
Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) is one of seventeen cameras on the
''Curiosity'' rover on the
Mars Science Laboratory
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic spacecraft, robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed ''Curiosity (rover), Curiosity'', a Mars rover, in Gale (crater), Gale Crater on Augus ...
mission.
Overview
The instrument is mounted on the rover's robotic arm. It is primarily used to acquire microscopic images of rock and soil, but it can also be used for other images. MAHLI can take true-color images at 1600×1200
pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...
s with a resolution as high as 14.5
micrometers
The micrometre (Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a unit of length in the International System ...
per pixel. MAHLI has an 18.3 mm to 21.3 mm focal length and a 33.8- to 38.5-degree field of view.
MAHLI has both white and ultraviolet
LED
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...
illumination for imaging in darkness or
fluorescence
Fluorescence is one of two kinds of photoluminescence, the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. When exposed to ultraviolet radiation, many substances will glow (fluoresce) with colore ...
imaging. MAHLI also has mechanical focusing in a range from infinite to millimetre distances.
This system can make some images with
focus stacking
Focus stackingalso called focal plane merging, z-stacking, focus bracketing or focus blendingis a digital image processing technique which combines multiple images taken at different Focus (optics), focus distances to give a resulting image with ...
processing.
MAHLI can store either the raw images or do real-time lossless predictive or JPEG compression.
Th
calibration target3-D image for MAHLI includes color references, a metric bar graphic, a 1909
VDB Lincoln penny, and a stairstep pattern for depth calibration.
NASA says, "The main purpose of ''Curiosity''s MAHLI camera is to acquire close-up, high-resolution views of rocks and soil at the rover's Gale Crater field site. The camera is capable of focusing on any target at distances of about 0.8 inch (2.1 centimeters) to infinity. This means it can, as shown here, also obtain pictures of the Martian landscape."
The device is also used to take photos of the rover. One of those photos was considered in 2013 by ''
Discovery News'' as one of the best
space robot selfies.
References
External links
MAHLIfrom NASA
''Curiosity''s Landscape Portrait in Contextfrom NASA
{{Mars
Mars imagers
Mars Science Laboratory instruments