Curiosity selfie

[StuntMax]

Sorry, but this HAS to be shared:

http://www.360cities.net/image/mars-panorama-curiosity-solar-day-213

simply.. breathtaking.

And I still can't make a decent Dunar rover....

[TechnicalK3rbal]

What is the camera mounted on? I can never see it in the pictures.

[R0cketC0der]

What is the camera mounted on? I can never see it in the pictures.

The pictures are computer-generated out of data collected by curiosity.

[Kryten]

What is the camera mounted on? I can never see it in the pictures.

Curiosity's 'hand', the 'arm' of which always ends up being edited out because it can't take useful (i.e. not extremely distorted) pictures of itself. There's usually a nondescript grey blur where the mounting point actually is, and you can sometimes see the reflection of it in the camera lenses on the mast.

[StuntMax]

What is the camera mounted on? I can never see it in the pictures.

A small part of the camera arm is visible between the forward wheels, it's the white round strut. The rest of the arm has been removed when the panorama pic has been assembled out of several overlapping shots.

[Moon Goddess]

And I still can't make a decent Dunar rover....

I've made several, landing them in one piece is another story.

[Red Iron Crown]

The conspiracy theory crowd is going to have a field day with the missing camera arm.

Edit: Please, let's not discuss conspiracy theories.

Edited May 7, 2014 by Red Iron Crown

[TechnicalK3rbal]

The conspiracy theory crowd is going to have a field day with the missing camera arm.

Well. Maybe I shouldn't have asked....

[Red Iron Crown]

I probably shouldn't have said it, don't want this to devolve into a forbidden area of discussion.

[TerLoki]

Interesting how most of the rover seems to have some degree of dust on it, while the RTG is relatively clean. I wonder why that is.

Edit: I've been playing too much KSP, I thought the grand gain antenna was a kethane detector.

Edited May 7, 2014 by TerLoki

[maccollo]

The conspiracy theory crowd is going to have a field day with the missing camera arm.

It's not the first time Curiosity has made mosaics like this.

Another one like this was taken February last year, on sol 177.

BTW this is a good opportunity to illustrate how far it has driven.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/images/Curiosity_Location_Sol597-full.jpg

At sol 177 curiosity was still around Yellowknife Bay in the upper right, and this recent one is close to the last mark in the lower left.

Sol 177 http://www.360cities.net/image/mars-panorama-curiosity-solar-day-177#-96.36,-4.37,33.1

Sol 613 http://www.360cities.net/image/mars-panorama-curiosity-solar-day-213#173.05,-5.83,34.7

When you click on the links the camera will rotate to show the rock formation that curiosity is headed towards. It looks like it's not to far away now, but actually it has only driven one third the distance since sol 330.

Edited May 7, 2014 by maccollo

[Red Iron Crown]

Thanks for the links and explanation, fascinating.

[ScallopPotato]

Curiosity looks quite dusty now. Does that affect it's performance in any way?

[Moar Boosters]

Only if it gets somewhere it's not supposed to.

The earlier solar powered rovers did suffer performance issues when their solar panels became dusted over. That was one of the original things which determined their expected life-span. Fortunately the martian atmosphere has been kind enough to clean them several times.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleaning_event

[Jenteb07]

The wear is also clearly visible on the tires

[maccollo]

The wear is also clearly visible on the tires

On the positive side it doesn't appear to have gotten significantly worse since the problem was noticed.

Anyway, found some more cool stuff.

http://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/images/4-mars/2013/20131125_route454annotated.png

This shows the planned path to the base of mount sharp. The current plan is to reach that point before the end of this year.

Curiosity is currently somewhere around waypoint 4, so it looks feasible as long as they don't have to take to many detours to avoid harsh terrain.

The really interesting stuff, the layered rocks, are about twice as far away. Curiosity probably wont get there until early 2016.

http://www.greatdreams.com/blog-2012-2/MARS-LANDING-SITE.jpg

JPL also has this cool browser program where you can follow the path of curiosity in a 3D map of gale crater.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/explore/curiosity/

Edited May 7, 2014 by maccollo

[StuntMax]

Interesting how most of the rover seems to have some degree of dust on it, while the RTG is relatively clean. I wonder why that is.

I dunno... maybe thin martian atmosphere is enough to sustain convective currents on the (hot) RTG, which prevent dust from settling down?

[G'th]

So I full screened this on my 55" television. Holy crap its like I'm standing on Mars.

[RocketPilot573]

That rover looks really dirty... Quickly, we must land a car wash on the surface!

[Nibb31]

The dust gets everywhere, which is why NASA needs to develop mitigation techniques for that too. Solar farms on the surface would need regular cleaning and they have to favor suitports instead of airlocks for EVA.

BTW, Curiosity doesn't have tires. Rubber doesn't like very cold temperatures and it's heavy. The wheels are made of aluminium, and yes, they are concerned that they are getting more wear than anticipated.

http://news.discovery.com/space/martian-wear-and-tear-curiositys-wheel-damage-photos-131220.htm

[Jenteb07]

BTW, Curiosity doesn't have tires

Of course , Bad translation from me.

[ScallopPotato]

I do believe the dust was one of the key reasons why Curiosity has a RTG for a tail instead of being a table of solar panels, because solar panels get covered by dirt and have to be cleaned by the wind.

Still, does the dust affect anything besides its wheels?

I'm just thinking about the contradictory claims of how dangerous martian dust would be to any manned missions.

[TechnicalK3rbal]

So I full screened this on my 55" television. Holy crap its like I'm standing on Mars.

I must do this. How did you do this??

[rkman]

I do believe the dust was one of the key reasons why Curiosity has a RTG for a tail instead of being a table of solar panels, because solar panels get covered by dirt and have to be cleaned by the wind.

There is a lot of wind on Mars, that's how the solar panels of the small rovers Spirit and Opportunity stayed clean.

The actual reason for the RTG is that Curiosity's science instruments are rather power hungry and solar panels would not produce enough.

[Accelerando]

that's indeed incredible! like it's really striking how much Mars looks like Earth dirt... just reddish tinted Earth dirt. and the sky looks as though there's been a really nasty forest fire recently