14 DAY TRIAL // Experts at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, California, say that the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity is carrying an unusual calibration target for one of its cameras – a coin attached to a plaque the size of a standard smartphone.
The object will primarily be used for calibrating the camera on the machine's robotic arm. Several color chips are also attached to the same plaque, in addition to the coin. The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) is primarily meant to snap close-up photos of various targets on the Red Planet.
It is an absolutely exquisite instrument, which researchers will need to set up properly in order to take advantage of. The grid lines the tool will use when snapping close-up photos will be finer than a human hair, which means that the calibration equipment needs to be up to the task.
If done properly, the MAHLI calibration should enable the MSL to observe Martian rocks and soils with unprecedented levels of accuracy. Additionally, the camera will be able to focus on any object located more than 3-5 centimeters (1-2 inches) in front of it.
Having MAHLI – plus all other 10 scientific instruments, 4 science cameras and 12 engineering cameras aboard the rover – perform flawlessly will be key towards enabling Curiosity to determine whether Mars was ever capable of supporting life or not.
The reason why the close-up camera needs a small object is for reference. In the field, geologists commonly use other people, hammers, coins and whatever else they have around as points of reference when imaging something, so that the viewer can get a sense of scale when seeing the photo.
“When a geologist takes pictures of rock outcrops she is studying, she wants an object of known scale in the photographs,” says Ken Edgett, the principal investigator for the MAHLI instrument. He is based at the San Diego, California-based Malin Space Science Systems, which built the camera for NASA.
“If it is a whole cliff face, she'll ask a person to stand in the shot. If it is a view from a meter or so away, she might use a rock hammer. If it is a close-up, as the MAHLI can take, she might pull something small out of her pocket. Like a penny,” the expert adds.
MSL launched on November 26, 2011, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), in Florida, and is expected to reach the Red Planet by August. Curiosity is scheduled to land inside Gale Crater, using the innovative Sky Crane deployment system.