PDS logoPlanetary Data System
PDS Information
Find a Node - Use these links to navigate to any of the 8 publicly accessible PDS Nodes.

This bar indicates that you are within the PDS enterprise which includes 6 science discipline nodes and 2 support nodes which are overseen by the Project Management Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Each node is led by an expert in the subject discipline, supported by an advisory group of other practitioners of that discipline, and subject to selection and approval under a regular NASA Research Announcement.
Click here to return to the Photojournal Home Page Click here to view a list of Photojournal Image Galleries Photojournal_inner_header
Latest Images  |  Spacecraft & Technology  |  Animations  |  Space Images App  |  Feedback  |  Photojournal Search  

PIA16452: A Martian Rock Called 'Rocknest 3'
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)
 Spacecraft:  Curiosity
 Instrument:  Mastcam
 Product Size:  1851 x 1440 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA16452.tif (7.999 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA16452.jpg (538.1 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:


click here for larger view of figure 1 for PIA16452click here for larger view of figure 2 for PIA16452
Figure 1Figure 2
Click on an individual image for larger views

This view of a Martian rock called "Rocknest 3" combines four images taken by the right-eye camera of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument, which has a telephoto, 100-millimeter-focal-length lens. The component images were taken a few minutes after Martian noon on the 59th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's operations on Mars (evening of Oct. 5, 2012, PDT).

Rocknest 3 is a rock approximately 15 inches (40 centimeters) long and 4 inches (10 centimeters) tall, next to the "Rocknest" patch of windblown dust and sand where Curiosity scooped and analyzed soil samples. The Mastcam was about 13 feet (4 meters) from the rock when the component images were taken, providing an image scale of about 0.01 inch (0.3 millimeter) per pixel.

The image has been white-balanced to show what the rock would look like if it were on Earth. Figure 1 is a raw-color version, showing what the rock looks like on Mars to the camera. Figure 2 includes annotation indicating the portion of Rocknest 3 covered in Sol 57 imaging by Curiosity's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument at PIA16451.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the rover.

More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.

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

Image Addition Date:
2012-11-26