Re: The first self-driving vehicle on Mars has proven to be a smashing success

On 8/13/26 12:54 PM, Jim Wilkins wrote:

> than our eyes, which are too close together to give correct distances to 
> unfamiliar objects much beyond our feet. A good example is the 
> difficulty of judging height above ground when landing.

I did a  parachute jump while at grad school in Texas.  Jumped out of a 
Cessna 172 (after hanging off the wing brace until ready to let go). 
The quiet was very impressive and it seemed you weren't really falling 
once the chute opened.

You line up a target on the ground and place it between your feet to see 
which way you are drifting, then rotate the parachute into the wind to 
counter the 8 mph (I think that was the speed) forward speed of the chute.

You just seem to hang in the air.  However, as one gets closer to the 
ground, it seems the ground is slowly accelerating towards you until 
you're suddenly quite close and need to make like a banana to roll into 
your landing.

I was struck by how difficult it was to judge the distance to the 
ground; from just "floating there" to sudden accelerated impact!

Great experience but my parachute jumping days were over after the first 
jump!