Wheels on Mars

Speaking of amazing pictures from Mars, over the weekend Emily Lakdawalla tweeted about a shot from the Curiosity rover that is simply too too cool:

I love the perspective on this! [Click to hotwheelsenate - and you really should to see just how awesome this picture is.]

It was taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on October 6, 2012. MAHLI is a color camera that's mounted on the end of Curiosity's robotic arm. It provides detailed (1600 x 1200 pixel) color images, and can take close-ups to show microscopic detail of Martian rock samples.

But it can also take spectacular shots of the rover itself. You can see details on the rover wheels, including some of the dings they've gotten as they roll over rocks. It also gives you a sense of the size of the rover: it's as big as a car, and those wheels in the picture are 50 cm (18 inches) in diameter! That's about the same size as the wheels on my own car.

... and then, while thinking about all this, I remember: this is on Mars. That's another world, a planet tens of millions of kilometers away, a nine-month trip even by rocket! And Curiosity will be there for two full Earth years, returning vast amounts of incredible data about its surroundings.

I literally get a chill down my back when I think about that. It's so easy to get mired down worrying about the present and the future, but, quite literally, pictures like this give me hope for humanity. It's amazing what we can do when we put our minds to it.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

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- Curiosity's self-portrait
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- Now you will feel the firepower of a fully armed and operational Mars rover
- Gallery â Curiosityâs triumphant first week on Mars