HiRISE Camera Captures Curiosity's Tracks on Mars

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity appears as a bluish dot near the lower right corner of this enhanced-color view from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The rover's tracks are visible extending from the landing site, "Bradbury Landing," in the left half of the scene. Two bright, relatively blue spots surrounded by darker patches are where the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's landing jets cleared away reddish surface dust at the landing site. North is toward the top. For scale, the two parallel lines of the wheel tracks are about 10 feet (3 meters) apart. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Thought this is cool, pics of Curiosity's tracks on Mars.

Although these are enhanced photos, not everything appears as dead pixels are infact dead pixels.
Now, I'm off to search these shiny dots on the surface of Mars, hell ya never know, maybe there're others 'curiosities' out there

Source

And for further investigation, to those who are interested, I'm providing link to HiRISE Image Viewer

Very cool! Thank you for posting.

That picture is amazing, thanks also for the hirise link. Checking out some images right now!

S&F4U!

Am I the only one who's nerdy enough that instead of thinking "cool!" I rather find the photo very cute?

It's amazing how much detail MRO can see on Mars. It's one of the best things up there, along with LRO.

You can track Curiosity's progress in this thread at UMSF: www.unmannedspaceflight.com... which includes HIRISE images and even Curiosity's own images in vertical projection.

Curiosity has recently completed the longest drive in its mission - just a little over 100 meters. www.jpl.nasa.gov...

reply to post by Nevertheless

Originally posted by Nevertheless
Am I the only one who's nerdy enough that instead of thinking "cool!" I rather find the photo very cute?

Lol! The tracks do make it look like its some little lost robot searching around for companionship.

Aww shucks! I just want to pinch those shiny little cheeks on the rover.

reply to post by mcx1942


Yes, it looks like a robot-puppy sniffing around in a new environment.

I believe that the wheels are set approx 1-1.5 m wide apart and we can see each track individually. How wide are the tyres maybe 15 inches wide each perhaps.

Is it likely that we are going to be able to determine each tyre track? Well, I dont know, but the tyres are not that wide and what is the scale here?

If Curiosity is the size of a VW beetle thats approx 15 feet long by 6-8 feet wide, then that round white dot we see as Curiosity does not match up to the tyre size. It may be nice to think it does, but maybe it does not? comments?

Now... why can't we see Spirit like that in an image with as much detail as the individual tyre tracks.?

I will tell you my theory is that the Martians have dismantled Spirit and there is nothing left these days. Thats why. Now to prove the hypothesis...

Originally posted by qmantoo
I believe that the wheels are set approx 1-1.5 m wide apart and we can see each track individually. How wide are the tyres maybe 15 inches wide each perhaps.

Is it likely that we are going to be able to determine each tyre track? Well, I dont know, but the tyres are not that wide and what is the scale here?

If Curiosity is the size of a VW beetle thats approx 15 feet long by 6-8 feet wide, then that round white dot we see as Curiosity does not match up to the tyre size. It may be nice to think it does, but maybe it does not? comments?

Now... why can't we see Spirit like that in an image with as much detail as the individual tyre tracks.?

I will tell you my theory is that the Martians have dismantled Spirit and there is nothing left these days. Thats why. Now to prove the hypothesis...

edit on 29 Jul 2013 by qmantoo because: sceptical

Curiosity's tires are 20 inches wide:



Wheel base is 8.9 feet (2.7 meters) wide, and the top of it has a lot of white which is very reflective for sun light:



Curiosity Specifications

HiRISE camera is able to image very small things:

HiRISE was designed to be a High Resolution camera from the beginning. It consists of a large mirror, as well as a large CCD camera. Because of this, it achieves a resolution of 1 microradian, or 0.3 meter at a height of 300 km.

OK, thanks. so 30cm per pixel at 300Km, is that what we should be expecting in this image or have I misunderstood the term resolution in this context?

I hope I have done these pixel calculations roughly right.

from the wikipedia linked by Erik

The rover is 2.9 m (9.5 ft) long by 2.7 m (8.9 ft) wide by 2.2 m (7.2 ft) in height.

3 per metre
Curiosity - 9 pixels by 8 pixels (roughly) = a 72 pixel block

Curiosity's tires are 20 inches wide

2 inches = approx 5cms = 10 x 5 = 50cms = half a metre = 1.5-2 pixels wide
a track should be 1-2 pixels wide with 7 pixels in between individual left and right tracks in the image.

provided this is taken from 300km altitude and the angle is not excessive

===========================
Opportunity - 6 x 5 pixels (roughly) = a 30 pixel block

Opportunity (along with its twin, Spirit) is a six-wheeled, solar-powered robot standing 1.5 m (4.9 ft) high, 2.3 m (7.5 ft) wide and 1.6 m (5.2 ft) long and weighing 180 kg (400 lb). Six wheels on a rocker-bogie system enable mobility. Each wheel has its own motor, the vehicle is steered at front and rear and is designed to operate safely at tilts of up to 30 degrees. Maximum speed is 50 mm/s (2 in/s) although average speed is about a fifth of this (0.02 mph).

(Wikipedia)

reply to post by qmantoo


Here you go, this link here has the image with the states of HiRise as it took the picture (height over the target area and angle):

uaHirise.org

From the web site: