Less than three days after its arrival on Mars, the big rover has unpacked its navigation cameras and is improving on the quality of the snapshots it's sending homeward.
What you see here are the first two full-resolution images, stitched together, of the Martian surface from the navigation cameras on NASA's Curiosity rover.
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Not for the first time, and surely not for the last, we bring you another first from the Curiosity rover.
NASA has now released the first full-resolution images from Curiosity, which arrived on Mars late Sunday in a dramatic landing, following an eight-month one-way commute from Earth. The initial images sent back from the newly arrived rover, also known as the Mars Science Laboratory, were low-res images — the better to get them back quickly and to help confirm that Curiosity was all in one piece.
The two just-released black-and-white images, which have been stitched together as a single photo, reveal a barren, rocky terrain stretching away toward the edge of the Gale Crater, in which Curiosity sits. In the foreground of the photo, you can see a bit of the gear on one edge of the rover's chassis.
The images were taken by Curiosity's navigation cameras, located on the rover's mast. NASA described that bit of gear:
The navigation camera unit is a stereo pair of cameras, each with a 45-degree field of view that will support ground navigation planning by scientists and engineers. They work in cooperation with the hazard avoidance cameras by providing a complementary view of the terrain.
Other photos just released include the first image from the navigation cameras, the first 360-degree panorama view and a self-portrait.
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(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Curiosity's Martian home
Just days after performing a spectacularly delicate landing watched by millions of people worldwide, NASA's rover Curiosity has returned the first full-resolution images of the Martian surface from the navigation cameras on the rover's mast.
The mast, Curiosity's head, was deployed after landing, and the dual navigation cameras have medium-angle, 45-degree fields of view and are capable of returning three-dimensional information about the Martian terrain. They are designed to survey the landscape broadly and quickly, and are capable of looking all around and also up and down.
The view seen here, near the pebbly rim of Gale Crater, is very mountainous due to erosion, with the middle ground composed of low-relief scarps and plains. The foreground shows two distinct zones of excavation, likely carved out by blasts from the rover's descent stage thrusters.
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(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Shadow of Curiosity's mast
As Curiosity awakened on Mars after its long journey, this was the first image taken by the navigation cameras, showing the rover's now-upright mast in the centre and the arm's shadow on the left. The arm, itself, can be seen in the foreground.
The navigation camera on the mast is used to help find the sun — information that is needed for locating and communicating with Earth. After the camera pointed at the sun, it then turned in the opposite direction to view its shadow, helping to confirm the sun's location, and thus, the positioning of the rover, itself.
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(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
360-degree self portrait
NASA's Curiosity rover captured this 360-degree self portrait, with the navigation camera pointing down at the rover deck, up and straight ahead. Except for two full resolution images, most of the tiles are thumbnails, as engineers wait for the full resolution images to be sent back from Mars.
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(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Martian panorama
NASA's Curiosity rover captured this 360-degree panoramic view from the landing site with the navigation camera. Mount Sharp is to the right, and the north Gale Crater rim can be seen at centre. The rover's body is in the foreground, with the shadow of its mast poking up to the right.
The images were acquired at 3:30pm on Mars, or the morning of 8 August AEST.
See the full-resolution 1024x1024-pixel image here.
Via CNET.com
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