Posted on 12/14/2015 8:53:19 PM PST by 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.
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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.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
Wow. From this to Curiosity in my lifetime!
What they said at the time was a Martian could walk right up to a Viking lander, and the lander would never know,
I know the feeling. In my case, it’s from “the maps just show a coincidence,” to plate tectonics. And from canals on Mars to actual landings. I remember the first close up pictures of the moon that were radioed back to earth just seconds before the rocket slammed into the lunar surface which was not, sorry sci-fi, covered in dust.
I don’t know if my high school was behind but I had never heard of plate tectonics until I took a college geology course. It was one of the true Aha! moments in my life.
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