NASA celebrated the 11th anniversary of its Mars Rover Curiosity’s arrival on Mars with relief, as in recent days, the oldest rover still in operation on the red planet has just completed its most difficult ascent due to the terrain conditions. Curiosity reached an area filled with impact craters called Jau by climbing a 23° slope where there were obstacles such as slippery sand and rocks that could damage its wheels. The mission team managing route planning spent intense weeks deciding on several detours to limit danger and wear.
As part of its scientific mission, the Mars Rover Curiosity is making a trip on Mount Sharp to examine the various layers that formed over a long time. This means that each layer offers new insights into the geological history of Mars. Impact craters can also offer geological information and reveal at least some of the composition of the terrain.
In the area called Jau, there are several impact craters some of which are small. These are crater clusters that form when a meteorite fragments in the planet’s atmosphere or fragments of a meteorite are pushed in the same direction following an impact in deep space. The top image (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) shows a 360° view of one of the craters obtained by assembling 129 photos taken by the Mars Rover Curiosity’s Mastcam.
In an 11-year-long mission, there were various moments in which the Mars Rover Curiosity had to face some difficulties due to the conformation of the terrain. However, to get to the area called Jau, it had to face various difficulties simultaneously in a situation that increased the complexity of the job for the team programming Curiosity’s route.
Between May and July, the Mars Rover Curiosity “climbed” a 23° slope in which there were additional problems such as slippery sand and rocks that could pose a danger to its wheels. The bottom image (NASA/JPL-Caltech/USGS-Flagstaff/University of Arizona) shows the map of the route taken from May to July starting from an area called Marker Band Valley in the upper center. The dots on the white line indicating the route, mark the various stops made by Curiosity.
The team that drives the Mars Rover Curiosity bases the programming on images captured by the MRO (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) space probe, also NASA’s. However, orbit views offer limited perception of slope and potential obstructions. Consequently, when the terrain is as difficult as the one leading to the area called Jau, it’s necessary to program a short drive at a time.
During the weeks of the Mars Rover Curiosity’s journey on that difficult route, there were cases of stops due to wheels slipping on sand or potentially dangerous rocks. However, eventually, Curiosity overcame all the obstacles, also thanks to a detour that took it to a less steep path. The success allowed to carry out its investigation on the craters present in the area called Jau.
Mount Sharp is at the center of the large Gale crater, which was long home to a lake when Mars was young and environmental conditions were much more similar to those of Earth. The scientists following the mission hope that the information gathered will enable them to understand if the conditions were favorable to life, as many suspect. Salts and various sediments left over from that ancient era, also in impact craters, might help find an answer.
