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NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS / JMKnapp
A mosaic of images from the Curiosity rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager shows the rover's camera mast and deck. The pictures were taken on Oct. 31 during operations at a Martian sampling site known as Rocknest.
It looks as if someone is taking portraits of NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars from a few feet away — but wait a minute: Who's the photographer?
The answer is that Curiosity itself is responsible for the pictures, with strong assists from image-processing gurus. These views show the six-wheeled, nuclear-powered mobile laboratory at a geological site of interest known as Glenelg, as of Sol 84 (Oct. 31). They were assembled from imagery captured by the Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI, looking backward from the end of the rover's 7-foot-long (2.1-meter-long) robotic arm.
MAHLI's main function is to get microscope-quality views of Martian details, such as the shape of sand grains on the surface — but it can also snap some killer self-portraits, just as smartphone users do with their forward-facing cameras. That's how Curiosity captured a Facebook-style profile picture of its own camera mast back in September, a month after landing in Mars' Gale Crater. Since then, the MAHLI team at San Diego-based Malin Space Science Systems and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has really hit its stride.
So have the amateur image processors at UnmannedSpaceflight.com. The website serves as a forum for the fans of interplanetary robotic missions, and particularly for those who love to riff off NASA's raw imagery. Often, the amateurs are quicker on the draw than the professionals, who have to hew a little more closely to the standard procedures for releasing imagery.
The view above, focusing on Curiosity's mast, was put together by Ohio engineer Joe Knapp. The fish-eye view below, with Mount Sharp looming in the background at far right, was done by Stuart Atkinson, a British educator-astronomer who also shares Martian views via The Gale Gazette. Because of the way the mosaic was made, the very end of the robotic arm has made a spooky disappearance.
"I did it in a bit of a rush," Atkinson wrote, "but it doesn't really matter, does it? Just a pretty pic, not an official NASA product. :-)"
NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS / Stuart Atkinson
This full-color self-portrait of Curiosity was stitched together from MAHLI imagery, with a fisheye-lens perspective. A 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) peak known as Aeolis Mons or Mount Sharp can be seen in the background at right.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
On Sol 84 (Oct. 31, 2012), NASA's Curiosity rover used the MAHLI camera to capture this set of 55 high-resolution images, which were stitched together to create this full-color self-portrait. The mosaic shows the rover at "Rocknest," the spot in Gale Crater where the mission's first scoop sampling took place. Four scoop scars can be seen in the regolith in front of the rover. The base of Gale Crater's 3-mile-high (5-kilometer) mountain, Mount Sharp, rises on the right side of the frame. Mountains in the background to the left are the northern wall of Gale Crater. The Martian landscape appears inverted within the round, reflective ChemCam instrument at the top of the rover's mast. Self-portraits like this one document the state of the rover and allow mission engineers to track changes over time, such as dust accumulation and wheel wear. Due to its location on the end of the robotic arm, only MAHLI is able to image some parts of the craft, including the port-side wheels.
NASA's high-resolution view of Curiosity, released today and shown above, was assembled from 55 MAHLI images. This hi-res view follows up on a lower-resolution view that was issued earlier in the day. On the UnmannedSpaceflight.com forum, Malin Space Science Systems' Michael Caplinger asked for a little patience on the part of his amateur colleagues. "We've been working on this particular project since before landing," Caplinger wrote, "and I feel like we are having to rush it to avoid being scooped."
As someone who's been working on Internet time for 16 years, I know exactly how he feels.
Update for 9:20 p.m. ET: Scientists are due to discuss Curiosity's studies of the Martian atmosphere during a media teleconference at 1 p.m. ET Friday, and it seems likely that methane will be on the agenda. Previous missions have detected methane in the Red Planet's atmosphere, which could hint at microbial activity, volcanic activity or some other intriguing chemical process. For weeks, there's been a buzz in the air about the readings recorded by Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars lab, or SAM. What will come to light on Friday? Check out this backgrounder by Nature's Eric Hand, then tune in JPL's Ustream channel to find out.
Update for 3:35 a.m. ET Nov. 2: I've updated this item with the magnificent high-resolution view from NASA.
More about Curiosity:
- Martian soil reminds scientists of Hawaii
- Curiosity rover digs up shiny particles
- Cosmic Log archive on Curiosity's mission
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
SCIENCE PHUCKING RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You wanna know something sad. If you just throw a couple pieces of scrub brush in that photo it looks exactly like where I live (AZ)
myptofvu
Did you forget - a couple of pieces of shrubs and a hand full of illegals runnng between them trying to hide now that is Arizona LOL
I have to believe that most of the non-believers posted here are for shock impact only. There cannot be that many people that think we did not land on the moon or mars.
These are great photos. Can't wait for more.
In China, it is easier to devote decades to study math than it is to spend years working the rice patties (the most labor intesive farming there is), thus, Chinese people make a far greater effort to study math.
Yet here in the USA, we have an abundance of hatemongers such as ArterianMSP who devote themselves to insulting their own country rather than educating themselves.
Everyone gets the picture of the ignorant jackasses who can think of nothing better to do each day of their lives than to insult their own country.
actually arterian, I read that our previous prez ran between 118-122 IQ, which was well below both Obama and Clinton (and myself for that matter), but above the typical rabble, (which frightens me to no end...)
WTF?, where did I say that GW had a higher IQ than either? I re-read my comment several times and still can't come up with the same conclusion that you somehow did. for someone that claims to have a phd, your reading comprehension is sorely lacking.
I do believe that I clearly stated that GW was below both Clinton and Obama, which is certainly easy enough to believe. my statement also said that what frightened me was that at 118-122, GW would be on the high side of the norm. the implication being that the masses aren't even at quite the same level as GW, which IS a frightening prospect. the guy was a really lousy president, plain and simple, but he wasn't a genuine moron
as far as the 85 IQ is concerned:
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/presiq.asp
(as well as every other debunking and fact-checking site out there)
even with his political and family wealth connections and mediocre grades, I seriously doubt anyone would be accepted, much less get through, Yale and then Harvard business school with an IQ of 85, both schools do have some standards, and at that level it would be a challenge to simply get through high school
You've heard of money "greasing palms", no? That's the same "grease" that might ease somebody's way through a tough academic program.
Now who's talking conspiracies??!
..
there is "easing" and there is "easing"(free ride for an idiot)
LOL, not me.
I look at this and am in awe. This is really cool.
Then my warped sense of humor gets the better of me and I think back to a commercial a few years back where you see a tired tech looking at live video footage from a Mars rover. He turns his back for a moment and when he turns back, the rover is on blocks and the cameras picks up a fleeting image of a group of Martians running off with the tires. I still smile when I think about it.
Ha! I haven't seen it, but that's funny.
I wish we had something to drill real deep into the surface. We could better access the geology of its planetary life span. I think Mars is a dead planet, like a bone in space. The solar system undergoes a life cycle that starts with transmutation and as the planet is pushed into further orbit this reaction slows, as does the rate of entropy and enthalpy until it comes to a point past equilibrium causing the transmutation reaction to reverse thus breaking the planet back down into constituent elements that will end with hydrogen and a dark spot where the gravitational vortex can be seen. The planet has no iron core. I have a theory that the sum of the gravitational vortexs produced by each helical mass is proportionate to a 5th dimensional dynamic that produces a fusion bubble at the center. This would connect the dynamics of the system and allows us to fully understand the entire process which is a transmutation reaction in equilibrum. Therefore a planet is not a random process but the product of a greater life cycle.
I think the core is made of styrofoam...Just kidding! Amazing photos, amazing rover! Looks like just another sunny day in eastern Washington state!
your last sentence put it all in perspective...thanks, Kurtis
Amazing. The first shot could have been done in the deserts of Earth. I can see how someone could question the location of the camera. I have always questioned the location of the camera in some of the Apollo 11 moon shots.
They almost thought of everything.... but... what about a microphone? photos of planets and moons .. nice! but what about a microphone on the Mars Rover? With what little atmosphere the planet has it would have been cool just to hear the wind, the rovers motor whirring, crunching of the soil... first sounds from another world.....
Good point....
A non-article regarding a non-story.
Meanwhile: Actual stories are not being written, published, nor read.
Now let me think about all the hungry and starving people in the USA. The homeless, and the poor....we spend millions and millions of tax payer dollars to look at Mars..and other planets..feed the people first and use private money to discover rock and sand. It's a shame to waste that much money on that crap.
Do you think they sent 2.5 billion dollars on the craft to Mars? Every cent of that money is still right here on Earth in the form of payment to the businesses that made the materials to build the rover, it is in the form of a paycheck to the thousands of people that worked on it to get it to Mars, and even to the support people at NASA refilling their sandwich machines to the broom pusher. Lots of jobs right here on Earth. All these people pay taxes on their paychecks and not collecting unemployment. That's just the financial aspect of it, not to mention the valuable information we might learn about Mars That learning is priceless.
Hooray, we made it to Mars! Tell me how the money spent will benefit people on earth. Will it feed the hungry, cure the sick, house the homeless or get jobs for all the people out of work? I find it a waste of money!!
Better to spend 800 times more on...... killing people, right?
Jane,
Do you think the money was packed into a duffle bag and dropped on Mars? It paid the workers' salaries so they could buy groceries, health insurance, pay their mortgage because they had a job. The money also bought supplies and equipment from vendors who could build their businesses and then pay their employees' wages so they could buy groceries, health insurance, pay their mortgage. The jobs created may even pay well enough to supply disposable income so those families could buy a new car, take a vacation, or send their kids to college, which could create even more jobs. And if these jobs paid enough to create disposable income...and so on. It's not things like this that create hunger and homelessness and getting rid of it won't cure any social ills, that can only be done by changing policies and practices that push the majority of a country's wealth to a small number of its citizens.
And before anyone jumps on the bandwagon, I think it's great if someone can make a boat-load of money if it's done from their own deeds, but not if it's legislated. Capitalism cannot be sustained without a conscience. Even Henry Ford, and his ilk, knew their workers must be paid a high enough wage to afford their products and the products of others. Otherwise they would have no customers, and would make no money. The economy grows from the middle out, not the top down.
"regolith"? Does that mean "dirt"?
no, just before it erodes to "dirt" meaning a " stone "
haaaaa NASA's GOT everyone fouled, there is no dam rover on mars lol! tell me who took the picture of the whole rover lol
Fred.
Hey Joe
You do not understand much of anything , do you? Not even English. It's FOOLED, not fouled.
Of course there is no dam rover on Mars, there are no dams on Mars.
cool machine.....I hope we can eventually be interplanetary! However I must admit far too much of the tax payers money is spent in the wrong places! I can't begin to imagine how much of our resources were used to build this and put it on mars. Just saying..maybe we can learn to prioritize.
$2.5 Billion. BUT, we spend $800 Billion PER YEAR...... to kill people better!
(Romney's not sure that enough.)
i think tyroon shoelaces took that picture in detroit, when he broke into radio shack here in detroit, and said i gots a picture of the rover, im finna be rich and fool these crackers in beleaving i gots the pictures first from nasa lol
I am amazed at how this thing got there and how someone ever figured out how to get it there.
Confussed
It is called math.
and engineering.
but such things are too complicated for some people, so it must be a lie if they can't understand it, right?.....
#42.2
lol, yes like IVF and " Virgin Birth " :-)
AND like the " greater Miracle " of " parthenogenesis "
I wonder if anyone else noticed the unique size and shape of those four dark spots on the left side of the rover; they look like footprints, and just at the place where a photographer would need to stand to take the top photo. But of course it is just the mind playing a spooky trick, seeing patterns where there is none.
You mean all the tire tracks, to the rover's left? Or maybe the sampling divots, at it's front?
Nettle
Do you remember earlier pics of ther they took scoops of the Martian soil? That is the small sand dune of where they dug the scoop in the sand.
You mean like the footprints you see on a dry hard sidewalk in Scooby Doo?
The future of mankind is science. The more we spend on welfare the more poverty we get. Johnson declared war on poverty in 1965 with welfare, well we lost the war. You can't get an MRI with horse and buggy technology. All the sciences have to evolve togeather for maximum advancement.
Science study will always advance mans intelligence.
Joe read the post on page one it explains how it was done.
I am amazed at the full spectrum of comments here. From the totally uneducated clueless to the fully educated numbskulls.
Some of you people don't believe these are actual pictures from Mars? You think this is a set up? Wow! That is something else. I think I even saw a rambling post from someone saying the U.S. never landed on the moon and it was faked.
The Government is surely lying about UFO's and their occupants regardless of where they come from (another galaxy or another dimension?) but these photos are real. The moon landing was real. People want you to think the Government can't keep a secret but they can keep the truly important one. The one that keeps them in power and keeps all of you docile. If the world knew the truth everything would collapse and it would be total anarchy inside of a month with the military on one side and everyone else on the other.
Or maybe I just need to check my meds again....who really knows for sure? Nobody that's who.
You've been microchipped!
bobbyblummy: Though I believe that the Mars ( and Moon) landings actually happened, I can't actually prove or disprove it. I ain't got the scientific mojo. Not that I don't try, in a "blunted lance of the well-rounded" sort of way, to keep abreast of technological ( and other ) achievements. Though I often accuse right-wingers of engaging in folkloric approaches to the real world, I guess I'm actually as prone as them to taking some self-proclaimed "expert"'s word for things.
Yeah right everyone knows Marvin took the pictures!
Marvin the Martian was one of the 2 greates cartoon villians ever created the other was the Tazmania Devil close third was the weasel off Foghorn Leghorn
KURT MATTHEWS: retake your high school physics. Your blood would "boil" from the lack of atmosphereic pressure...its not the same boil as in "boil water". He is right, its very cold, and your blood would froth from the lack of pressure. It would require a pressurized suit and protection from the cold, and a good supply of oxygen, to walk around in THAT desert.
right i will tell you who took those pictures, NASA lies, always has and always will, it was ralph, the space alien, he likes to mess with NASA, how do i know? i w as with him in the mother ship when he said,, lets mess with those earthlings of yours, i said okay how, take pictures of thier lil toy on mars and then let them figure it out, i said cool,The truth is out there, all ya have to do is look
If you look at the reflection in the lens of the opposing camera in the picture, you will see a reflection of a person taking the picture. Who??
Nancy Pelosi took the pics on her way home. She lives under a nearby rock.
more likely it was taken by sheriff joe arpaio,(a bottom-feeding rock-dweller) it is supposed to be the Arizona desert after all.