The unbelievably rough and wind-swept surface of Mars’ Greenheugh pediment
Click for full image.
Since my last update on the travels of the Mars rover Curiosity on February 22, 2022, the rover has been been creeping ever so slowly westward across a plateau that scientists have dubbed the Greenheugh pediment.
Scientists have known for years that the surface of the pediment was going to be rough going. This panorama taken by Curiosity when it first climbed up to the pediment in March 2020 to take a peek before retreating revealed that roughness starkly.
In truth, since beginning its traverse of that pediment in February, the Curiosity team has found the ground not only as rough as expected, but beautiful in a strange sort of way, as illustrated by the March 20, 2022 photo to the right, reduced to post here. As Lauren Edgar, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center, noted yesterday in a Curiosity update that featured this image:
Click for interactive map.
Curiosity is investigating the different surface expressions of the Greenheugh pediment, and the weekend drive put the rover right next to some “gator-back terrain” – some evenly spaced ridges with a blocky expression, as seen in the above Navcam image. Today’s one sol plan is focused on a close encounter with one of these ridges through contact science and remote sensing.
The look of this gator-back terrain is caused first by its blocky nature. The top layer of the Greenheugh pediment is not very structurally strong, so it has broken into many small pieces over time. Second, the very thin wind of Mars has slowly carved those blocks, smoothing their surface.
On the overview map to the right, the dotted red line indicates Curiosity’s future planned route. The white dotted line indicates its actual route, with each dot marking a stopping point. As you can see, since climbing up onto the pediment, Curiosity has been traveling very slowly, moving in tiny steps as it carefully picks its way between rocks so as to avoid damaging its already badly dinged wheels.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
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Click for full image.
Since my last update on the travels of the Mars rover Curiosity on February 22, 2022, the rover has been been creeping ever so slowly westward across a plateau that scientists have dubbed the Greenheugh pediment.
Scientists have known for years that the surface of the pediment was going to be rough going. This panorama taken by Curiosity when it first climbed up to the pediment in March 2020 to take a peek before retreating revealed that roughness starkly.
In truth, since beginning its traverse of that pediment in February, the Curiosity team has found the ground not only as rough as expected, but beautiful in a strange sort of way, as illustrated by the March 20, 2022 photo to the right, reduced to post here. As Lauren Edgar, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center, noted yesterday in a Curiosity update that featured this image:
Click for interactive map.
Curiosity is investigating the different surface expressions of the Greenheugh pediment, and the weekend drive put the rover right next to some “gator-back terrain” – some evenly spaced ridges with a blocky expression, as seen in the above Navcam image. Today’s one sol plan is focused on a close encounter with one of these ridges through contact science and remote sensing.
The look of this gator-back terrain is caused first by its blocky nature. The top layer of the Greenheugh pediment is not very structurally strong, so it has broken into many small pieces over time. Second, the very thin wind of Mars has slowly carved those blocks, smoothing their surface.
On the overview map to the right, the dotted red line indicates Curiosity’s future planned route. The white dotted line indicates its actual route, with each dot marking a stopping point. As you can see, since climbing up onto the pediment, Curiosity has been traveling very slowly, moving in tiny steps as it carefully picks its way between rocks so as to avoid damaging its already badly dinged wheels.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Great image! Initial guess would be a comparison with some types of volcanic rock here, which breaks into regular shapes when it cools. Best-known example would be Devil’s Postpile in the Sierra Nevada near Mammoth, but not all volcanic flow units break into hexagonal shapes, and this may be an example of that.
Speaking of wind, tornadoes are on the ground in New Orleans…Stennis Space Center strike at 8:25 CDT. It is now 8:19 p.m. CDT!
Here’s hoping that the pediment doesn’t prove to be an impediment.
More on the NOLA twister that hit the Lower Ninth Ward-with footage from Brad Cheramie, Preston Trahan at Storyfull and Scot Pilie at twitter.
Brian Emfinger filmed a truck in Texas that drove away after being rolled. As per “Says You!” the term ‘weather’ is one of few words that can stand for polar opposite meanings:
“The scalloped pediment can weather any one Martian dust storm-but over deep time, the rock will weather away even in that rarified atmosphere.”