News & Analysis
Mars Curiosity gets down to science
George Leopold
11/21/2012 10:15 AM EST
Curiosity's arm
The left eye of the Mast Camera on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took this image of the camera on the rover's arm, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), on Sept. 5. MAHLI is one of the tools on a turret at the end of the rover's robotic arm.
The image shows that MAHLI has a thin film or coating of Martian dust on it. This dust accumulated during Curiosity's final descent to the Martian surface, as the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's descent stage (or sky crane) engines were disrupting the surface nearby. The mechanism at the right in this image is Curiosity's dust removal tool, a motorized wire brush.
(Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
Next: Shooting lasers
The left eye of the Mast Camera on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took this image of the camera on the rover's arm, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), on Sept. 5. MAHLI is one of the tools on a turret at the end of the rover's robotic arm.
The image shows that MAHLI has a thin film or coating of Martian dust on it. This dust accumulated during Curiosity's final descent to the Martian surface, as the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's descent stage (or sky crane) engines were disrupting the surface nearby. The mechanism at the right in this image is Curiosity's dust removal tool, a motorized wire brush.
(Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
Next: Shooting lasers
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reanimator
11/22/2012 4:00 AM EST
I find this pictures really fascinating.
But there is one question, which leaves me no calm:
How such "Self portrait" could be physically when only single one (to my knowledge) robot exists on Mars?!
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reanimator
11/22/2012 4:03 AM EST
I find these pictures really fascinating.
But there is one question, which leaves me no calm:
How such "Self portrait" could be physically taken when only single one (to my knowledge) robot exists on Mars?!
It looks like that photo made by standalone observer - no physical contact between camera and robot is visible on this picture.
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jdesbonnet
11/22/2012 6:42 PM EST
From what I recall: that's taken from a camera on the robot arm. So it's like taking a photo of yourself at arms length.
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Francois R
11/23/2012 12:10 PM EST
Right, but when you do a self portrait, you always see the arm that holds the camera. I can't see any arm on the photo, like if the camera was floating about or standing on a tripod.
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Francois R
11/23/2012 12:14 PM EST
Ok, now I understand: this is a mosaic: the arm is not on the final picture, but must be on each single pictures. Cool!
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jdesbonnet
11/22/2012 6:44 PM EST
Here are the details of the MSL self portrait photo: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16239.html
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Duane Benson
11/24/2012 12:44 AM EST
I take it that this is more or less like taking two self-portraits; one with the right hand and one from the left, then cutting it apart and stitching together the two sides when each was not holding the camera.
It makes for a pretty interesting self-portrait and at first glance doesn't seem possible.
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rick.merritt
11/25/2012 5:07 PM EST
This is sooo coool. Science and human endeavor at its best.
Thanks for the coverage, George,
BTW, two lead engineers from Curiosity were on the NPR comedy program "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me." Not only are they smart, they are funny!
http://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/
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