Descent Camera Portrait of Principal Investigator

The Mars Descent Imager for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory took this image in October 2008. The image was taken after the camera was first installed onto the mission's rover Curiosity inside a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The principal investigator for the instrument, Michael Malin of Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., lay on the floor beneath the rover for this image.