NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Takes Selfie With ‘Mont Mercou’ NASA’s Mars Exploration Program – NASA Mars Exploration

Curiosity's Selfie at Mont Mercou: The panorama is made up of 60 images from the MAHLI camera on the rovers robotic arm along with 11 images from the Mastcam on the mast, or head, of the rover. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Full image and caption

The rover also snapped a pair of panoramas to create a 3D view of the stark cliff face featured in the selfie.

At the start of March, NASAs Curiosity Mars rover began approaching an impressive rock formation that scientists dubbed Mont Mercou, a nickname taken from a mountain in France. Standing about 20 feet (6 meters) tall, the outcrop is captured in all its majesty in a new selfie, as well as in a pair of panoramas that offer a 3D view. The selfie shows Curiosity in front of Mont Mercou with a new drill hole nearby at a rock sample nicknamed Nontron the missions 30th sample to date.

Curiositys drill powderized the sample before trickling it into instruments inside the rover so the science team could get a better understanding of the rocks composition and what clues it might offer about Mars past. This area is at the transition between the clay-bearing unit Curiosity is departing and the sulfate-bearing unit thats ahead on Mount Sharp, the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain that the rover has been rolling up since 2014. Scientists have long thought this transition might reveal what happened to Mars as it became the desert planet we see today.

Frances Mont Mercou is located near the village of Nontron in the southeast of the country. The team chose Nontron-related nicknames for this part of the Red Planet because Mars orbiters detected nontronite, a type of clay mineral found close to Nontron, in the region. Surface missions assign nicknames to landmarks to provide the missions team members a common way to refer to rocks, soils, and other geologic features of interest.

The selfie is composed of 60 images taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the rovers robotic arm on March 26, 2021, the 3,070th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. These were combined with 11 images taken by the Mastcam on the mast, or head, of the rover on March 16, 2021, the 3,060th Martian day of the mission.

Curiosity's 3D View of Mont 'Mercou': NASAs Curiosity Mars rover used its Mastcam instrument to take the 32 individual images that make up this panorama of the outcrop nicknamed Mont Mercou. It took a second panorama to create a stereoscopic view. Both panoramas were taken on March 4, 2021, the 3,049th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Full image and caption

Curiosity also provided a pair of panoramas using its Mastcam on March 4, 2021, the 3,049th Martian day of the mission. By shooting one panorama from about 130 feet (40 meters) away from the outcrop, then rolling to the side and shooting another from the same distance, the rover created a stereoscopic effect similar to those seen in 3D viewfinders. Studying the outcrop from more than one angle helps scientists get a better idea of the 3D geometry of Mount Mercous sedimentary layers. An anaglyph of the image can be viewed through red-blue glasses, which you can learn to make here.

Curiosity's 360-Degree View Approaching 'Mont Mercou': NASAs Curiosity Mars rover used its Mastcam instrument to take the 126 individual images that make up this 360-degree panorama on March 3, 2021, the 3,048th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Full image and caption

In addition to the stereo view and the selfie, Curiosity took a 360-degree panorama of Mont Mercou and its surroundings with its Mastcam.

For more about Curiosity, visit:

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/

For more about NASAs Mars program, visit:

https://mars.nasa.gov

News Media Contacts

Andrew GoodJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-393-2433andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov

Alana Johnson / Grey HautaluomaNASA Headquarters, Washington202-672-4780 / 202-358-0668alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov / grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov

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NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Takes Selfie With 'Mont Mercou' NASA's Mars Exploration Program - NASA Mars Exploration