NASAs Curiosity Mars rover used its black-and-white navigation cameras to record panoramas of this scene at 2 times of day. This was the view at 4:10 p.m. regional Mars time. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
A number of the rovers most spectacular panoramas are from the color Mastcam instrument, which has far greater resolution than the navigation cameras. Thats why the group added colors of their own to this newest image. The blue, orange, and green tints are not what the human eye would see; rather, they represent the scene as seen at different times of day.
On November 16, 2021 (the 3,299 th Martian day, or sol, of the objective), engineers commanded Curiosity to take 2 sets of mosaics, or composite images, recording the scene at 8:30 a.m. and once again at 4:10 p.m. local Mars time. The 2 times of day provided contrasting lighting conditions that brought out a variety of landscape details. The team then combined the two scenes in an artistic re-creation that consists of components from the morning scene in blue, the afternoon scene in orange, and a mix of both in green.
NASAs Curiosity Mars rover utilized its black-and-white navigation cams to capture panoramas of this scene at 2 times of day. This was the view at 8:30 a.m. local Mars time. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
At the center of the image is the view back down Mount Sharp, the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain that Curiosity has actually been increasing because 2014. Rounded hills can be seen in the distance at center-right; Curiosity got a more detailed view of these back in July, when the rover began to see interesting modifications in the landscape. A field of sand ripples referred to as the “Sands of Forvie” stretches a quarter- to a half-mile (400 to 800 meters) away.
At the far right of the panorama is the craggy “Rafael Navarro Mountain,” called after a Curiosity group scientist who passed away previously this year. Poking up behind it is the upper part of Mount Sharp, far above the location Curiosity is checking out. Mount Sharp lies inside Gale Crater, a 96-mile-wide (154-kilometer-wide) basin formed by an ancient impact; Gale Craters far-off rim stands 7,500 feet high (2.3 kilometers), and shows up on the horizon about 18 to 25 miles away (30 to 40 kilometers).
The Curiosity objective is led by NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is handled by Caltech in Pasadena, California.
NASAs Curiosity rover captured an amazing image from its newest perch on the side of Mars Mount Sharp. The mission group was so inspired by the charm of the landscape, they integrated two variations of the black-and-white images from different times of the day and included colors to produce an unusual postcard from the Red Planet.
Interest catches a 360-degree view of its surroundings with its black-and-white navigation cameras each time it completes a drive. To make the resulting panorama easier to send out to Earth, the rover keeps it in a compressed, low-quality format. When the rover team saw the view from Curiositys most recent stopping point, the scene was just too pretty not to catch it in the greatest quality that the navigation cams are capable of.
Curiosity catches a 360-degree view of its surroundings with its black-and-white navigation video cameras each time it finishes a drive. NASAs Curiosity Mars rover utilized its black-and-white navigation cams to capture panoramas of this scene at 2 times of day. On November 16, 2021 (the 3,299 th Martian day, or sol, of the objective), engineers commanded Curiosity to take two sets of mosaics, or composite images, capturing the scene at 8:30 a.m. and once again at 4:10 p.m. regional Mars time. NASAs Curiosity Mars rover used its black-and-white navigation cams to record panoramas of this scene at 2 times of day.