NASA Mars Rover Curiosity targets unusual rock enroute to first destination

The drive by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity during the mission's 43rd Martian day, or sol, (Sept. 19, 2012) ended with this rock about 8 feet (2.5 meters) in front of the rover. 

The rock is about 10 inches (25 centimeters) tall and 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide. 

The rover team has assessed it as a suitable target for the first use of Curiosity's contact instruments on a rock. 

The image was taken by the left Navigation camera (Navcam) at the end of the drive.

The rock has been named "Jake Matijevic." 

This commemorates Jacob Matijevic (1947-2012), who was the surface operations systems chief engineer for the Mars Science Laboratory Project and the project's Curiosity rover. 

He was also a leading engineer for all of the previous NASA Mars rovers: Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity. Curiosity's contact instruments are on a turret at the end of the rover's arm. 

They are the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer for reading a target's elemental composition and the Mars Hand Lens Imager for close-up imaging. 

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-09-mars-rover-curiosity-unusual-enroute.html#jCp