NASA's Curiosity rover is celebrating its nine-year stay on Mars by offering a stunning 360-degree panoramic view of the planet . NASA's oldest rover captured this beautiful view in early July, but the space agency released the image on Tuesday to celebrate the anniversary of Curiosity's landing on Mars.
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Curiosity was designed by NASA to explore Gale Crater and arrived on the Red Planet in early August 2012, where it headed toward the side of Mount Shar. NASA said the view of the “rocks and rounded hills gave scientists joy.”
The highly detailed panorama, taken by the Curiosity rover's Mast Camera, is made up of 129 individual images stitched together. The stunning view is exceptionally clear, as the sky is not clouded by dust at this time. It has also been white-balanced so that the colors of the rocks appear as they would in daylight on Earth.
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NASA also shared a tour to explain the highlights of the landscape, including the dark Martian sand and the top of the crater.
The image shows a transition zone between a clay-rich area and a sulfate-rich area. Clay comes from a compound that requires the presence of water. “The mountain levels in this area may reveal how the environment inside Gale Crater dried out over time,” NASA said. NASA’s Curiosity rover’s primary goal is to find evidence that Mars was habitable in the past.
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Curiosity has traveled 16 miles and drilled 32 holes while on Mars. “Landing day is still one of the happiest days of my career,” said Curiosity project manager Megan Richardsonof NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
While Curiosity's sister rover, Perseverance, is working away in a different crater, NASA's older rover continues its mission to discover new elements. The research is progressing and the images we are receiving are impressive!
Source: CNET
