The entire story of the Curiosity rover’s travels are on spectacular display in this new picture from Martian orbit by the HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Since it landed in August, NASA’s awesome rover has traversed about half a kilometer from its landing site. Along the way, it has scooped dirt, shot its laser beam, and snapped hundreds of amazing pictures. The above image shows the path that Curiosity has taken during its travels, along with a few points of interest.
At the far left is a dark burn scar from the rover’s descent rockets, an area that has been nicknamed Bradbury Landing after author Ray Bradbury. Traveling right, Curiosity crossed onto a type of rock that holds heat very well despite being relatively light in color, a mystery that the rover team hopes to help solve. A sharp downward point is the first stopping place, where Curiosity shot laser beams and X-rays at a rock nicknamed “Jake Matijevic,” discovering that it was a type of rock never before seen on Mars.
The rover traveled straight for a while then reached an area called Glenelg (the sloped, curvy tracks right of center), where it scooped and analyzed some Martian dust, causing several hooplas. First, it discovered some odd bright material that turned out to be fallen plastic, and then later the chief scientist for the mission, John Grotzinger, casually mentioned that Curiosity had some “historic” news. The finding ended up being a routine soil analysis with some simple organics but showed just how high expectations are for future discoveries on Mars.
The rover is now in an area called Yellowknife Bay, which can clearly be seen as slightly down slope of the the plateau that Curiosity had been traveling over. This allows the rover to get down into the earlier history of Mars and it has already found a complex past, with water washing over this area many times. Soon, Curiosity will employ its small drill to break into the rocks in Yellowknife Bay and discern their composition and secrets. At left is a close-up of the rover in its present position, where you can make out its tracks, wheels, and body.
Images: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Adam is a Wired reporter and freelance journalist. He lives in Oakland, Ca near a lake and enjoys space, physics, and other sciency things.
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Track Curiosity Rover's Entire Mission With This Incredible Image From Space
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Track Curiosity Rover's Entire Mission With This Incredible Image From Space
