Martian Ground Seen by Arm Camera With and Without Dust Cover
(Thumbnails) As the last step in a series of inspections of the
Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) aboard NASA's Mars rover
Curiosity, this camera's reclosable dust cover was opened for
the first time during the 33rd Martian day, or sol, of the
rover's mission on Mars (Sept. 8, 2012), enabling MAHLI to take
the center image of this set. The other two images presented
here for comparison were taken before the cover was opened
(left) and after the cover was closed again (right). All three
images here are thumbnails, approximately one-eighth the
resolution of the full-size MAHLI images. The full-size images
corresponding to the two cover-closed thumbnails were not yet
received on Sept. 8. All three images were taken from the same
position: about 5 feet (1.5 meters) above the ground, facing
down. The patch of ground shown in each image is about 34 inches
(86 centimeters) across. Comparison of these cover-closed and
cover-open images shows that haziness in M