One of NASA’s intrepid Mars rovers has notched one other spectacular milestone throughout its exploration of the Purple Planet.
What’s it?
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its Mastcam digicam to seize a panorama made up of 323 particular person pictures. The pictures had been taken on Aug. 1 and Aug. 2, 2026, the 4,972nd and 4,973rd Martian days (or sols) of the rover’s mission, simply as Curiosity notched a complete of 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) of elevation acquire all through its now 14-year exploration of the Red Planet.
The pictures present the huge expanse of a broad valley nicknamed “Valle Grande,” a melancholy on the aspect of Mars’ Mount Sharp, the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer) mountain the rover has been climbing since 2014. The valley’s flooring and northern rim might be seen within the distance.
Why is it unbelievable?
Curiosity’s mission has been unbelievable for quite a few causes. For one, the daring “sky crane” maneuver that NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory used to land the SUV-sized robotic on the Purple Planet changed Mars landings forever.
Since then, Curiosity has found clues that liquid water once flowed across the surface of Mars and has discovered tantalizing proof of complex organic molecules on the Red Planet, together with some that scientists take into account to be the “constructing blocks” of life.
And even after 14 years of touring throughout the Purple Planet and struggling considerable damage to its wheels, NASA says Curiosity has loads of exploration and science left to conduct.
One other certainly one of NASA’s Mars rovers, Perseverance, lately notched a journey milestone of its personal when it surpassed 26.2 miles (42.2 km) of travel — the size of a marathon — throughout the Martian floor.
