[meteorite-list] First Color Landscape Image of Mars from Curiosity

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2012 08:51:48 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201208071551.q77FpmCE017238_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA15691

First Color Landscape Image of Mars from Curiosity
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
August 7, 2012

[Image]

This view of the landscape to the north of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity
was acquired by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the afternoon of
the first day after landing (the team calls this day Sol 1, which is the
first Martian day of operations; Sol 1 began on Aug. 6, 2012).

In the distance, the image shows the north wall and rim of Gale Crater.
The image is murky because the MAHLI's removable dust cover is
apparently coated with dust blown onto the camera during the rover's
terminal descent. Images taken without the dust cover in place are
expected during checkout of the robotic arm in coming weeks.

The MAHLI is located on the turret at the end of Curiosity's robotic
arm. At the time the MAHLI Sol 1 image was acquired, the robotic arm was
in its stowed position. It has been stowed since the rover was packaged
for its Nov. 26, 2011, launch.

The MAHLI has a transparent dust cover. This image was acquired with the
dust cover closed. The cover will not be opened until more than a week
after the landing.

When the robotic arm, turret, and MAHLI are stowed, the MAHLI is in a
position that is rotated 30 degrees relative to the rover deck. The
MAHLI image shown here has been rotated to correct for that tilt, so
that the sky is "up" and the ground is "down".

When the robotic arm, turret, and MAHLI are stowed, the MAHLI is looking
out from the front left side of the rover. This is much like the view
from the driver's side of cars sold in the USA.

The main purpose of Curiosity's MAHLI camera is to acquire close-up,
high-resolution views of rocks and soil at the rover's Gale Crater field
site. The camera is capable of focusing on any target at distances of
about 0.8 inch (2.1 centimeters) to infinity. This means it can, as
shown here, also obtain pictures of the Martian landscape.
Received on Tue 07 Aug 2012 11:51:48 AM PDT