Curiosity delivered several interesting things today. First, there's the self-portrait at right (
full resolution,
more info), produced as a composite of many images acquired by the MHLI camera. Mission controllers use imagery like this to document and assess the state of the rover – at least that's the official excuse. It's also just plain awesome. Once again, I'm astonished by the advance Curiosity represents over its “ancestor” rovers.
At left is a map of Curiosity's travels since its dramatic landing just over two months ago (
full resolution). Not so long ago we were lucky if we knew for sure that a Martian lander actually landed, and we had a vague idea what quadrant it had landed in. Now we know the rovers' positions to within a few centimeters – much more accurately, in fact, than I know my own location on Earth. Awesome stuff!
Finally, there's a new stereo view (an anaglyph,
full resolution) that's amongst the best yet to emerge from Curiosity's travels. The dark spot near the center foreground is the location of some digging that Curiosity did. If you've got a pair of red/blue glasses, slap 'em on and treat yourself to a 3D view of the surface of Mars. It's something straight out of the science fiction of my youth:
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