Planetary Society logo
  • “Exploration is in our nature.” - Carl Sagan

Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Test image from Curiosity MARDI containing Ken Edgett

Test image from Curiosity MARDI containing Ken Edgett
Test image from Curiosity MARDI containing Ken Edgett This image was acquired in the Malin Space Science Systems cleanroom during MARDI calibration testing in June 2008. It shows the MARDI Deputy Principal Investigator, Ken Edgett, holding a six-foot metal ruler that was used as a depth of field test target. NASA / JPL / MSSS

The other hand holding the ruler, on the right, is that of the MARDI Principal Investigator, Michael Malin. The MARDI is focused at 7 m, so that everything between about 2 meters and infinity are in focus. This image shows a slightly out-of-focus rock (a rounded cobble of Icelandic basalt with milimeter-scale crystals and vesicles) at a distance of about 70 cm, 2.3 feet), equivalent to the distance MARDI will be from the ground after the rover has landed.