Curiosity looks back at its entire journey
Click for high resolution mosaic. Original images here, here, here, and here.
Click for interactive map.
Cool image time! The mosaic above was created from four photos taken by Curiosity’s left navigation camera on December 12, 2021, just after the rover had moved into Maria Gordon Notch. The view is to the north, looking back at the rover’s journey climbing up the floor of Gale Crater into the foothills of Mount Sharp. The rim of Gale Crater can be seen about 25 to 30 miles away.
The cliff in shadow on the left is about 40 feet high. The cliff in sunlight on the right is between 30 to 60 feet high, depending on where you measure.
The overview map to the right shows Curiosity’s entire journey, with the yellow lines indicating the approximate area covered by the mosaic above. All told the rover has climbed about 1,700 feet since it landed. While much of the rover’s route is blocked from our view by the cliffs on left, the nearest sand dune sea in the center of the mosaic is the one that the rover circled around from January 2021 to June 2021.
The overview map to the right provides a closer view of Curiosity’s recent travels, with its future planned route indicated by the red dotted line.
In the last year the rover science team appears to have decided to accelerate the journey. It seems they have been climbing up as fast as they can, with breaks to do new drill holes after each gain of 25 meters (about 82 feet) in elevation. If this pattern continues, they will reach Gediz Vallis Ridge in about six months, and entering Gediz Valles in about eighteen months.
All of this can change day-by-day, as the rover explores new terrain. The science team might decide to spend more time at some locations, or it might decide they can move forward more quickly. It does seem however that they are in more of a hurry to get into the mountains. I suspect they recognize that the rover is about to celebrate ten years on the Martian surface, and are worried about its future. The more Curiosity can climb, the more data they can gather about the geological history of Gale Crater and Mount Sharp. Doing it as quickly as possible might be a wise decision at this point in the rover’s journey.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Click for high resolution mosaic. Original images here, here, here, and here.
Click for interactive map.
Cool image time! The mosaic above was created from four photos taken by Curiosity’s left navigation camera on December 12, 2021, just after the rover had moved into Maria Gordon Notch. The view is to the north, looking back at the rover’s journey climbing up the floor of Gale Crater into the foothills of Mount Sharp. The rim of Gale Crater can be seen about 25 to 30 miles away.
The cliff in shadow on the left is about 40 feet high. The cliff in sunlight on the right is between 30 to 60 feet high, depending on where you measure.
The overview map to the right shows Curiosity’s entire journey, with the yellow lines indicating the approximate area covered by the mosaic above. All told the rover has climbed about 1,700 feet since it landed. While much of the rover’s route is blocked from our view by the cliffs on left, the nearest sand dune sea in the center of the mosaic is the one that the rover circled around from January 2021 to June 2021.
The overview map to the right provides a closer view of Curiosity’s recent travels, with its future planned route indicated by the red dotted line.
In the last year the rover science team appears to have decided to accelerate the journey. It seems they have been climbing up as fast as they can, with breaks to do new drill holes after each gain of 25 meters (about 82 feet) in elevation. If this pattern continues, they will reach Gediz Vallis Ridge in about six months, and entering Gediz Valles in about eighteen months.
All of this can change day-by-day, as the rover explores new terrain. The science team might decide to spend more time at some locations, or it might decide they can move forward more quickly. It does seem however that they are in more of a hurry to get into the mountains. I suspect they recognize that the rover is about to celebrate ten years on the Martian surface, and are worried about its future. The more Curiosity can climb, the more data they can gather about the geological history of Gale Crater and Mount Sharp. Doing it as quickly as possible might be a wise decision at this point in the rover’s journey.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Now that really is a Trek…..