Curiosity marches on
Click for original image.
The science team for the Mars rover Curiosity has been moving the rover as fast as it can in order to get to the intriguing boxwork geology about a half mile to the west and slightly higher on Mount Sharp.
The image to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken today by the rover’s left navigation camera, and looks downhill to the north from within the parallel canyon Curiosity entered earlier this week. Because the Martian atmosphere was especially clear at the time, the mountains that form the rim of Gale Crater are quite distinct, 20 to 30 miles away. The view down the canyon also provides a vista of the crater’s floor, more than 3,000 feet below.
In the past two Martian days the science team has had the rover climb uphill a total of 364 feet, a remarkably fast pace considering the rocky nature of the terrain. It appears the engineers have done a spectacular job refining the rover’s software so that it is possible for it to pick its way autonomously through this minefield of rocks, and do so without subjecting its already damaged wheels to more damage.
Click for interactive map.
The blue dot on the overview map to the right marks the position. The yellow lines indicate the area covered by the picture above. The red dotted lines indicates the original planned route, now abandoned. The green dotted line is my guess as to the route the rover will take to get to the boxwork and then beyond.
Based on the present pace, Curiosity should reach the nearest boxwork features within a week. Though the science team has not said how much time they will spend studying this geology, expect them to remain there for at least three months, especially as there are several different patches of boxwork to explore. If they decide to drill a core and do some analysis, expect that time to be twice as long.
Beyond that the route up the mountain in this particular canyon appears largely clear. The views as Curiosity climbs should thus become even more spectacular as it gains more altitude.
Getting to the peak of Mount Sharp however is still going to take years. Even though Curiosity has climbed more than 3,000 feet, the peak remains more than 15,000 feet higher up, and more than 25 miles away.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
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Click for original image.
The science team for the Mars rover Curiosity has been moving the rover as fast as it can in order to get to the intriguing boxwork geology about a half mile to the west and slightly higher on Mount Sharp.
The image to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken today by the rover’s left navigation camera, and looks downhill to the north from within the parallel canyon Curiosity entered earlier this week. Because the Martian atmosphere was especially clear at the time, the mountains that form the rim of Gale Crater are quite distinct, 20 to 30 miles away. The view down the canyon also provides a vista of the crater’s floor, more than 3,000 feet below.
In the past two Martian days the science team has had the rover climb uphill a total of 364 feet, a remarkably fast pace considering the rocky nature of the terrain. It appears the engineers have done a spectacular job refining the rover’s software so that it is possible for it to pick its way autonomously through this minefield of rocks, and do so without subjecting its already damaged wheels to more damage.
Click for interactive map.
The blue dot on the overview map to the right marks the position. The yellow lines indicate the area covered by the picture above. The red dotted lines indicates the original planned route, now abandoned. The green dotted line is my guess as to the route the rover will take to get to the boxwork and then beyond.
Based on the present pace, Curiosity should reach the nearest boxwork features within a week. Though the science team has not said how much time they will spend studying this geology, expect them to remain there for at least three months, especially as there are several different patches of boxwork to explore. If they decide to drill a core and do some analysis, expect that time to be twice as long.
Beyond that the route up the mountain in this particular canyon appears largely clear. The views as Curiosity climbs should thus become even more spectacular as it gains more altitude.
Getting to the peak of Mount Sharp however is still going to take years. Even though Curiosity has climbed more than 3,000 feet, the peak remains more than 15,000 feet higher up, and more than 25 miles away.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Good hiking spot.
Very interesting article in Science about how nearly pure samples of the iron carbonate (FeCO2) mineral siderite have been detected by Curiosity at several locations along its recent track. Now, non-iron carbonate (Mg, et al.) have been found previously, but as they say: “These properties have been interpreted as indicating that the dominant mode of carbonate mineral formation on Mars is direct, possibly hydrothermal, replacement of basaltic minerals rather than sedimentary processes.”
Given the new evidence however, “The abundance and composition of the carbonates in the drill samples indicates a sedimentary pathway for carbonate formation and preservation on Mars. Siderite has been theoretically predicted to be a primary, early-forming sedimentary mineral on Mars.”
Moreover, as the Editor’s Summary at the beginning points out, “If there are similar abundances of carbonate in other sulfate-rich layers across Mars, then those layers may contain a substantial reservoir of carbon dioxide extracted from the atmosphere. The carbonates found by the authors have partially decomposed, returning some carbon dioxide to the atmosphere: an ancient carbon cycle.”
Excuse me, siderite is FeCO3.