PIA22213: Stick-Shape, Rice-Size Features on Martian Rock "Haroldswick"


Stick-Shape, Rice-Size Features on Martian Rock “Haroldswick”

Caption:

The dark, stick-shaped features clustered on this Martian rock are about the size of grains of rice. This is a focus-merged view from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. It covers an area about 2 inches (5 centimeters) across.

The focus-merged product was generated autonomously by MAHLI combining the in-focus portions of a few separate images taken at different focus settings on Jan. 1, 2018, during the 1,922nd Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. This rock target, called "Haroldswick," is near the southern, uphill edge of "Vera Rubin Ridge" on lower Mount Sharp.

The origin of the stick-shaped features is uncertain. One possibility is that they are erosion-resistant bits of dark material from mineral veins cutting through rocks in this area.

Background Info:

MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover.

More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ .

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Mars
System
Target Type Planet
Mission Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)
Instrument Host Curiosity Rover
Host Type Rover
Instrument Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI)
Detector
Extra Keywords Color
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2018-02-08
Date in Caption 2018-01-01
Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22213
Identifier PIA22213