Yesterday I posted the above cover image of the Mars Curiosity Rover resulting with Andy Spade commenting Even the Mars rover takes selfies! Yep, even a rover on Mars can take selfies, but you may be wondering who and how in the world did it take a selfie. Was it an extraterrestrial 130 million miles away? It wasnt an easy task. The thought process on how to accomplish a self-portrait on Mars began back in 2011, prior to Curiositys launch, when film director James Cameron and Mars camera wizards Malin and Michael Ravine (of Malin Space Science Systems) started brainstorming ways to create striking and scientifically important new images from the substantial photo equipment onboard the rover. The end result was and is the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera, which sits in a turret at the end of the rovers nearly seven-foot-long arm.. The actual attached photo took place in October 2012 over two Martian days, known as sols. The camera is a stand-in of sorts for a geologists magnifying tool, and it can focus on objects very far away, as well as up close (as near as 0.8 inches, or 2 centimeters). Check out the video animation and see how its done.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 10:15:21 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015