Camera on Curiosity's Arm as Seen by Camera on Mast . photonado

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Camera on Curiosity's Arm as Seen by Camera on Mast

The left eye of the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took this image of the camera on the rover's arm, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), during the 30th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Sept. 5, 2012). MAHLI is one of the tools on a turret at the end of the rover's robotic arm. When this image was taken, the arm had raised the turret to about the same height as the camera on the mast. The Mastcam's left eye has a 34-millimeter focal length lens. The image shows that MAHLI has a thin film or coating of Martian dust on it. This dust accumulated during Curiosity's final descent to the Martian surface, as the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's descent stage (or sky crane) engines were disrupting the surface nearby. Effects of the dust were seen in the first image taken of Mars by MAHLI, on the day after landing (

Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Image released by NASA on 2012-09-06 as catalog id PIA15699