Looking down a canyon on Mars
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right was taken on June 17, 2023 by Curiosity’s high resolution camera, looking back down Gediz Vallis and out across the distant floor of Gale Crater, far below. The white dotted line shows the route within this image where Curiosity had previously traveled inside this canyon, coming up around that shadowed mesa and then off to the west to try to get to terrain that it had earlier retreated because it was too rough on the rover’s wheels. Its subsequent path to the spot where this picture was taken was off to the left of the image, out of view.
This picture illustrates well the steepness and roughness of the mountainous canyon through which Curiosity presently travels. The small mountains visible on the floor of Gale Crater, about sixteen miles away, are no more than 450 feet high. The floor of the crater is 1,900 feet below where Curiosity present sits.
Click for interactive map.
The blue dot on the overview map to the right marks Curiosity’s present position. The yellow lines indicate the approximate area covered by the picture above. The red dotted line marks its planned route, with the white dotted line indicated the route it actually took.
The science team had been trying to climb due south up a very steep slope, but kept finding the terrain too difficult for the rover. Each day it would be forced to abort its planned travel because either there were rocks in the way, or the ground was too steep. For this reason the team decided to turn east, working upward along the contour of the terrain. Though the distance traveled each day continues to be small so as to avoid the numerous rocks on the ground, this new approach has had some success.
This picture was taken for several reasons. It provides another view of the rocky sedimentary layers in Chenapua on the left. It also helps assess the amount of dust in the atmosphere by looking at how much haze obscures the rim, 20 to 30 miles away.
But most of all, though in their research papers the scientists will never admit it, it provides us a glimpse at the spectacular view you would see while hiking up this mountain on Mars.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. 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.
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right was taken on June 17, 2023 by Curiosity’s high resolution camera, looking back down Gediz Vallis and out across the distant floor of Gale Crater, far below. The white dotted line shows the route within this image where Curiosity had previously traveled inside this canyon, coming up around that shadowed mesa and then off to the west to try to get to terrain that it had earlier retreated because it was too rough on the rover’s wheels. Its subsequent path to the spot where this picture was taken was off to the left of the image, out of view.
This picture illustrates well the steepness and roughness of the mountainous canyon through which Curiosity presently travels. The small mountains visible on the floor of Gale Crater, about sixteen miles away, are no more than 450 feet high. The floor of the crater is 1,900 feet below where Curiosity present sits.
Click for interactive map.
The blue dot on the overview map to the right marks Curiosity’s present position. The yellow lines indicate the approximate area covered by the picture above. The red dotted line marks its planned route, with the white dotted line indicated the route it actually took.
The science team had been trying to climb due south up a very steep slope, but kept finding the terrain too difficult for the rover. Each day it would be forced to abort its planned travel because either there were rocks in the way, or the ground was too steep. For this reason the team decided to turn east, working upward along the contour of the terrain. Though the distance traveled each day continues to be small so as to avoid the numerous rocks on the ground, this new approach has had some success.
This picture was taken for several reasons. It provides another view of the rocky sedimentary layers in Chenapua on the left. It also helps assess the amount of dust in the atmosphere by looking at how much haze obscures the rim, 20 to 30 miles away.
But most of all, though in their research papers the scientists will never admit it, it provides us a glimpse at the spectacular view you would see while hiking up this mountain on Mars.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. 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.
Someday, there will a McDonald’s in the frame.
And a Starbucks….At which point we can declare human colonization of space a failure
Very clever, both of you! Good laugh.
Perhaps this photo will hang over at table at – pick your Applebee style restaurant – showing the “connection” to the “hometown”
Total Recall (1990)
“You Blabbed About Mars!”
https://youtu.be/5KtHhIePpZg
(1:34)
I expected Paladin on his horse myself
“Have lightsaber, will travel”