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SAY CHEESE!
Taking a journey on your own, over 560 million kilometres, isn’t exactly a very jovial experience – but at least the Curiosity rover seems to be having a good time, if these holiday snaps are anything to go by.
This is the first high-resolution photograph sent back by NASA’s $2 billion craft – stitched together from 55 smaller photographs taken from its robotic arm.
The 42 megapixel image (available in its full size here) shows the rover at ‘Rocknest’ – the spot on the planet where it did its first scoop sampling – and was taken by one of the craft’s 17 cameras.
The MAHLI (Mars Hand Lens Imager) camera used to take these snaps is the only one which is able to photograph the entire rover.
The snap isn’t just a holiday postcard, though – engineers are using the self-portraits to analyse the level of dust being built up on Curiosity’s moving parts, and taking a closer look at its wheels to see how well they’re holding up on the Martian terrain.
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A great achievement.
Give it a minute. The “it’s a waste of money” brigade should be along anytime now.
Sorry for the delay, Damo..( bloody low-tech neural systems).
Remind me again how much it cost to sent this unit to Mars and send us a postcard of itself?
Nice uncrowded beach though. Do they do ice-cream sundaes in the Mars bars?
Once they get the technology perfected, no doubt, they’ll be able to send us a composite shot of the piles of poor craters on Uranus.
Why did they not take a picture if it while it was on the ground ?
C’mon, Phillip, and miss the travel expenses?
Probably took a photo just to check if irish travellers had been there to rob metal parts off of it yet!
Philip can you read….the engineers are using the images to assess the build up of dust etc
Why no duck face pose? Was there no bathroom it could take the snap in?
Damien
I notice that your picture suggests your development is somewhat arrested and you should be advised that mankind will only survive and thrive if it continues to push the frontiers of science . Where would we be today without the internal combustion engine or something as basic as antibiotics.
There endeth the lesson for today !
Well now Garry…not so arrested I cannot manage to post my comment to your response-location. If you were launching a lander the destination might be the safest place to avoid collision with it.
Science remains a tool and methodology that I favour.
Its a pity we cannot apply a little forensic scientific criticism without being accused of Luddism by the presumptious.
Scientists without conscience are as dangerous as any other uncritical adherent of a creed.
I won’t bother addressing your sermon on the benefits of petroleum combustion and antibiotics in the MItts of careless non-reflective ambition. A little history might aid ye olde perspective. Improve the binocular resolution, so to speak.
Wow! The HD Picture is Unreal. Amazing that We are looking at the surface of another planet 560 million km’s away.
Mars is currently 310.2 million km from Earth. 567 million km is the distance Curiosity travelled to Mars, around the Sun.
“Number 5 is ALIVE!” (Short Circuit)
Are those footprints???
Yeah ET’s
@Gary (and Alan) – Nope. If you look at the high-res version of the photo you can see that they’re perfectly rectangular prints. NASA says they’re something called “scoop stars”, imprints that are left when one of its robotic arms extends to pick up a sample of the terrain.
Nah, I can hoax, it’s obviously a setup, probably recorded in the same warehouse that the moon landing was.
If you zoom in to the big lens on the rover you can see the shape of someone’s head and shoulders in the reflection taking the photo!
You know, you COULD have just looked at the high-res version.
Spoil sport! :)
Sure didn’t the rover do what we all do as tourists, accost some passing native and say “would you mind taking a picture ?”. Simple.
Stunning, another stepping stone in man kinds stretch towards the stars.
It’s wall-e!
What is holding the camera there’s no robotic arm or shadow
Really?
Red thumbs for stating the obvious look at the hi res picture if you can see the complete rover and there is nothing coming away from the sides or the top how has the robotic arm held the camera in front of it to take to picture.
“Curiosity has used its ‘hand lens imager’ to take 55 photos of itself – and stitch them into one single giant image.”
I think the red thumbs are because you clearly didn’t read the article.
of course I read the article the mahli camera is the big thing beside the front wheel in the picture. I also know it’s 55 images stitched together but the photo is missing the arm which holds the Mahli which also managed to photograph itself in its resting place
Looks like Tatooine . Half expecting to see a Jawa transport in the background.
is this relayed from the ongoing attempt to gather up those assets Quinn is currently trying to put beyond the reach of IBRC?
What?
Waste of time, Andrew…they are all in radio-shadow from the real world.
Space cadets are not like us Terrestrians. Starry-eyed etc. They’re all red-shifted with their dopplergangers. You need fluent Martian to reach them, preferably through a hexadecimal filter.
I can sort you out..for a consideration. Send me your numbered Swiss account.
look at the left of the picture , is that foot prints opposite the near wheel ???
Nope its where the rover has dug for samples, look at the enlarged image and this is pretty clear
Nonsense, its the jack-mark from when I had to change the puncture.
Less with the disinformation.
no but the auld road at the bottom of the hill is very dusty
Why is that every time an article relating to NASA and space exploration, the COST is included, as if to stir up resentment for the project.
We should bear in mind, only a machine goes to space, the COST stays on the ground in the form of wages income tax etc,and there are spin off inventions along the way, the cordless drin being just one such spin off.
That should read cordless DRILL.
this is pure class! mankind’s greatest achievement.
dont know about that :) id say the moon walk
What’s taking the picture???
Pretty god damn amazing too when you think about it.
Good guy curiosity take a self-portrait with out making duck face
foot prints bottom left ?
It must be Friday.
Is that Hogan in the background?
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