The ChemCam Remote Micro-Imager on MSL: Observations From the First Year on Mars

The Remote Microscopic Imager (RMI) portion of the ChemCam instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory 'Curiosity' rover acquires panchromatic images with a 1024x1024 pixel CCD. The main objective of the RMI is to provide geomorphologic context of the ChemCam Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) analyses, locate the laser pits, and document the changes induced by the laser shots on the targets. Thanks to its very narrow pixel angular size of 20 microrad, RMI by itself adds a significant scientific value to the study of soils and rocks by revealing their fine texture and morphology, and can also occasionally serve as a reconnaissance tool for distant targets as the rover drives along. During the first year of operations on Mars, the RMI has been used in a variety of situations, providing more than 1000 images of rover hardware, soils and rock targets located at distances ranging from 1.2 meters up to several kilometers from the camera. Several types of products have been derived from these raw data. These include mosaics of images taken before and after the LIBS shots, difference images to identify the most subtle laser pits on hard rocks, merges with the color information acquired by the Mastcam cameras, and micro-topographic information from focal sections, also known as the z-stack technique. Further applications are also under investigation, such as night sky imaging or stereogrammetry using RMI and Mastcam 100 images. The RMI has the highest spatial resolution of the cameras on MSL's remote sensing mast, and is therefore very useful, along with Curiosity's other imaging instruments, in deciphering the history of rocks and soils at Gale crater.