Mars Rover Snaps 1st Hi-Res Self-Portrait [View all]
Source: Discovery News
MARS ROVER SNAPS 1ST HI-RES SELF-PORTRAIT
Aug. 18, 2012 -- A newly released photo mosaic from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity reveals the huge robot and its exotic Red Planet landing site in crisp detail.
Curiosity snapped the high-resolution self-portrait with its navigation cameras on the night of Aug. 7, just two days after it touched down inside Mars' huge Gale Crater. NASA released the image — which is composed of 20 full-frame navcam shots — during a press conference Friday (Aug. 17).
"What's really exciting about this is that we see the rover -- a self-portrait, with the rim of Gale Crater in the background," said Curiosity chief scientist John Grotzinger, a geologist at Caltech in Pasadena.
The back of the rover is at the image's left. Two of Curiosity's three right-side wheels are visible, as are a smattering of small rocks kicked up onto the rover's deck by its rocket-powered sky crane, which lowered Curiosity to the surface on cables.
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Read more: http://news.discovery.com/space/big-pic-curiosity-self-portrait-120818.html
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