APPLIED IMAGE inc is pleased to be a part of the “NASA Mars Science Laboratory” mission which is now streaming towards the planet Mars and expected to arrive around August 5th, 2012. On board the spacecraft is a new more sophisticated Mars rover named “Curiosity”. The rover Curiosity is designed to land on Mars, drive over various Martian terrains, gather and analyze samples along the way, and also collect other important data. One of the objectives of the mission is to determine if Mars has, or has ever had, the conditions necessary to support life.
“This is very exciting for us at APPLIED IMAGE” said CEO Bruno Glavich. “We are the manufacturer of the critical calibration target that is on board the Curiosity. All the credit goes to our team who did a terrific job in making sure that the test target keeps the cameras and imaging systems working to their optimal capabilities. The target itself is an imbedded device and will remain forever on the planet Mars with the rover. “We can now say that we are not only #1 in the world with our imaging standards, but also that our imaging standards are truly out of this world.”
This one-of-a-kind, mission critical imaging calibration device — called the ‘Mars Hand Lens Imager (MALHI) calibration target’ — was manufactured by APPLIED IMAGE to precise NASA specifications necessary to withstand the harsh Martian environment, while providing precise IMAGING systems calibration during the service life of the Curiosity rover.
More information on the MALHI system can be seen on the following link:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1204
General information on the Mars mission is available at: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/