See NASA’s Curiosity Rover Simultaneously from Orbit and Red Planet’s Surface Climbing Mount Sharp

New post on Universe Today See NASA's Curiosity Rover Simultaneously from Orbit and Red Planet's Surface Climbing Mount Sharp by Ken Kremer NASA's Curiosity rover as seen simultaneously on Mars surface and from orbit on Sol 1717, June 5, 2017. The robot snapped this self portrait mosaic view while approaching Vera Rubin Ridge at the base of Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater - backdropped by distant crater rim. This navcam camera mosaic was stitched from raw images and colorized. Inset shows overhead orbital view of Curiosity amid rocky mountainside terrain taken the same day by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo You can catch a glimpse of what its like to see NASA's Curiosity Mars rover simultaneously high overhead from orbit and trundling down low across the Red Planet's rocky surface as she climbs the breathtaking terrain of Mount Sharp - as seen in new images from NASA we have stitched together into a mosaic view; showing the perspective views above. Earlier this month on June 5, researchers commanded NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to image the car sized Curiosity rover from Mars orbit using the spacecrafts onboard High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) telescopic camera during Sol 1717 of her Martian expedition - see below. HiRISE is the most powerful telescope ever sent to Mars. And as she does nearly every Sol, or Martian day, Curiosity snapped a batch of new images captured from Mars surface using her navigation camera called navcam likewise on Sol 1717. Since NASA just released the high resolution MRO images of Curiosity from orbit, we assembled together the navcam camera raw images taken simultaneously on June 5 (Sol 1717), in order to show the actual vista seen by the six wheeled robot from a surface perspective on the same day. In the lead navcam photo mosaic shows a partial rover selfie backdropped by the distant rim of Gale Crater - and was stitched together by the imaging team of Ken Kremer and Marco Do Lorenzo. The feature that appears bright blue at the center of this scene is NASA's Curiosity Mars rover amid tan rocks and dark sand on Mount Sharp, as viewed by the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on June 5, 2017. The rover is about 10 feet long and not really as blue as it looks here. The image was taken as Curiosity was partway between its investigation of active sand dunes lower on Mount Sharp, and "Vera Rubin Ridge," a destination uphill where the rover team intends to examine outcrops where hematite has been identified from Mars orbit. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona Right now Curiosity is approaching her next science destination named "Vera Rubin Ridge" while climbing up the lower reaches of Mount Sharp, the humongous mountain that dominates the rover's landing site inside Gale Crater. "When the MRO image was taken, Curiosity was partway between its investigation of active sand dunes lower on Mount Sharp, and "Vera Rubin Ridge," a destination uphill where the rover team intends to examine outcrops where hematite has been identified from Mars orbit," says NASA. "HiRISE has been imaging Curiosity about every three months, to monitor the surrounding features for changes such as dune migration or erosion." The MRO image has been color enhanced and shows Curiosity in blue. "The exaggerated color, showing differences in Mars surface materials, makes Curiosity appear bluer than it really looks. This helps make differences in Mars surface materials apparent, but does not show natural color as seen by the human eye." See our mosaic of "Vera Rubin Ridge" and Mount Sharp below. Ascending and diligently exploring the sedimentary lower layers of Mount Sharp, which towers 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) into the Martian sky, is the primary destination and goal of the rovers long term scientific expedition on the Red Planet. As of today, Sol 1733, June 21, 2017, Curiosity has driven over 10.29 miles (16.57 kilometers) since its August 2012 landing inside Gale Crater, and taken over 420,000 amazing images. Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and planetary science and human spaceflight news. Ken Kremer Curiosity's Traverse Map Through Sol 1717. This map shows the route driven by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity through the 1717 Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (June 05, 2017). The base image from the map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera (HiRISE) in NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona Ken Kremer | June 22, 2017 at 1:10 am | Tags: Bagnold Dunes, mars red planet | URL: http://wp.me/p1CHIY-zpG Comment    See all comments Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:  https://www.universetoday.com/136132/see-curiosity-simultaneously-from-orbit-and-red-planets-surface-climbing-mount-sharp/