NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has marked its ninth anniversary on the Red Planet, commemorating nearly a decade on its surface to investigate and send data to Earth. By sharing a panoramic snapshot of the Martian surface to its audience, the joy is extended to them.
And, although it appears to be a computer image, it is the beauty of Mars.
NASA Curiosity Rover sends Panoramic Photo of Mars
NASA is commemorating the 9th anniversary of the Curiosity Rover's arrival on Mars, making it the second-longest mission on Mars behind Opportunity's, which lasted an incredible 15 years. The space agency said the rover's anniversary of NASA's Curiosity is unlike any other, as it went on a trek on Mars' "Rafael Navarro Mountain."
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to capture this 360-degree view near “Rafael Navarro Mountain” on July 3, 2021, the 3,167th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Stitched together from 129 individual images, the panorama has been white-balanced so that the colors of the rock materials resemble how they would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. A craggy hump that stretches 450 feet (137 meters) tall, the geologic feature is located on Mount Sharp in northwest Gale Crater.
The scenery is stunning and literally out of this planet. It depicts the brown rock surface and orange glow of Mars' iron-rich atmosphere. The site is noteworthy because it has a unique combination of enhanced clay and salty minerals known as 'sulfates.' NASA explained that the Red Planet is a "clay-bearing unit."
What is more intriguing is that the surface of Mars exhibits indicators or pieces of evidence that it formerly had water and that they were transported from one location to another by water.
Mars used to be a water-rich or "wet" planet, implying that it was previously a livable environment altered by a catastrophe.
Curiosity Rover Hiked to Rafael Navarro Mountain
Curiosity transmitted the photograph over on August 17, and it was received by the orbiting spacecraft. NASA said that Curiosity had a mission on July 3 that examined the Rafael Navarro mountain and merged over 129 pictures into the stated panoramic shot.
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Curiosity's purpose is to learn everything it can about Mars, which is exactly what it has done for the past nine years, from its first landing in 2012.
According to a Science Times report, NASA wants to recreate life on the Red Planet using 3D models on Earth for people to live on Mars.
NASA Mars 2020
Curiosity's nine-year stay on Mars has demonstrated that it has contributed significantly to NASA and human exploration of Mars. The rover has now bored 32 holes on Mars to gather rock samples and examine its components to identify the surface and current elements of Mars.
The rover landed in the Gale Crater in 2012 and spent time exploring the area, especially "Mount Sharp," which has an eight-kilometer trek up its hillside.
Even if NASA continues to rely on wheeled rovers such as Curiosity and the existing Perseverance, you may expect a significant shift in their space exploration strategy in the future.
According to Robothusiast, NASA launched the Breakthrough, Innovative, and Game-Changing (BIG) Idea Challenge. The task is for university students to give fresh ideas on how to construct planetary rovers.
This could mean that new rovers will not use wheels like Curiosity and Perseverance in the future. They will jump, balloon, tumble, float, or even crawl instead.
Curiosity will continue to pique our interest till then.
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