With NASA's Curiosity rover having been on the surface of Mars for a few days now, it's beginning to send back some high-quality photos, unlike the low-resolution thumbnails the rover took immediately after landing. Many of the best new photos are in color.
Currently, Curiosity is preparing for its planned "brain transplant." Over the weekend, the rover's controlling software will transition from one suite best suited for flight to another suite best suited for traveling around the Martian surface and controlling its robotic arm.
One major component of the transition will be better hazard-avoidance software, meaning Curiosity will do a better job of identifying a safe path for travel.
Once the "transplant" is complete on Monday, the Curiosity rover will have replaced its main software on both of its two redundant computers. Afterward, Curiosity will be able to make much longer drives more efficiently, resulting in better data and photographs.
Little scientific data will be sent during the "brain transplant," and NASA scientists will spend the weekend analyzing pictures and data from the rover, working to identify points of interest for Curiosity to explore.
These are the first two full-resolution images of the Martian surface from the Navigation cameras on NASA's Curiosity rover, which are located on the rover's "head" or mast. The rim of Gale Crater can be seen in the distance beyond the pebbly ground. The topography of the rim is very mountainous due to erosion. The ground seen in the middle shows low-relief scarps and plains. The foreground shows two distinct zones of excavation likely carved out by blasts from the rover's descent stage thrusters.NASA/JPL-CaltechThis mosaic image shows part of the left side of NASA's Curiosity rover and two blast marks from the descent stage's rocket engines. The images that were used to make the mosaic were obtained by the rover's Navigation cameras on Aug. 8 EDT. The rim of Gale Crater is the lighter-colored band across the horizon. The back of the rover is to the left. The blast marks can be seen in the middle of the image. Several small bits of rock and soil, made airborne by the rocket engines, are visible on the rover's top deck.NASA/JPL-CaltechThe distant blob seen in the view on left, taken by a hazard-avoidance camera on NASA's Curiosity rover, may be a cloud created during the crash of the rover's descent stage. Pictures taken about 45 minutes later on right do not show the cloud, providing further evidence it was from the crash. The bright spot at upper center, which is larger in the view at right, is due to image saturation from looking at the sun. These images are from the rover's rear hazard-avoidance cameras. They are one-quarter of full resolution.NASA/JPL-CaltechThis full-resolution image shows part of the deck of NASA's Curiosity rover taken from one of the rover's Navigation cameras looking toward the back left of the rover. On the left of this image, part of the rover's power supply is visible. To the right of the power supply can be seen the pointy low-gain antenna and side of the paddle-shaped high-gain antenna for communications directly to Earth. The rim of Gale Crater is the lighter-colored band across the horizon. The effects of the descent stage's rocket engines blasting the ground can be seen on the right side of the image, next to the rover. This full-resolution image is 1,024 by 1,024 pixels. The image was taken on Aug. 8 EDT.NASA/JPL-CaltechThis is a portion of the first color 360-degree panorama from NASA's Curiosity rover, made up of thumbnails, which are small copies of higher-resolution images. The mission's destination, a mountain at the center of Gale Crater called Mount Sharp, can be seen in the distance, to the left, beginning to rise up. The mountain's summit will be imaged later. Blast marks from the rover's descent stage are in the foreground. NASA/JPL-CaltechThis is the first 360-degree panorama in color of the Gale Crater landing site taken by NASA's Curiosity rover. The panorama was made from thumbnail versions of images taken by the Mast Camera. Scientists will be taking a closer look at several splotches in the foreground that appear gray. These areas show the effects of the descent stage's rocket engines blasting the ground. What appeared as a dark strip of dunes in previous, black-and-white pictures from Curiosity can also be seen along the top of this mosaic, but the color images also reveal additional shades of reddish brown around the dunes, likely indicating different textures or materials. The images were taken Aug. 9 EDT by the 34-millimeter Mast Camera. This panorama mosaic was made of 130 images of 144 by 144 pixels each. Selected full frames from this panorama, which are 1,200 by 1,200 pixels each, are expected to be transmitted to Earth later. The images in this panorama were brightened in the processing. Mars only receives one-half the sunlight Earth does, and this image was taken in the late Martian afternoon. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSThis full-resolution self-portrait shows the deck of NASA's Curiosity rover from the rover's Navigation cameras. The back of the rover can be seen at the top left of the image, and two of the rover's right-side wheels can be seen on the left. Part of the pointy rim of Gale Crater forms the lighter-color strip in the background. Bits of gravel, about 0.4 inches (1 centimeter) in size, are visible on the deck of the rover. This mosaic is made of eight images, each 1,024 by 1,024 pixels, taken early morning on Aug. 8 EDT. It uses an average of the Navcam positions to synthesize the point of view of a single camera, with a field of view of 120 degrees. Seams between the images have been minimized, but a few are still visible. The wide field of view introduces some distortion at the edges of the mosaic. The "augmented reality" or AR tag seen in the middle of the image can be used in the future with smartphones to obtain more information about the mission.NASA/JPL-CaltechThis color full-resolution image showing the heat shield of NASA's Curiosity rover was obtained during descent to the surface of Mars on Aug. 6 EDT. The image was obtained by the Mars Descent Imager instrument known as MARDI and shows the 15-foot (4.5-meter) diameter heat shield when it was about 50 feet (16 meters) from the spacecraft. This image shows the inside surface of the heat shield, with its protective multilayered insulation. The bright patches are calibration targets for MARDI. Also seen in this image is the Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrument, or MEDLI, hardware attached to the inside surface. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
