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**dhrishiasv** · 08-08-2012, 12:04 PM

Aha. It turns out that Curiosity did take pictures on the way down after all. The last two and half minutes of the "7 minutes of terror", from the time of heat shield separation, are concatenated into 40 seconds here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGMDXy-Y1I

Here's the first frame from the video showing the heat shield just after separation

Detailed descriptions are here: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/wh...ws&NewsID=1291

"The MARDI camera is located on the chassis of the Curiosity rover. Just before the heat shield fell away, MARDI began its imaging task. The images selected for early downlink to Earth were taken at different points in Curiosity's final descent toward the surface. One of the earliest images shows the entry vehicle's heat shield 50 feet (15 meters) and falling away after separating from the vehicle three seconds before. A set of images demonstrates some of the gyrations Curiosity went through while on the parachute. Another remarkable set of images depicts the final moments leading up to landing, where the exhaust from four of the descent stage's 742 pounds of thrust rockets billow up dust from the Martian surface.

"Those MARDI images downlinked so far are low-resolution thumbnails, 192 by 144 pixels. In the months ahead, as communications between rover and Earth become more robust, full-frame images 1,600 by 1,200 pixels in size, are expected to provide the most complete and dramatic imagery of a planetary landing in the history of exploration.

"The mission also released a higher-resolution Hazcam image of their target, the mountain in the middle of Gale Crater informally titled Mount Sharp [see my post above]. The new image, taken by Curiosity's black-and-white Hazard Avoidance Cameras ..."

08-08-2012, 12:04 PM	#77
dhrishiasv Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 501 Senior Member	Aha. It turns out that Curiosity did take pictures on the way down after all. The last two and half minutes of the "7 minutes of terror", from the time of heat shield separation, are concatenated into 40 seconds here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGMDXy-Y1I Here's the first frame from the video showing the heat shield just after separation Detailed descriptions are here: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/wh...ws&NewsID=1291 "The MARDI camera is located on the chassis of the Curiosity rover. Just before the heat shield fell away, MARDI began its imaging task. The images selected for early downlink to Earth were taken at different points in Curiosity's final descent toward the surface. One of the earliest images shows the entry vehicle's heat shield 50 feet (15 meters) and falling away after separating from the vehicle three seconds before. A set of images demonstrates some of the gyrations Curiosity went through while on the parachute. Another remarkable set of images depicts the final moments leading up to landing, where the exhaust from four of the descent stage's 742 pounds of thrust rockets billow up dust from the Martian surface. "Those MARDI images downlinked so far are low-resolution thumbnails, 192 by 144 pixels. In the months ahead, as communications between rover and Earth become more robust, full-frame images 1,600 by 1,200 pixels in size, are expected to provide the most complete and dramatic imagery of a planetary landing in the history of exploration. "The mission also released a higher-resolution Hazcam image of their target, the mountain in the middle of Gale Crater informally titled Mount Sharp [see my post above]. The new image, taken by Curiosity's black-and-white Hazard Avoidance Cameras ..."
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