Universe Today
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 See Dune and Wheel mosaics below - Story updated [/caption]
The team directing the epic trek of NASA's
Curiosity rover
across the floor of Gale Crater has adopted new driving strategies and a new way forward in response to the unexpected
wheel damage
caused by driving over fields of rough edged
Red Planet
rocks in recent months.
This week, engineers directed dune buggy
Curiosity
to drive backwards for a lengthy distance over the
Martian
surface for the first time since landing.
The SUV sized vehicle apparently passed the reverse driving feasibility test with flying colors and is now well on the way to the exciting journey ahead aiming for
the sedimentary layers at the base of towering Mount Sharp - the primary mission destination - which reaches 3.4 miles (5.5 km) into the Martian sky and possesses water altered minerals.
"We wanted to have backwards driving in our validated toolkit because there will be parts of our route that will be more challenging," said Curiosity Project Manager Jim Erickson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif, in a statement.
On Tuesday, Feb. 18, Curiosity not only drove in reverse, but the 329 feet (100.3 meters) distance covered marked her farthest one-day advance in over three months.
And she is also now roving over the much sought after smoother
Martian terrain
, as hoped, when the team decided to alter the traverse route based on high resolution imaging observations collected by the telescopic camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
circling overhead
.
The goal is to minimize wear and tear on the 20 inch diameter wheels.
[caption id="attachment_109599" align="aligncenter" width="580"]
This map shows the route driven and route planned for NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from before reaching "Dingo Gap" -- in upper right -- to the mission's next science waypoint, "Kimberley" (formerly referred to as "KMS-9") -- in lower left. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona[/caption]
Engineers were forced to devise new driving techniques and consider a new route forward after the aluminum wheels accumulated significant
punctures and rips
during the past few months of driving over fields strewn with sharp edged Martian rocks.
"We have changed our focus to look at the big picture for getting to the slopes of Mount Sharp, assessing different potential routes and different entry points to the destination area," Erickson said.
"No route will be perfect; we need to figure out the best of the imperfect ones."
But to reach the smooth terrain and the science rich targets located on the pathway ahead, the six wheeled rover first had to pass through a gateway known as the 'Dingo Gap' sand dune.
[caption id="attachment_108902" align="aligncenter" 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]
"Moonlight Valley" is the name of the breathtaking new locale beyond Dingo, Curiosity Principal Investigator John Grotzinger, of Caltech, told Universe Today.
Curiosity
crossed through the 3 foot (1 meter) tall Dingo Gap sand dune with ease on Feb. 9 and roved on to targets in the "Moonlight Valley" and the region beyond.
"Moonlight Valley has got lots of veins cutting through it," Grotzinger told me.
"We're seeing recessive bedrock."
[caption id="attachment_109185" align="aligncenter" width="580"]
Curiosity scans Moonlight Valley beyond Dingo Gap Dune. Curiosity's view to "Moonlight Valley" beyond after crossing over 'Dingo Gap' sand dune. This photomosaic was taken after Curiosity drove over the 1 meter tall Dingo Gap sand dune and shows dramatic scenery in the valley beyond, back dropped by eroded rim of Gale Crater. Assembled from navigation camera (navcam) raw images from Sol 535 (Feb. 6, 2104) Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ken Kremer- kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo[/caption]
Since passing through the Dingo Gap gateway, Curiosity has traveled another 937 feet (285.5 meters) for a total mission odometry of 3.24 miles (5.21 kilometers) since the nail biting landing on Aug. 6, 2012.
"After we got over the dune, we began driving in terrain that looks like what we expected based on the orbital data. There are fewer sharp rocks, many of them are loose, and in most places there's a little bit of sand cushioning the vehicle," Erickson said.
[caption id="attachment_109641" align="aligncenter" width="547"]
Curiosity looks back to 'Dingo Gap' sand dune after crossing over, backdropped by Mount Sharp on Sol 540, Feb. 12, 2014. Rear hazcam fisheye image linearized and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer- kenkremer.com [/caption]
Curiosity's
near term goal is to reach her next science waypoint, named Kimberly (formerly called KMS-9) which lies about two-thirds of a mile (about 1.1 kilometers) ahead.
Kimberly is of interest to the science team because it sits at an the intersection of different rock layers.
The 1 ton robot may be directed to drill into another rock at Kimberly.
If approved, Kimberly would be her first since drilling operation since boring into Cumberland rock target last spring and since departing the Yellowknife Bay region in July 2013 where she discovered
a habitable zone
.
[caption id="attachment_109172" align="aligncenter" width="497"]
Curiosity looks back to 'Dingo Gap' sand dune after crossing over, backdropped by Mount Sharp on Sol 535, Feb. 5, 2014. Hazcam fisheye image linearized and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer- kenkremer[/caption]
To date Curiosity's odometer stands at 5.2 kilometers and she has taken over 118,000 images. The robot has about another 5 km to go to reach the foothills of Mount Sharp.
Meanwhile, NASA's sister
Opportunity
rover was just
imaged from orbit
by MRO while 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
.
And 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, SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, LADEE, MAVEN, MOM, Mars and more planetary and human spaceflight news.
Ken Kremer
[caption id="attachment_108877" align="aligncenter" 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 [/caption]