Mars New Foto - Mastcam-Z’s View of ’Pinestand’ (Enhanced Color)

May 11, 2023, Published on the NASA website. NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover captured this mosaic of an isolated hill nicknamed “Pinestand.” Scientists think sedimentary layers stacked on top of one another here could have been formed by a deep, fast-moving river. But uncertainty about their formation remains because the layers are exceptionally tall by Earth geology standards to have been created by a river – some standing 66 feet (20 meters) high. The mosaic was captured by Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z camera on Feb. 26, 2023, the 718th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The mosaic was stitched together from 18 individual Mastcam-Z images after they were sent back to Earth. This natural color view is approximately how the scene would appear to an average person if they were on Mars. Arizona State University leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, on the design, fabrication, testing, and operation of the cameras,