English: PIA16711: MAHLI's First Night Imaging of Martian Rock, White Lighting

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16711

Target Name: Mars Is a satellite of: Sol (our sun) Mission: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Spacecraft: Curiosity Instrument: MAHLI Product Size: 1605 x 1195 pixels (width x height) Produced By: Malin Space Science Systems Full-Res TIFF: PIA16711.tif (5.756 MB) Full-Res JPEG: PIA16711.jpg (338.6 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: This image of a Martian rock illuminated by white-light LEDs (light emitting diodes) is part of the first set of nighttime images taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera at the end of the robotic arm of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity. MAHLI took the images on Jan. 22, 2012 (PST), after dark on the 165th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars.

This rock target in the "Yellowknife Bay" area of Mars' Gale Crater is called "Sayunei." The image covers an area about 1.3 inches by 1 inch (3.4 by 2.5 centimeters). The illumination came from one of MAHLI's two groups of white LED pairs. This allowed surface features to cast shadows and provide textural detail.

White-light LED illumination was also used for a nighttime image of MAHLI's calibration target, shown at PIA16713.

Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, developed, built and operates MAHLI and the MAHLI engineering model. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project and the mission's Curiosity rover for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Curiosity and the mission's Vehicle System Test Bed rover were designed and built at JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.