Universe Today
Mars rock rows and Spectacular Mount Sharp Martian landscape scene with rows of striated rocks in the foreground and spectacular Mount Sharp on the horizon. NASA's Curiosity Mars rover paused mid drive at the Junda outcrop to snap the component images for this colorized navcam camera photomosaic on Sol 548 (Feb. 19, 2014) and then continued traveling southwards towards mountain base. UHF Antenna at right. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer-kenkremer.com See stereo 3-D and look back views below[/caption]
Like any good tourist, NASA's
rover Curiosity
apparently couldn't resist the photobug urge from a gorgeous
Martian mountain
scene she happened by recently and decided to pull over and enjoy the view.
So she stopped
the dune buggy
mid-drive on the sandy road to her daily destination one Sol last week on Feb. 19, powered up the camera suite and excitedly snapped a spectacular landscape view of a striated rock field dramatically back dropped by towering Mount Sharp on the horizon.
See our Mars rocks and Mount Sharp photomosaic above and a 3-D stereoscopic view from NASA below.
The sedimentary foothills of Mount Sharp, which
reaches 3.4 miles (5.5 km) into the
Martian
sky, is the 1 ton
robots
ultimate destination inside Gale Crater because it holds caches of water altered minerals.
[caption id="attachment_109892" align="alignleft" width="580"]
Martian Landscape With Rock Rows and Mount Sharp (Stereo) This stereo landscape scene from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Feb. 19, 2014 shows rows of rocks in the foreground and Mount Sharp on the horizon. It appears three dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses with the red lens on the left. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech[/caption]
And just for good measure,
Curiosity
also snapped a series of breathtaking look back photos showing her tracks in the dune filled terrain from whence she came since straddling through the
Dingo Gap
gateway. See our mosaics below.
The panoramic mountain view taken on Sol 548 shows rows of striated rocks all oriented in a similar direction in the foreground with Mount Sharp in the background.
[caption id="attachment_109913" align="alignleft" width="523"]
Curiosity looks back across dune field to her wheel tracks and a small crater she just missed. Flattened rear hazcam image, colorized from Sol 555 (Feb 27, 2014). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer-kenkremer.com[/caption]
Scientists directed Curiosity to drive by the rock rows nicknamed "Junda" after their interest was piqued by orbital images taken by the powerful telescopic camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) circling overhead.
The six wheeled rover paused during the planned Feb. 19 drive of 328 feet (100 meters) to capture the imagery.
She then pushed forward to finish the day's drive and snapped another fabulous look back view - see our mosaic below.
And the next day on Feb. 20 (Sol 549), she also completed her second 100 meter drive in reverse.
Her handlers are occasionally commanding Curiosity to drive backwards in a newly tested bid to minimize
serious damage
to the six 20 inch diameter wheels in the form of rips and tears caused by rough edged
Red Planet
rocks - see our wheel mosaic below.
[caption id="attachment_109917" align="alignleft" width="580"]
Curiosity looks back at Martian sand dunes and rover tracks after passing by Junda outcrop (right) on Sol 548 (Feb. 19, 2014) with Gale Crater rim and Mount Sharp on the distant horizon. Navcam colorized photomosaic. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ken Kremer- kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo [/caption]
Curiosity is well on the way to her next near term goal, which is a science waypoint, named Kimberly (formerly called KMS-9), which lies about half a mile ahead.
Kimberly is of interest to the science team because it sits at an the intersection of different rock layers and also features ground with striations like those at "Junda".
[caption id="attachment_109600" align="alignleft" width="580"]
Curiosity looks back eastward to 'Dingo Gap' sand dune inside Gale Crater. After crossing over the 3 foot (1 meter) tall dune on Sol 539, Feb. 9, 2014 the rover drove westward into the 'Moonlight Valley'. The parallel rover wheel tracks are 9 feet (2.7 meters) apart. Assembled from Sol 539 colorized navcam raw images. Credit: NASA/JPL/ Ken Kremer- kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo[/caption]
So, after the rover reaches Kimberly, researchers plan to temporarily halt driving for awhile to investigate the location and direct the robot to drill into another rock to collect samples for analysis by the two state- of-the -art chemistry labs.
If drilling is warranted, Kimberly would be the site of Curiosity's first drilling operation since the Cumberland outcrop target was bored into during the spring of 2013 at Yellowknife Bay.
Curiosity
departed the Yellowknife Bay region in July 2013 where she discovered a habitable zone and thereby accomplished the primary goal of the mission.
To date Curiosity's odometer stands at 5.3 kilometers and she has taken over 125,000 images.
The
robot
has somewhat less than another 5 km to go to reach the base of Mount Sharp.
She perhaps may arrive sometime in mid 2014.
Arrival time at Mount Sharp depends on driving speed and whether the upcoming terrain is smoother or strewn with sharp edged rocks that have hindered progress due to accumulating wear and tear on the aluminum wheels.
[caption id="attachment_108877" align="alignleft" width="580"]
Up close photomosaic view shows lengthy tear in rover Curiosity's left front wheel caused by recent driving over sharp edged Martian rocks on the months long trek to Mount Sharp. Raw images taken by the MAHLI camera on Curiosity's arm on Jan. 31, 2014 (Sol 529) were assembled to show some recent damage to several of its six wheels Credit: NASA / JPL / MSSS / Marco Di Lorenzo / Ken Kremer- kenkremer.com See below complete 6 wheel mosaic and further wheel mosaics for comparison[/caption]
Meanwhile, NASA's sister
Opportunity rover
is exploring
clay mineral outcrops
by the summit of Solander Point on the opposite side of Mars at the start of her 2nd Decade investigating the
Red Planet's mysteries
.
A pair of
new orbiters are streaking to the Red Planet
to fortify Earth's invasion fleet- NASA's
MAVEN
and India's
MOM
.
Stay tuned here for
Ken's
continuing Curiosity, Opportunity, Chang'e-3, GPM, SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, LADEE, MAVEN, MOM, Mars and more planetary and human spaceflight news. Learn more at Ken's upcoming presentations at the NEAF convention on April 12/13.
Ken Kremer
[caption id="attachment_108902" align="alignleft" width="580"]
Curiosity's View Past Tall Dune at edge of 'Dingo Gap'
This photomosaic from Curiosity's Navigation Camera (Navcam) taken at the edge of the entrance to the Dingo Gap shows a 3 foot (1 meter) tall dune and valley terrain beyond to the west, all dramatically back dropped by eroded rim of Gale Crater. View from the rover's current position on Sol 528 (Jan. 30, 2014). The rover team may decide soon whether Curiosity will bridge the dune gap as a smoother path to next science destination. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer- kenkremer.com[/caption]