Wow! Mars Rover Captures Stunning Billion-Pixel Photo of Red Planet (Inteactive, Zoomable)

Space.com ^ | June 19, 2013 | Mike Wall

[lbryce]

Wow! Mars Rover Captures Interactive Zoomable Stunning Billion-Pixel Photo of Red Planet

A new 1.3-billion-pixel image from NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity allows viewers to zoom in and investigate part of the Red Planet in incredible detail.

The huge mosaic stitches together nearly 900 photos that the Curiosity rover took with some of its 17 cameras during the robot's exploration of Gale Crater on Mars, NASA officials said.

"It gives a sense of place and really shows off the cameras' capabilities," Bob Deen, of the Multi-Mission Image Processing Laboratory at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement. "You can see the context and also zoom in to see very fine details."

The new image is the first NASA-produced view from the surface of Mars that's larger than 1 billion pixels, officials said. It's a full-circle scene centered on the site dubbed "Rocknest," where Curiosity gathered its first scoops of sandy soil for analysis. The 3.4-mile-high (5.5 kilometers) Mount Sharp looms in the distance.

Deen constructed the mosaic using 871 pictures from Curiosity's Mast Camera instrument and 25 black-and-white frames from the rover's navigation cameras. The photos were taken between Oct. 5 and Nov. 16, 2012, officials said.

Curiosity landed inside the 96-mile-wide (154 km) Gale Crater on Aug. 5, 2012, kicking off a planned two-year surface mission to assess Mars' past and present potential to host microbial life. In addition to its 17 cameras, Curiosity also carries 10 different science instruments to aid its quest.

The six-wheeled robot has already checked off its primary goal. Mission scientists announced in March that a spot near Curiosity's landing site called Yellowknife Bay was indeed habitable long ago.

[Steve0113]

It’s cool technology, but the results aren’t very thrilling. Every time they release these pictures, it’s just another boring panorama of brown dirt, brown rocks, maybe a hill or two. It’s just not that interesting looking at a dead barren wasteland.

I'm glad it's not just me.

[Eaker]

This is a very cool image.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks lbryce. Extra to APoD members.