NASA’s Curiosity Rover Sent Pictures Of Mars’s Rock Formations and They are Amazing!

Admin 12-Sep-2016 12:32:53 Inothernews

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Sent Pictures Of Mars’s Rock Formations and They are Amazing!


NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has beamed back new colour images capturing the layered geologic past of the red planet in stunning detail. Mars rover Curiosity is currently exploring the "Murray Buttes" region of lower Mount Sharp. The new images arguably rival photos taken in US National Parks, NASA said. Curiosity took the images with its Mast Camera (Mastcam) on September 8. The rover team plans to assemble several large, colour mosaics from the multitude of images taken at this location in the near future.



"Curiosity's science team has been just thrilled to go on this road trip through a bit of the American desert Southwest on Mars," said Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

The Martian buttes and mesas rising above the surface are eroded remnants of ancient sandstone that originated when winds deposited sand after lower Mount Sharp had formed.

"Studying these buttes up close has given us a better understanding of ancient sand dunes that formed and were buried, chemically changed by groundwater, exhumed and eroded to form the landscape that we see today," Vasavada said.

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The new images represent Curiosity's last stop in the Murray Buttes, where the rover has been driving for just over one month.

Curiosity has exited these buttes towards the south, driving up to the base of the final butte on its way out. In this location, the rover began its latest drilling campaign. After this drilling is completed, Curiosity will continue farther south and higher up Mount Sharp, leaving behind these spectacular formations.

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