Curiosity Rover Pictures

[LazyLion]

 

[LazyLion]

 

[Sinbad]

2.5 billion dollars and they stuck the camera from a 1995 Nokia phone on the thing?

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

2.5 billion dollars and they stuck the camera from a 1995 Nokia phone on the thing?

These are only the initial images from the hazcams, they haven't deployed any of the of instrumentation yet.

 

[Techne]

Awesome news. Woha, that's a big dune buggy, those Martians will need bigger posters
[video=youtube;ZYzM1M1X790]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYzM1M1X790[/video]

 

[Unhappy438]

2.5 billion dollars and they stuck the camera from a 1995 Nokia phone on the thing?

As Zoidberg has pointed out these are just initial images. As the rover powers up (which i think takes a couple days) we will begin to see bigger and better images.

 

[Picard]

I see some computers in the control centre are Macs.

 

[Picard]

As Zoidberg has pointed out these are just initial images. As the rover powers up (which i think takes a couple days) we will begin to see bigger and better images.

They better produce some stunning images. It's a little difficult for politicains to grant more money for images that can be created in MS Paint.

 

[Crusader]

They better produce some stunning images. It's a little difficult for politicains to grant more money for images that can be created in MS Paint.

Images will be the least important bit of science the MSL does. Analyzing ground samples are way more important, although it should give some nice images once all the instrumentation is up.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Awesome news. Woha, that's a big dune buggy, those Martians will need bigger posters
[video=youtube;ZYzM1M1X790]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYzM1M1X790[/video]

LOLZ

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Images will be the least important bit of science the MSL does. Analyzing ground samples are way more important, although it should give some nice images once all the instrumentation is up.

^ This. But the rover is going to be sending back 2MP panoramic shots once everything is up and running.

 

[bdt]

but also...

 

[bdt]

Maybe more worth it: from /. have live NASA stream ..currently (as at 12.11 SAST) really banal dull setup stuff.

 

[Dom1n8tr1x]

One of the latest images captured this

 

[Haldex]

but also...

 

[Crusader]

What I find interesting is that the nuclear reactor on the rover can give it peak power of 125W for 14 years after which it drops to 100W. Barring any mishaps Curiosity could be in use for a VERY, VERY long time.

Something else that's pretty cool is what might be a dust cloud caused by the descent stage crashing into Mars. If you look at the images where Curiosity looks at its own shadow you can see what looks like a puff of dust on the horizon - http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=4213

It's in both rear hazcam images and not there in later images. Speculation, but cool if true.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

One of the latest images captured this

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

One of the latest images captured this

Hehe, rad

 

[noswal]

wait, there's more

 

[Fudzy]

What I find interesting is that the nuclear reactor on the rover can give it peak power of 125W for 14 years after which it drops to 100W. Barring any mishaps Curiosity could be in use for a VERY, VERY long time.

I'm intrigued, all previous nuclear power sources I've known of require water to convert into steam to turn turbines in a generator.