Don't you just
love that movie? Well, NASA has taken the first good look at its kid on Mars, the Curiosity Rover and the Mars Science Lab (MSL), releasing for the first time the data from the newly deployed
hand lens imager, yet another very capable and versatile tool for the science team.
CBS reports that:
The Curiosity rover took the photos over the weekend using its Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI, which is a focusable color camera attached to an instrument turret at the end of Curiosity's 7-foot (2.1-meter) robotic arm. MAHLI snapped its first photo of the Martian surface without a protective dust cover on Saturday (Sept. 8), and then began taking clear pictures of Curiosity itself a day later.
In one photo, the camera takes a clear look at Curiosity's three left wheels in a view that is framed by the rover's belly above. Curiosity's ultimate destination, the 3-mile-high (5-kilometer) Mount Sharp that rises from the center of the rover's Gale Crater landing site, can be seen in the distance.
As NASA describes it,
the high resolution imaging system on the MSL far outpaces the microscopic imaging systems on previous Mars Landers:
The Mars Exploration Rovers (MER), Spirit and Opportunity, each carried a Microscopic Imager (MI). The MI images resulted in a revolution in Mars science, permitting geologists to see martian surface materials at a scale that was not available on previous Mars missions. For the first time, MI images confirmed the presence of sand-sized grains (sand is defined by geologists as grains of 62.5 to 2000 micrometers in size) on Mars. Sand was long suspected but not confirmed to occur on Mars until the 2004 missions acquired MI data. The MI instruments and subsequent high resolution cameras onboard the Phoenix lander have greatly contributed to the understanding of the geology and geologic history of their landing sites on Mars.
The new instrument, on the end of the Curiosity Rover's robot arm, promise to yield much more useful images that its predecessors. If the totally gobsmacking geekiness of that engages your imagination like it does mine, come out into the tall grass and we'll tallk about it some more.
This is the eighth diary in my series about the capabilities of the instruments deployed by NASA on the Curiosity Rover. The most recent discussed the seven foot long robot arm. The remarkable camera pictured above is mounted on the end of that robot arm.
As NASA describes it, the high resolution imaging system on the MSL far outpaces the microscopic imaging systems on previous Mars Landers:
The CCD used by MAHLI is 1600 by 1200 pixels in size. MAHLI uses all 1600 by 1200 pixels for each color image. In other words, MAHLI is a 2 Megapixel camera.
MAHLI has a motor that allows the position of the lenses to be adjusted, so that the camera can focus on its target. The camera can focus at working distances (the distance between the target and the front lens element) of 22.5 mm (0.9 inch) and infinity.
At close focus (22.5 mm), images will have a resolution of about 15 micrometers (0.0006 inch) per pixel and cover an area of about 18 by 24 mm (0.7 by 0.9 inch). At a working distance of 50 mm (nearly 2 inches), images will have a resolution of about 24.5 micrometers (0.001 inch) per pixel. At the distance which the MER MI takes pictures, 66 mm (2.6 inches), the resolution is about the same as MI (31 micrometers per pixel), but the pictures cover a larger area and are in color.
MAHLI can acquire multiple images of the same feature at different focus positions and use this to build a best-focus image and a range map of the target. This process is sometimes called z-stacking or focal plane merging.
MAHLI has 4 white light LEDs and 2 ultraviolet (365 nanometers) LEDs to provide illumination of the targets at night or in deep shadow. Each of the two sets of white light LEDs can be turned on/off independently of the other. The ultraviolet LEDs provide an opportunity to look for fluorescent minerals.
Because MAHLI can focus at infinity, in addition to being able to get microscopic views of surface materials MAHLI can also be used for other purposes, including inspection of areas on the rover or imaging the local landscape.
Stereo (3D) views of selected targets can be acquired by taking 2 images of a target from different looking angles. This is achieved by moving the robotic arm to place the camera in the two different positions.
MAHLI has a dust cover to protect the optics from becoming coated by fine dust and dirt. The dust cover has a window through which pictures can be taken if necessary. The camera can focus and take pictures whether the dust cover is open or closed.
This 2 megapixel Martian pocket camera is fully maneuverable at the end of a seven foot long arm, can focus to infinity, can also focus to a resolution of 15 micrometers, can perfectly reproduce color and can see in 3-D. Here is the first image from the instrument taken of surface rock with the dust cover retracted. The instrument will also prove valuable for trouble-shooting any operational problems the rover and lab might encounter, giving mission controllers the ability to visually inspect the equipment to an unprecedented degree.
The MSL is working out the kinks and getting ready to do some serious science. Get ready for big news in October
