We have already become familiar with the sight of Curiosity on the Martian surface, but Nasa today revealed one of the most human-like images of the rover, showing its 'face' on the surface of the red planet.
The image was taken before engineers sent commands to remove the dust covers from one of Curiosity's most important cameras for the first time.
It was then calibrated using a 'lucky penny' hidden on the rover's arm, before taking a series of astonishing shots of its wheels on the red planet's surface.
With dust cover: The Curiosity rover used a camera located on its arm to obtain this self portrait, taken before engineers removed its dust cover.
The images were taken with the Mars Hand Lens Imager (Mahli) camera.
'The self-focusing, roughly 4-centimeter-wide (1.5-inch-wide) camera will take color images of features as small as 12.5 micrometers, smaller than the diameter of a human hair.
'Mahli carries both white light sources, similar to the light from a flashlight, and ultraviolet light sources, similar to the light from a tanning lamp, making the imager functional both day and night.
'The ultraviolet light will be used to induce fluorescence to help detect carbonate and evaporite minerals, both of which indicate that water helped shape the landscape on Mars.'
The team have also revealed the first evidence of Curiosity carrying cash.
Engineers placed a lucky penny onboard to allow the rover to calibrate its camera.
It is a 1909 "VDB" cent, from the first year Lincoln pennies were minted, the centennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth, with the VDB initials of the coin's designer - Victor David Brenner -- on the reverse.
MAHLI's close-up inspections of Martian rocks and soil will show details so tiny, the calibration target includes reference lines finer than a human hair.
Nasa’s staff say the penny is a nod to an age old trick used on earth.
'When a geologist takes pictures of rock outcrops she is studying, she wants an object of known scale in the photographs,' said MAHLI Principal Investigator Ken Edgett, of Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego.
'If it is a whole cliff face, she'll ask a person to stand in the shot.
'If it is a view from a meter or so away, she might use a rock hammer.
'If it is a close-up, as the MAHLI can take, she might pull something small out of her pocket.
'Like a penny.'
Open: The reclosable dust cover on Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) was opened for the first time during the 33rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars.
Wheels down: Nasa used the newly uncovered Mahli camera to take a series of images of the rover's wheel on the red planet's surface
The new images also give tantalising views of the nearby mountains that Curiosity will eventually climb in its quest for for ingredients of life on the red planet
The images also reveal Curiosity's large wheels and distinctive tyre tracks, which leave morse code messages on the surface as it travels.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2200967/Curiosity-sends-amazing-self-portrait-Mars-engineers-remove-dust-cover-camera.html#ixzz263ysvaOR
No comments:
Post a Comment