Left-eye view of a color stereo pair

Right-eye view of a color stereo pair

This stereo view of terrestrial rocks combines two images taken by a testing twin of the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory. It appears three-dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses with the red lens on the left.

MAHLI is mounted at the end of the robotic arm of the mission's rover, Curiosity. Unlike the engineering cameras on Curiosity, MAHLI is not a stereo imager combining side-by-side cameras. However, by taking one image, moving the arm a little, then taking another, researchers can obtain stereo pairs of MAHLI images providing three-dimensional information. The MAHLI life test unit, a duplicate MAHLI flight unit on Curiosity, took the stereo pair used in this view.

The rocks at upper right and lower right are rhyolite. The one at upper left is basalt. The one at bottom left is sandstone.