[meteorite-list] NASA's New Mars Rover Sends Higher-Resolution Image

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2012 08:34:16 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201208061534.q76FYHC7017541_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1289

NASA's New Mars Rover Sends Higher-Resolution Image
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
August 6, 2012

PASADENA, Calif. - About two hours after landing on Mars and beaming
back its first image, NASA's Curiosity rover transmitted a
higher-resolution image of its new Martian home, Gale Crater. Mission
Control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.,
received the image, taken by one of the vehicle's lower-fidelity,
black-and-white Hazard Avoidance Cameras - or Hazcams.

The black-and-white, 512 by 512 pixel image, taken by Curiosity's
rear-left Hazcam, can be found at:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/msl5.html .

"Curiosity's landing site is beginning to come into focus," said John
Grotzinger, project manager of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission,
at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "In the image, we
are looking to the northwest. What you see on the horizon is the rim of
Gale Crater. In the foreground, you can see a gravel field. The question
is, where does this gravel come from? It is the first of what will be
many scientific questions to come from our new home on Mars."

While the image is twice as big in pixel size as the first images beamed
down from the rover, they are only half the size of full-resolution
Hazcam images. During future mission operations, these images will be
used by the mission's navigators and rover drivers to help plan the
vehicle's next drive. Other cameras aboard Curiosity, with color
capability and much higher resolution, are expected to be sent back to
Earth over the next several days.

Curiosity landed at 10:32 p.m. Aug. 5, PDT, (1:32 a.m. EDT, Aug. 6) near
the foot of a mountain three miles (about five kilometers) tall inside
Gale Crater, 96 miles (nearly 155 kilometers) 7in diameter. During a
nearly two-year prime mission, the rover will investigate whether the
region has ever offered conditions favorable for microbial life,
including the chemical ingredients for life.

The mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in
Washington. The rover was designed, developed and assembled at JPL, a
division of Caltech.

For more information on the mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mars and http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl .

Follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at
http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and
http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity

2012-231

Guy Webster / D.C. Agle 818-354-6278 / 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov / agle at jpl.nasa.gov/

/Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov
Received on Mon 06 Aug 2012 11:34:16 AM PDT