are. That way the rover can look at it- know what the colors SHOULD look like- and compare it to what it is seeing- then adjust it's sensors to match what it's seeing to what it SHOULD be seeing.

edit: yes- this is quite similar to white balancing- but more exact. The preset white balances on cameras are not exact. e.g. the incandescent mode assumes a general color temperature for the incandescent lighting in the scene but it can vary from bulb to bulb- so the adjustment in the camera can skew warm/cold depending on the circumstances. The only way to get it exact is to use color profiling like this.

priorities.

fundamentals start very early on. Teachers have to assume that you're getting whatever fundamentals from the prior year otherwise they'd be stuck teaching the same shit over and over year after year.

people are idiots. it's easier just to make you turn it off than to tell you to put it into airplane mode and have some idiot sit there fumbling.

this in no way surprises me.

Government data systems are a nightmare. There's been opportunities to get it done right but more often than not, private contractors create shitty bandaid solutions and charge exorbitant fees.

The US Government needs it's own internal development team instead of farming out contract after contract.