NASA's Curiosity Mars rover had another breakthrough discovery on the Red Planet. The robotic land vehicle got some active samples of sand dunes on Mount Sharp that will finish their analysis on those dunes. So, what latest findings did the US space agency have gathered on its Mars mission?
For the past years, the US space agency has been focusing their studies on Mars, Earth's neighboring planet. Scientists and space experts believed that the Red Planet is the best option for space studies as it was the nearest planet on Earth. And one machinery that helping them a lot is NASA's Curiosity Mars rover.
Arrived in Gale Crater on Mars on August 6, 2012, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover mission is to determine whether the Red Planet could support human life, discover a body of water and study the climate and geology of the said planet. The rover will be the basis of the next Mars 2020 rover and now have made another breakthrough discovery on Mount Sharp.
According to NASA, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover have completed taking a sample of appears to be active sand dunes on Mars' Mount Sharp. Since last February, the rover has tested four sites within the linear dunes of the said mountain for comparison on the previously taken samples in 2015 and 2016.
The examination is part of the investigation of the crescent-shaped dunes that appears to be an active dune other than Earth. Now, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover samples will help scientists' further studies on the drier condition of dunes if it is auspicious for life presence.
On a separate report by The Space Reporter, both the crescent dunes and the linear dunes are part of a large region in the northwestern side of Mount Sharp that the NASA's Curiosity Mars rover have been studying since 2014. The whole area is covered with dark sand and scientists are hoping that the study will also answer the question how the wind are shaping the sand dunes.
The mission also intends to understand if the winds play the role of distributing the minerals in the area. Sand samples that came from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover will undergo for analysis by the rover's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) and the Chemistry and Mineralogy instruments.
