Curiosity's first destination: Glenelg

Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, amateur image processing, Mars, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory)

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A cropped view of a HiRISE image taken 6 days after Curiosity landed includes a "triple junction" of three different rock types. The team named that spot "Glenelg" and planned to make that Curiosity's first driving destination. The rover is visible at far left, surrounded by a dark splash where its landing jets disturbed the dust.

NASA / JPL / UA / Emily Lakdawalla

The image spans 900 by 600 meters and is 50 centimeters per pixel at its full resolution; north is up. Colors have been stretched to increase the contrast among the rock types. The original image may be downloaded here.

Copyright holder: Emily Lakdawalla

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Contact us to request publication permission from the copyright holder. Original image data dated on or about August 12, 2012