Curiosity Reaches Massive Field of Spectacularly Rippled Active Martian Sand Dunes

universetoday.com ^ | 14 Dec , 2015

[BenLurkin]

The dark dunes, named the "Bagnold Dunes," skirt the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp and lie on the alien road of Curiosity's daring trek up the lower portion of the layered Martian mountain.

Today, Dec 14, Curiosity is exploring a spectacular spot dubbed the "Namib Dune" shown in our new photo mosaic above.

Ascending and diligently exploring the sedimentary lower layers of Mount Sharp, which towers 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) into the Martian sky, is the primary destination and goal of the rovers long term scientific expedition on the Red Planet.

...

Before crossing the dune field, the team is conducting mobility tests by carefully driving Curiosity just "a few meters into the dark sand in front of the rover, then back up enough to allow study of the rover tracks using the arm instruments," said Ken Herkenhoff, Research Geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center and an MSL science team member.

The mobility tests at 'High Dune' have gone well.

[sparklite2]

This is such an improvement over the Viking landers, which were blind and would not have detected a Martian tap dancing in a circle around the lander. We live in amazing times.

[SubMareener]

[going hot]

It looks like the foreground is an old lake bed, with all the water evaporated. I wonder where it all went, or is it locked somewhere under ground.

[fieldmarshaldj]

*ping*

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

That thing is still working???

[Redcitizen]

[xp38]

The droid you're looking for is on Mars

[Yardstick]

Even more impressive is the Opportunity rover which landed on Mars in 2004 and is still active. It’s now something like ten years beyond its planned mission life and has traveled 26+ miles on the surface.

[dragnet2]

Very nice.

[dragnet2]

Still working. Unmanned missions always outlast manned missions... By light years. It’s enabled us to obtain data from all over the solar system, which we’ll be studying for years to come and will pave the way for humans. If we don’t kill each other off first.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks, will ping this later.

[SES1066]

Even more impressive is the Opportunity rover which landed on Mars in 2004 and is still active. It’s now something like ten years beyond its planned mission life and has traveled 26+ miles on the surface.

Would that all government programs had such a return on investment (ROI)! However, this project is not the champ for ROI, that honor belongs to Voyager 2, the spacecraft launched 16 days before its twin, Voyager 1. Still reporting back to JPL/NASA, its current flight time (12/15/15) is 38 years 3 Months and counting.

These are the "Golden Record" probes of Carl Sagan fame. Both are entering true Interstellar space where they are beyond the immediate influence of our star, Sol. V2 is reporting back on a weekly basis and is expected to continue for about another 9 years.

[John O]

VGER must have the information

[SunkenCiv]

When I said, will ping it later, I didn't say what day. ;') Thanks fieldmarshaldj, extra to APoD.

[cripplecreek]

We always remember the ones that fail, the wildly successful ones are ignored.

[colorado tanker]

Spectacular.

[SunkenCiv]

And rippley.

[SunkenCiv]

The Viking landers were not blind, they just took ages to record and send a single still image.

http://www.msss.com/mars/pictures/viking_lander/12a168corr.jpg
http://www.msss.com/mars/pictures/viking_lander/22a158corr.jpg
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/Viking%2BLander%2B1
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/mission_page/MR_Viking_2_Lander_page1.html

[SunkenCiv]

(a month later) and a Blast from the Past:

Mariner 4: First Flyby of Mars (1965) [YouTube]