Curiosity looks across at the alien landscape of Gale Crater
Click for full image.
Most of the images from Curiosity that I have posted recently have been of the spectacular mountain scenery looking south at Mount Sharp itself. Today’s cool image, taken on July 6, 2021 by the rover’s right navigation camera and cropped to post here, instead looks north, out across the floor of Gale Crater to its distant rim about twenty miles away.
The rover is likely not to move for a week or so, as it has just completed drilling its first drillhole since it moved up into the next geological layer, dubbed the sulfate unit. Because of this they have been using the rover’s cameras to take a lot of pictures of the surrounding terrain, including several high resolution mosaics.
The two overview maps below show what the cool image above is looking at.
Click for interactive map.
The yellow lines on both maps indicate approximately what is seen in the cropped image above. The white line shows the additional area covered by the full uncropped photo.
What drew me to this photo was the striking mesa sticking up in the midst of the dune field that Curiosity has been circling for the past year. I estimate it is about 100 feet high, and appears quite dramatic on that flat sea of sand dunes.
The image also gives us a sense of how far Curiosity has now climbed since it landed on the floor of Gale Crater. I estimate it has now gained about 5,000 feet of the 14,000 feet it needs to climb to get the the peak of Mount Sharp.
The distant mountains are Gale Crater’s northern rim. In the full image you can see the gap into Peace Valley, one of the major gaps in the rim of the crater, and thought to have been a major inlet when the crater floor was covered in either water or ice.
The cool image however expresses the alienness of this terrain. While someone from the American southwest might think it looks familiar, a closer look always proves otherwise. There is no visible life here. The surface is barren, and formed by inanimate geology with no modifications of any kind from plant or animal life.
Someday, in the far future, I hope humans will change this view, and make it bloom with life.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the 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. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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.
Click for full image.
Most of the images from Curiosity that I have posted recently have been of the spectacular mountain scenery looking south at Mount Sharp itself. Today’s cool image, taken on July 6, 2021 by the rover’s right navigation camera and cropped to post here, instead looks north, out across the floor of Gale Crater to its distant rim about twenty miles away.
The rover is likely not to move for a week or so, as it has just completed drilling its first drillhole since it moved up into the next geological layer, dubbed the sulfate unit. Because of this they have been using the rover’s cameras to take a lot of pictures of the surrounding terrain, including several high resolution mosaics.
The two overview maps below show what the cool image above is looking at.
Click for interactive map.
The yellow lines on both maps indicate approximately what is seen in the cropped image above. The white line shows the additional area covered by the full uncropped photo.
What drew me to this photo was the striking mesa sticking up in the midst of the dune field that Curiosity has been circling for the past year. I estimate it is about 100 feet high, and appears quite dramatic on that flat sea of sand dunes.
The image also gives us a sense of how far Curiosity has now climbed since it landed on the floor of Gale Crater. I estimate it has now gained about 5,000 feet of the 14,000 feet it needs to climb to get the the peak of Mount Sharp.
The distant mountains are Gale Crater’s northern rim. In the full image you can see the gap into Peace Valley, one of the major gaps in the rim of the crater, and thought to have been a major inlet when the crater floor was covered in either water or ice.
The cool image however expresses the alienness of this terrain. While someone from the American southwest might think it looks familiar, a closer look always proves otherwise. There is no visible life here. The surface is barren, and formed by inanimate geology with no modifications of any kind from plant or animal life.
Someday, in the far future, I hope humans will change this view, and make it bloom with life.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the 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. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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.
Metallica
“I Disappear” (2008)
https://youtu.be/ekZTW2r4vb4
4:28
North By Northwest (1959)
“Where There Ain’t No Crops…”
https://youtu.be/EK1o6ixoe_I
3:56
And the Cool Images just keep on coming from the American Mars effort. Curious why ‘Peace Vallis’ isn’t ‘Pace Vallis’?