NASAs Curiosity Mars rover used its black-and-white navigation electronic cameras to record panoramas at two times of day on April 8, 2023. Interest is in the foothills of Mount Sharp, which stands 3 miles (5 kilometers) high within Gale Crater, where the rover has been checking out since landing in 2012. Farther below (at center and just to the right) are two hills– “Bolívar” and “Deepdale”– that Curiosity drove in between while exploring “Paraitepuy Pass.”
NASAs Curiosity Mars rover used its black-and-white navigation cams to capture panoramas at 2 times of day on April 8, 2023. Figure A is an annotated version of the postcard keeping in mind geographic features and components of the rover. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity is in the foothills of Mount Sharp, which stands 3 miles (5 kilometers) high within Gale Crater, where the rover has been exploring considering that landing in 2012. Farther listed below (at center and simply to the right) are 2 hills– “Bolívar” and “Deepdale”– that Curiosity drove in between while exploring “Paraitepuy Pass.”
Morning panorama without ad. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
” Anyone whos been to a national forest knows the scene looks various in the early morning than it carries out in the afternoon,” stated Curiosity engineer Doug Ellison of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, who prepared and processed the images. “Capturing 2 times of day offers dark shadows since the lighting is coming in from the right and the left, like you may have on a stage– however rather of stage lights, were counting on the Sun.”
Afternoon panorama without added color. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Contributing to the depth of the shadows is the fact that it was winter– a period of lower air-borne dust– at Curiositys area when the images were taken. “Mars shadows get sharper and much deeper when theres low dust and softer when theres great deals of dust,” Ellison added.
The image peers past the back of the rover, providing a glimpse of its three antennas and nuclear power source. The Radiation Assessment Detector, or RAD, instrument, which appears as a white circle in the lower right of the image, has been helping researchers learn how to protect the first astronauts sent to Mars from radiation in the worlds surface area.
More About the Mission
Curiosity was developed by NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is managed by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASAs Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
NASAs Curiosity Mars rover used its black-and-white navigation cameras to capture panoramas at two times of day on April 8, 2023. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Lighting from two times of day was combined for a sensational view of the terrain that the rover is leaving behind.
After completing a significant software update in April, NASAs Curiosity Mars rover took a last take a look at “Marker Band Valley” before leaving it behind, catching a “postcard” of the scene.
The postcard is a creative interpretation of the landscape, with color included over 2 black-and-white panoramas recorded by Curiositys navigation electronic cameras. The views were taken on April 8 at 9:20 a.m. and 3:40 p.m. local Mars time, offering significantly different lighting that, when integrated, makes details in the scene stick out. Blue was contributed to parts of the postcard caught in the early morning and yellow to parts taken in the afternoon, just as with a comparable postcard taken by Curiosity in November 2021.
The postcard is an artistic analysis of the landscape, with color included over 2 black-and-white panoramas caught by Curiositys navigation cameras. Blue was included to parts of the postcard caught in the early morning and yellow to parts taken in the afternoon, just as with a comparable postcard taken by Curiosity in November 2021.