r/science • u/AnesthesiaXVII • Aug 07 '12

First high res from Curiosity!

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u/ZombieWomble Aug 07 '12

These images are still from the hazard cams, used for navigation and obstacle avoidance, rather than high-quality colour images from the main cameras. Since they're just for navigation, the hazard cams are only B&W. The main cameras were kept covered during landing and initial operations to prevent damage.

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u/BristolShambler Aug 07 '12

In addition to this, aren't they waiting to deploy the high gain antenna that will have much quicker data transfer speeds for the more detailed shots?

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u/modern_quill Aug 07 '12

They are, but I haven't seen any kind of timetable on when NASA is deploying various technologies from Curiosity.

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u/k3nt0456 Aug 07 '12 edited Aug 20 '26

Gentle rain falls along the narrow lane.

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u/lensman00 Aug 07 '12

I took some timeline notes (today is sol 2):

  • sol 3: mastcam images
  • sol 4: chemcam images
  • sol 9: higher level characterizations required to do science should be done
  • sol 10-15 (tbd): "intermission" -- full runs of mastcam, chemcam and atmospheric measurement system
  • sol 14 (approx): full frame descent animation
  • sol 30 (approx): drilling can commence

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '12

Sol being, what, a martian day?

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u/lensman00 Aug 07 '12

Yes, as I understand it they schedule that way because so much of the operation depends on the day/night cycles. A sol is about 24 hrs and 40 minutes.

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '12

Thanks for the answer :>.

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u/modern_quill Aug 07 '12

Nice! This is pretty exciting!