Curiosity climbs into a new Martian canyon
Click image for full resolution panorama. Click here, here, and here for original images.
Click for interactive map.
Cool image time! The Curiosity science team has finally completed the rover’s climb up one canyon on the flanks of Mount Sharp and crossed over into a second, switch-backing up through a gap they have dubbed Devil’s Gate.
The panorama above, created from three pictures taken by Curiosity’s left navigation camera on April 9, 2025 (here, here, and here) looks south from that gap. On the horizon about 20-30 miles away can be seen the rim of Gale Crater. From this position the floor of the crater is almost out of side, blocked by the foothills on the lower flanks of Mount Sharp.
Though the ground in this new canyon (on the left of the panorama) continues to be amazingly rocky and boulder strewn, it is actually more benign that the canyon Curiosity has been climbing for the past six weeks.
The blue dot on the overview map to the right marks Curiosity’s present position, with the yellow lines indicating the approximate direction of the panorama. The rover’s next major geological goal is the boxwork to the southwest. In order to get to it quickly the science team decided to abandon its original planned route, indicated by the dotted red line, and climb upward through these canyons.
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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.
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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.
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Click image for full resolution panorama. Click here, here, and here for original images.
Click for interactive map.
Cool image time! The Curiosity science team has finally completed the rover’s climb up one canyon on the flanks of Mount Sharp and crossed over into a second, switch-backing up through a gap they have dubbed Devil’s Gate.
The panorama above, created from three pictures taken by Curiosity’s left navigation camera on April 9, 2025 (here, here, and here) looks south from that gap. On the horizon about 20-30 miles away can be seen the rim of Gale Crater. From this position the floor of the crater is almost out of side, blocked by the foothills on the lower flanks of Mount Sharp.
Though the ground in this new canyon (on the left of the panorama) continues to be amazingly rocky and boulder strewn, it is actually more benign that the canyon Curiosity has been climbing for the past six weeks.
The blue dot on the overview map to the right marks Curiosity’s present position, with the yellow lines indicating the approximate direction of the panorama. The rover’s next major geological goal is the boxwork to the southwest. In order to get to it quickly the science team decided to abandon its original planned route, indicated by the dotted red line, and climb upward through these canyons.
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.
To borrow from Jeff Spicoli – “Whoa, that’s looking pretty gnarly out there.”
What baren inhospitable terrain. But there is a silver lining in this picture… quite literally there are clouds! We have seen them before, but it’s always unexpected considering the bleakness.
If they ever need an area in which to test a prototype of a small Mars rover, I can recommend the area north of Bartlett Lane near the Buffalo Bill Reservoir here in NW Wyoming. There’s a series of small hills (500 ft or so) there that have hugely varied terrain which include large areas of rock slabs, and even larger areas of mid-sized rocks interspersed with wind-blown sand. It looks much like what we see in these pictures.
When the reservoir is drawn down in anticipation of winter the height drops by around 40 feet, exposing hundreds of acres of former lake bottom with washed up benches of cobblestone-type shore, yet another great proving ground for a rover. Better challenge and more varied terrain than any desert.
Minor edit in second paragraph: “almost out of sight”