Today's APOD: Curiosity on Mars

By Nancy Atkinson - August 27, 2012 11:06 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD)

features a mosaic put together in part by Universe Today's Ken Kremer, along with his imaging partner Marco Di Lorenzo, using images sent back from the Curiosity rover. It shows Curiosity's landing site, Bradbury Landing, with its ultimate destination, Aeolis Mons/Mount Sharp off in the distance. It's a beautiful and crisp image, which show parts of the rover itself -- including the extended robotic arm -- and its shadow on Mars. As the APOD editors Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell say, "If life ever existed on Mars it might well have been here in Gale crater, with the Curiosity rover being humanity's current best chance to find what remains."

Congrats to Ken and Marco for being featured on APOD!

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com