The Curiosity rover is its own personal paparazzo -- snapping all sorts of images with its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), which sits on the end of its recently extended flexible arm.
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The Photo-Geek’s Guide to Curiosity Rover’s 17 CamerasCuriosity is currently sitting tight on the Martian soil on its way to its first main scientific target area, named Glenelg, and has time for a few vanity shots. Over the weekend it acquired a good deal of spectacular pictures, including the above, which shows off the rover's "face" made up of its high-resolution MastCams, two navigation cameras, and the eye-like ChemCam laser instrument. The image appears reddish because MAHLI's dusty cover was still obscuring and protecting the camera lens.
The next day, engineers opened MAHLI's reclosable dust cover for the first time and took a clear shot (below) of pebbles and rocks for the first time. Further down are two images of the rover's underbelly, one looking straight through its undercarriage while the other shows off the distinct JPL-Morse-code-markings on its three wheels and a view of Mount Sharp in the distant background. The rover will continue flexing its arm over the next few days to test it out under Mars' gravity conditions.
Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems. High-res versions 1), 2), 3) and 4)
