Interesting attempt to change the subject -- :-).

Are you trying to tell me that those neat nebula pics I see in all the best places

aren't actually the real colors? NO! Whaaaa! I am heartbroken! Please.

The issue here is Mars, I believe, and the fact that -- for example -- most THEMIS images are taken in fully five bands, but only one is released. So all we see is a black and white image, when full color is (or should be) available. The "allocation of scarce resources" argument has nothing to do with it. The data for color images has already been acquired. Its aquisition is part and parcel of the original allocation. The color images, however, are missing, and the data to assemble them is not being released. And amazingly, we hear claims that the planetary science community isn't all that interested in color images of Mars anyway, so it's OK. Even if there was interest, it would be very hard to assemble the color images, what with registration and calibration issues and all... I maintain this is nonsense.

On the other hand, some of the questioning and controversy over the wildly unreal colorizing that has been going on for the past several decades have gotten pretty harsh. It may have been deserved at one time -- when pictures of a flaming red surface and salmon pink sky of Mars were being released and labeled "true color." And damn if there weren't papers being published to defend these bogus images! Thankfully, that era is over. There was even a mea culpa or two into the bargain.

BUT we're still in a situation where it's hard to get data from the source, and the agencies that have the data aren't releasing it, and their defenders claim the agencies shouldn't be bothered, and besides, all these conspiracy nuts are ganging up on them...

I'm not a conspiratorialist. I'm just a little too familiar with the way government really works for that!

If, as it seems to be, the THEMIS isn't providing the kind of data that was hoped for and expected, and if as seems to be, color image assembly from the data that is available is, shall we say, "disappointing," I can live with that. If that's the case. But is it? How can we know? You see the dilemma and the frustration?

And what, pray, are the "key fundamental questions about mars " you want answered? And how would you like to see them resolved?

Cheers, B R Felix