Birds on the Brain

On Friday, JPL reported that an examination of the mass of data Curiosity had sent home regarding its elaborate landing sequence showed that the photo did capture the craft crashing into the surface. The spacecraft that had deposited the rover on Mars took about 20 seconds to arc across the sky and crash at about 100 mph. The photo was taken about 40 seconds after landing, but it appears that the tremendous impact sent up a cascade of Martian soil that was still hanging in the air when Curiosity snapped the photo. That could be due in part to the fact that Mars’ gravity is 38% as strong as that on Earth. Many had dismissed the plume as dirt on the camera lens, but engineers pointed out that the initial photo was taken in stereo, with two side-by-side lenses. Both images picked up the same blotch. That eliminated the possibility that the lens was simply dirty, and confirmed, Sell said, that “the artifact was real.” (via Confirmed: Mars rover Curiosity took photo of craft crash-landing - latimes.com)