Martian mountains on Mount Sharp
Click for larger full resolution image. For original images go here and here.
Click for interactive map.
Cool image time! The panorama above was created using two pictures taken by the high resolution camera on the rover Curiosity on Mars (here and here).
The overview map to the right gives the context. The blue dot marks Curiosity’s position on the day before these pictures were taken, climbing through the foothills on the flanks of Mount Sharp. I do not know if it traveled again before taking these two pictures above. The white dotted line its past travels, while red dotted line its planned future route. At present Curiosity has climbed about 3,500 feet up the mountain. It is still about 15,000 feet below the peak, which is about 25 miles away and not visible from here.
The yellow lines indicate where I think the panorama is looking, though I admit that I am not sure. The view is distant, since this is high resolution camera. This panorama might actually be looking in a completely different direction, downhill at one of the hills that Curiosity previously drove past. The air is very dusty, which means if the rim of Gale Crater is in the background, 20-30 miles away, we can’t see it.
Regardless, the science team has finally finished its many nine-month-long survey of the boxwork geology, and has sent Curiosity climbing again. I think these pictures are part of their review of the future terrain, as they plan the rover’s route through the lighter-colored sulfate terrain higher on the mountain. If instead they are looking downhill, they were taken both to review previously viewed geology as well as to measure the dustiness of the atmosphere.
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 or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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 larger full resolution image. For original images go here and here.
Click for interactive map.
Cool image time! The panorama above was created using two pictures taken by the high resolution camera on the rover Curiosity on Mars (here and here).
The overview map to the right gives the context. The blue dot marks Curiosity’s position on the day before these pictures were taken, climbing through the foothills on the flanks of Mount Sharp. I do not know if it traveled again before taking these two pictures above. The white dotted line its past travels, while red dotted line its planned future route. At present Curiosity has climbed about 3,500 feet up the mountain. It is still about 15,000 feet below the peak, which is about 25 miles away and not visible from here.
The yellow lines indicate where I think the panorama is looking, though I admit that I am not sure. The view is distant, since this is high resolution camera. This panorama might actually be looking in a completely different direction, downhill at one of the hills that Curiosity previously drove past. The air is very dusty, which means if the rim of Gale Crater is in the background, 20-30 miles away, we can’t see it.
Regardless, the science team has finally finished its many nine-month-long survey of the boxwork geology, and has sent Curiosity climbing again. I think these pictures are part of their review of the future terrain, as they plan the rover’s route through the lighter-colored sulfate terrain higher on the mountain. If instead they are looking downhill, they were taken both to review previously viewed geology as well as to measure the dustiness of the atmosphere.
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 or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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