postcard – SamaGamer

The Mars rover Curiosity delivers fascinating images of the red planet again and again. The latest recordings could easily serve as a photo motif for the first postcard from Mars.

The Mars rover Curiosity always delivers impressive pictures. (Photo: Evgeniyqw / Shutterstock)

The Mars rover Curiosity has been exploring the red planet in our solar system for eleven years. Since 2014 he has focused his attention on Mount Sharp. Here he was able to make numerous discoveries.

Curiosity is currently located in the Marker Band Valley, a valley in the foothills of the 18,000-foot mountain. Here he also came across a dried-up river course that dug through the dark layer of rock.

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The valley offered a picturesque panorama for the rover, which it also captured in several photographs. Using its navigation camera, which takes photos in black and white, Curiosity photographed the view once at around 9:20 a.m. and once at 3:40 p.m. local time. NASA scientists have now colored the images to create a stunning image of the planet that merges the two images together.

Color gives shots a whole new charm

Visible on the horizon in the image is the rim of Gale Crater, a 144-kilometer-wide rock structure where Curiosity landed in 2012. The blue sky is in the morning shot, while the yellow sky is in the afternoon shot. Doug Ellison, an engineer on the Curiosity team, compared this effect to the different atmospheres in national parks at different times of the day in an official statement from NASA.

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The fascinating images of the Curiosity rover are a powerful reminder of the ongoing scientific research that takes place far from our world. They allow us a glimpse of the landscapes of Mars, which continues to represent an exciting and promising voyage of discovery for humanity.

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Two episodes on the same shot

On April 8, 2023, the rover was in the foothills of Mount Sharp, which rises 5 km high in Gale Crater. It faced the Marker Band Valley. He then used his black-and-white navigation cameras to take a snap at 9:20 a.m. and another at 3:40 p.m. local Mars time. Two very different episodes in a Martian day that a NASA team colorized in post-processing. The blue sky is similar to the morning and the dominant orange-yellow to the afternoon.

“Anyone who has been to a National Park knows that the scene is different in the morning and in the afternoon”said Curiosity engineer Doug Ellison, who planned and processed the images. “Capturing two times of day provides dark shadows because the lighting comes from the left and right, like you might have on a stage. But instead of stage lights, we rely on SamaGame”.

The discovery of an ancient lake

NASA had already published a color postcard of black and white photos of the Martian vehicle in November 2021. Again, blue and orange-yellow filters had been used. Note that the shadows are more pronounced in this image, as the panoramas were taken in winter at Gale Crater, when the airborne dust is closer to the surface. “Mars shadows become sharper and deeper when there is little dust and softer when there is a lot of dust”explains Doug Ellison.

The rover was facing Marker Band Valley, a winding area in which the craft made a few discoveries, such as “the unexpected signs of an ancient lake”, comments NASA. In the image, we also see the two hills that are “Bolivar” and “Deepdale” and that the rover has already traveled.