QUESTION:
Will we see stereo photos from Pathfinder? Can you move the lander by
reinflating the airbags to generate a stereo pair?

ANSWER from David Mittman on November 15, 1997:
Boy, do I have news for you!

Pathfinder has sent back a whole lot of stereo images. You'll find a few of
them on our web site in either red/blue stereo or as a left/right image
pair. While we could possibly (at one time) have moved the lander by moving
its petals, we don't need to do that to get stereo images.

Here are a few ways in which we take stereo images:

1) The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) is a stereo camera having two eyes
set apart by slightly more than normal human eyes. The IMP stands
approximately as high as a normal human, too. By taking pictures with both
eyes, voila, stereo pictures.

2) The IMP took its first pictures from a lower position, before it sprang
to its full six-foot height. By combining images of the same place taken
from the low position and high position, voila, vertical stereo. While not
useful for "human type" stereo images, the depth information can be
processed by computer to obtain a more accurate measure of distances and
sizes.

3) The rover Sojourner has two forward cameras designed to be used by its
on-board hazard avoidance system. While set further apart than the IMP eyes,
these images can also be used for stereo imaging.

4) Here's an interesting one. In some cases the same spot on Mars was imaged
by both the Rover and the IMP. Both sets of images can be combined and
computer processed to obtain better estimates of distances to far objects.
These image pairs would probably not be suitable for human viewing via
stereo fusion.