How to take a selfie on Mars

20150817_mahli_1065_self-portrait_layoutFrom Emily Lakdawalla’s blog at The Planetary Society: Whenever Curiosity drills at a new site on Mars, the team tries to take a self-portrait as part of the documentation of the drill site. On sol 1065, Curiosity took its most recent self-portrait — from a brand-new perspective. The image is all the more amazing when you see how many individual frames the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) had to take in order to cover the 360-degree view.

It’s fun. But why this different point of view from previous panoramas? And were there any special challenges in making it? I talked with both the rover driver who headed up the development of the arm sequence (Joseph Carsten) and engineers and scientists who developed the camera (Mike Ravine and Ken Edgett) to learn more about this special self-portrait… [More at link]

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HiRISE: Lost in coneland

tumblr_nt8nnx9e101rlz4gso2_1280Lost in coneland. The formation of these cones may have something to do with the ejecta heating the ground and turning ice into steam.

Beautiful Mars series.

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Curiosity update: ‘Official new selfie!’

PIA19808_ipSol 1080-1081, August 19, 2015, update from USGS scientist Ryan Anderson: We had another successful drive on 1079, going about 29 meters this time. The plan for sols 1080- 1081 is pretty similar to the previous plan: remote sensing and a drive on the first day, and untargeted science on the second day. On sol 1080, ChemCam has observations of the targets “Red Lodge”, “Mowry”,  and “Rosebud”, with accompanying Mastcam images. Mastcam will also take a 19-frame stereo mosaic of a cliff dubbed “Judith River”. After the drive, we have our standard post-drive imaging, plus an active measurement with DAN. [More at link]

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THEMIS: Coprates Chasma – false color

Erosion and deposition in Coprates Chasma (THEMIS_IOTD_20150820)THEMIS Image of the Day, August 20, 2015. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today’s false color image shows part of Coprates Chasma.

More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.

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Curiosity: Moving on from Marias Pass

PIA19808_ipNASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is driving toward the southwest after departing a region where for several weeks it investigated a geological contact zone and rocks that are unexpectedly high in silica and hydrogen content. The hydrogen indicates water bound to minerals in the ground.

In this “Marias Pass” region, Curiosity successfully used its drill to sample a rock target called “Buckskin” and then used the camera on its robotic arm for multiple images to be stitched into a self-portrait at the drilling site….

The rover finished activities in Marias Pass on Aug. 12 and headed onward up Mount Sharp, the layered mountain it reached in September 2014. In drives on Aug. 12, 13, 14 and 18, it progressed 433 feet (132 meters), bringing Curiosity’s total odometry since its August 2012 landing to 6.9 miles (11.1 kilometers). [More at link]

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Opportunity: NW wall, Marathon Valley, false color

4108-pancamSol 4108, August 15, 2015. The northwest wall of Marathon Valley has intriguing features and textures, but these are hard to image because they are nearly always in shadow. The Pancam managed to get a series of multi-band images along the outcrop by shooting in the morning. Mission scientists are hoping to study the area’s varied mineralogy by examining minute color differences. This false-color composite is by D. Savransky and J. Bell/JPL/NASA/Cornell/ASU; click to enlarge.

Opportunity raw images, its latest mission status, a location map. and atmospheric opacity, known as tau.

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MARCI weather report, August 10-16, 2015

releaseimg_150810_150816Last week on Mars, afternoon condensate water-ice clouds became more abundant over the regions between Meridiani and Olympus Mons. An arcuate dust storm was observed along the edge of the seasonal north polar ice cap. On the other side of the red planet, transient dust storms and water-ice clouds were spotted over the mid-to-high southern latitudes throughout the week. [More at link, including video]

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Opportunity: RATting on Pvt. Robert Frazer

4111-12-mi-ratSols 4111-4112, August 18-19, 2015. The Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) has taken a small slice into the target outcrop dubbed Pvt. Robert Frazer. Click to enlarge.

Opportunity raw images, its latest mission status, a location map. and atmospheric opacity, known as tau.

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Curiosity: Big sedimentary rock

1077-mastcamSol 1077, August 17, 2015. The Mastcam’s 100mm lens shot a 2×4 composite of a large, sedimentary rock, smoothed by wind erosion. Below is the Mastcam 100mm view (cropped) of the light-toned rock inspected by ChemCam, and its close surroundings. Click either image to enlarge.

Sol 10771077MR0047360000600159E01_DXXX raw images (from all cameras), and Curiosity’s latest location map.

 

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THEMIS: Noachis Terra – false color

Variations in Noachis Terra crater (THEMIS_IOTD_20150819)THEMIS Image of the Day, August 19, 2015. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today’s false color image shows a crater in Noachis Terra.

More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.

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