Curiosity Snaps Evocative Self Portrait

Image Cation: Curiosity takes Self Portrait on Sol 32 with the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI). Image has been rotated up and enhanced by JPL. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

Curiosity has snapped an evocative new color self-portrait – and it’s totally unique, being the 1st head shot pose, showing the top of the Remote Sensing Mast (RSM).

You’ll notice it’s a bit dusty ! That’s because it was acquired through the transparent dust cover protecting the high resolution Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera positioned on the turret at the end of Curiosity’s 7 foot (2.1 meter) long robotic arm.

The gorgeous new image was taken on Sol 32 (Sept. 7, 2012) with the dust cover closed over the camera lens and thus provides a taste of even more spectacular views yet to come. The picture beautifully shows the Mastcam, Chemcam and Navcam cameras with the rim of Gale Crater in the background.

The MAHLI image above has been enhanced and rotated – to right side up. See the MAHLI raw image below.

The image was taken as JPL engineers were inspecting and moving the arm turret holding MAHLI and the other science instruments and tools and looking back to image them in turn using the Mast’s cameras.

NASA’s mega Martian rover is pausing for about a week or two at this location reached after driving on Sol 29 (Sept. 2) and will thoroughly check out the robotic arm and several science instruments.

So far Curiosity has driven about 358 feet (109 meters) and is sitting roughly 270 feet from the “Bradbury Landing” touchdown spot as the Martian crow flies.

The car sized robot is about a quarter of the way to Glenelg, the destination of her first lengthy science stop where three different types of geologic terrain intersect and are easily accessible for a detailed science survey using all 10 state of the art instruments including the rock drill and soil sampling mechanisms.

Ken Kremer

Ken Kremer

Dr. Ken Kremer is a speaker, research scientist, freelance science journalist (KSC area,FL) and photographer whose articles, space exploration images and Mars mosaics have appeared in magazines, books, websites and calendars including Astronomy Picture of the Day, NBC, FOX, BBC, SPACE.com, Spaceflight Now, Science and the covers of Aviation Week & Space Technology, Spaceflight and the Explorers Club magazines. Ken has presented at numerous educational institutions, civic & religious organizations, museums and astronomy clubs. Ken has reported first hand from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, NASA Wallops, NASA Michoud/Stennis/Langley and on over 80 launches including 8 shuttle launches. He lectures on both Human and Robotic spaceflight - www.kenkremer.com. Follow Ken on Facebook and Twitter

Recent Posts

Scientists Have Figured out why Martian Soil is so Crusty

On November 26th, 2018, NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport (InSight)…

6 hours ago

Another Way to Extract Energy From Black Holes?

Black holes are incredible powerhouses, but they might generate even more energy thanks to an…

11 hours ago

Plastic Waste on our Beaches Now Visible from Space, Says New Study

According to the United Nations, the world produces about 430 million metric tons (267 U.S.…

1 day ago

Future Space Telescopes Could be Made From Thin Membranes, Unrolled in Space to Enormous Size

As we saw with JWST, it's difficult and expensive to launch large telescope apertures, relying…

2 days ago

Voyager 1 is Forced to Rely on its Low Power Radio

Voyager 1 was launched waaaaaay back in 1977. I would have been 4 years old…

2 days ago

Webb Confirms a Longstanding Galaxy Model

The spectra of distant galaxies shows that dying sun-like stars, not supernovae, enrich galaxies the…

3 days ago