>>41406249
What people need to understand is the impact of the Mars picture embargo. 1. Those would be the most detailed pics yet, everyone was anticipating them. The NASA HiRISE hi-res photos would put speculation to rests, and EU pointed 2 orbiters, China had one, etc.
2. NASA used the gov shutdown, but that's disingenuous as it did upload a lot of useless stuff, EU is using an inexplicable reason of "it takes months to process", and China whose normal Geo-political play would be to show off here w/ their capablities is silent.
3. The official narrative was that it can't be "observed" at or before perihelion and even until mid-Nov. That has been debunked by many astronomers.
The sus level is legit.