# Why did Curiosity hover?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-curiosity-hover/630659>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 6, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-curiosity-hover/630659 "2012-08-06T21:25:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-curiosity-hover/630659/21 "2012-08-13T03:13:38Z")

</div>

> [@AndrewL](#):
>
> The camera mast is located at the front-right corner of the rover. If you look straight down on the panorama, you can see that the stitching is a bit off around where the mast is supposed to be mounted. Looks like they stitched the images together not quite taking into account that there’s a region of the top of the rover the mast can’t quite see.

OK, I see it.  
They just took the area around the mast and stitched it together. It’s _really_ hard to notice, but it’s clear that the deck of the lander is cut off in the corner.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-curiosity-hover/630659/22 "2012-08-13T03:34:37Z")

</div>

It’s in a studio in Burbank.  
😃

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-curiosity-hover/630659/23 "2012-08-13T03:38:33Z")

</div>

> [@BMalion](#):
>
> It’s in a studio in Burbank.  
> 😃

Well, there is a full scale mock-up somewhere, isn’t there? Can come in handy.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-curiosity-hover/630659/24 "2012-08-13T04:18:28Z")

</div>

What’s the blurry black rectangle?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-curiosity-hover/630659/25 "2012-08-13T14:46:47Z")

</div>

> [@Sunspace](#):
>
> What’s the blurry black rectangle?

It looks like the panorama pf photos they stitched together missed a spot.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-curiosity-hover/630659.md?page=1)