Curiosity rover falling apart

It would appear from this video that this could be a possibility.

The first image you see is the original image from the NASA. I adjusted the levels and colour in the images which follow.

mars.jpl.nasa.gov...


The camera is looking at a rock, below the rock in the image is what appears to be a plastic clip. You can see it has a arrow like end to it. It also has what appears to be teeth on the top edge (right part of the object). The question is....what is it from? If it is from the rover, are NASA aware? If it isnt from the Curiosity rover, then where did it come from?

That is not a rock in my opinion.

Why colorize a black and white image?
Looks like a rock to me. But you know the "chemcam" is a microscope, right?
www.universetoday.com...

If you look very very closely you can see "made in China"

reply to post by Phage


How large is the "rock" shown?

This doesnt look like its been magnified very much.

A section of a spine...alien gray?

Could it be part of the lens caps that came off after landing ? Or a piece of the wind sensor that was damaged from the landing rockets ?

Let's assume it is a "plastic clip" or something similar.
I'm still not sure that equates to "falling apart".

Plus, if you're crafting a vehicle designed to travel from our planet, through space, survive re-entry, land on another planet, cruise around that planet for years taking samples and photographs... and you use a PLASTIC CLIP...?

...you should probably be shot anyway.



edit: watched the video. It's clearly part of the rock with higher reflectivity than the rest. You can see that the edges of the white are "smeared" across the top of the rock... it doesn't have clearly defined edges like an anomalous object would.

reply to post by AmberLeaf

To give you an idea, this is "Coronation", the rock that got zapped with the laser, as seen with the chemcam.

Originally posted by Awen24
Let's assume it is a "plastic clip" or something similar.
I'm still not sure that equates to "falling apart".

Plus, if you're crafting a vehicle designed to travel from our planet, through space, survive re-entry, land on another planet, cruise around that planet for years taking samples and photographs... and you use a PLASTIC CLIP...?

...you should probably be shot anyway.

Unless the "plastic clip" was used because it was intended to come off to release something after landing. Maybe a communications antenna, maybe to lock a camera in place until it was meant to move or a thousand other possibilities.

i am thinking i have to go with the reflective rock position.
it seems to me that it would take a pretty good stretch of the imagination to say it is something else.
but, as always, i do enjoy the/any pics from mars.

Martian rock under a microscope.



What Will ChemCam Tell Us?

reply to post by Holosapien

That image is not from Curiosity. It is from Opportunity.

Well, that's one giant leap for mankind! The transgression of would be often be seen as a Mars anomaly for the tenuous shape, is now considered something that fell off the rover, and no mention of what it could be. Full marks for ingenuity though. There is no meat on the table, computer highlighting in the video only makes for more ambiguity. The OP title has no creedence, even if a wheel fell off that would be be something, but still not falling apart.

reply to post by Phage


Should have noted that. Thanks.

Looks like to shards of pebbles leaning against each other reflecting the sun. I don't see a clip at all or anything that looks like its not a rock or pebble. Sorry.

Even if it is a small piece, that doesn't equate to "Curiosity is falling apart." have you looked at the overhead images of the landing site? The vehicle littered the Martian landscape with pieces and parts during entry, descent and landing. The heat shield, backshell, parachute, and skycrane are just the largest items. There is undoubtedly a lot of smaller debris, as well.

Every probe to land on Mars has added detritus to the landscape. The first action of the Viking 1 lander in 1976 was to extend its robot arm, and toss a beer-can-shaped cover off its sampler claw onto the ground.

(It makes you think. If extraterrestrials are visiting Earth, where is their litter?)

It's very doubtful that's anything from the rover. The camera was imaging an area that was blasted by the descent thrusters, which was 5-6 meters away from the rover. Here I've circled the area being imaged as taken from the MastCam and inset the ChemCam view:



The field of view at that range is about 11.5 cm, so the "item" is just under 1 cm long.

Here is the original MastCam image I used: mars.jpl.nasa.gov...