Curiosity's belly

MAHLI is finally delivering the promised goods in the form of spectacular images of the rover's belly and some shots of the instrument's unique calibration panel.

Curiosity's belly (NASA/JPL/MSSS/mosaic by me)

The camera is obviously working perfectly. This is a 2 megapixel colour camera with macrolens and autofocus capability (something never had for previous such imagers on the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity) with LED complement. Here is an animation demonstrating the capabilities of the camera's focusing mechanisms.

Testing depth using the calibration panel as a target. (NASA/JPL/MSSS)

Below is the same view rightened up and which combines on-focus portions of the shots used above (exemplifying the usefulness of adjustable focusing).

NASA/JPL/MSSS

The panel has a colour reference, ruler gradations, a stair-step pattern for depth calibration (like the letter chart used by your local optician) and a 1909 VDB (the artist's initials) Lincoln penny, a nod to the usual visual aid used by geologists to provide a scale reference when taking photographs of rocks (sometimes they use themselves or a rock hammer depending on the scale of their subject). It's all dusty because of the plume of dust that was thrown up during landing. Cool!

Stay tuned folks!